October 27, 2006—Could it be that one day to “Google” a building will mean to add solar panels to it? Perhaps not, but the ubiquitous search engine company is about to embark on a record-setting solar electricity project, installing 1.6 megawatts (MW) of solar power on several buildings and on new parking lot shade structures at its headquarters campus in Mountain View, California. When complete, it will be the largest solar power system installed on a single corporate campus, says Google. According to EI Solutions, which developed the project, the system will save Google more than $393,000 per year in electricity costs and will pay for itself in about 7.5 years.
For more information, see the EI Web site.
While Google shoots for a corporate record, Fort Bliss plans to set a world record in solar power production. The US Army base, located near El Paso, Texas, launched a project last week to build a 1.5-MW solar photovoltaic power plant using technology developed by Atira Technology and studied extensively by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).
Fort Bliss plans to start a second phase in the fall of 2007 that will generate 20 MW of solar power, a record size for the United States. But that’s not all: phase three in 2008 will generate 40 MW, and phase four in 2009 will generate 1,000 MW of power.
Called “Power the Army!,” the Fort Bliss project aims to cut solar power costs in half using new Atira technologies that have passed field tests conducted by both the Army and Navy. According to NPS, the Atira solar cells and power inverters both operate more efficiently than today’s technologies. For more information, see the Web page.
