31 August 2012
Trina Solar today announced the completion of a large-scale rooftop PV system in Switzerland using the its high-performance Honey modules.
The system, deployed on the roofs of Sägewerke Christen AG’s production and storage buildings in Luthern in the canton of Lucerne, has an installed capacity of 900kWp and produces up to 6,000kWh of solar energy per day. This makes the company the first self-sufficient and carbon neutral sawmill in Switzerland, according to Trina Solar.
The 6,000 square meter PV array is made up of 3,576 multicrystalline PC05A Honey solar panels rated at 260 Wp each. The modules themselves are integrated into the roof and provide weather protection for the building; ready-made aluminium plates ensure a waterproof connection between the individual modules. Since July, the system has been delivering enough electricity for the sawmill and also the equivalent of the electricity requirements of 300 households, a combined total of 900,000kWh per year.
“With the new solar power plant and our two existing wood co-generation plants, we save more than 3,000 tons of CO2 every year,” Sägewerk Christen AG owner Bruno Christen said. “That is twice as much as the emissions from our two sawmills in Luthern and Willisau.”
The project in Luthern was developed by Küsnacht-based SunTechnics Fabrisolar AG.
During snow load testing, Trina Solar exposes its products to 10,800 pascal of pressure, while IEC standards merely require 2,400 pascal. The surface texturing of Honey cells ensures optimized light absorption even at low levels of daylight, according to the company.
