Satcon to power largest rooftop photovoltaic array

The 12 megawatt (MW) system atop the General Motors car manufacturing facility in Figueruelas, Zaragoza Spain will cover approximately 2,000,000 square feet and has a surface area of 183,000 square meters.

The Zaragoza project brings together a team of the worldÂ’s leading photovoltaic solutions providers. The system will be designed and built by Clairvoyant Energy, Veolia Environnement and the Government of Aragon, and will utilize United Solar OvonicÂ’s thin film flexible solar laminates and Satcon's PowerGate Plus 500kW Inverters. The electricity generated from this facility will be sold to Spain's power utility, Endesa.

“The sheer scale of our Zaragoza project demanded that we closely evaluate each potential solution providers’ ability to deliver the combination of high efficiency, quality and reliability in our challenging environment,” said John Abkemeier, President of Clairvoyant Energy. “We have assembled a team of best-of-breed solutions providers in order to deliver on our vision of reliable, efficient and clean energy production. Satcon has and will continue to play a central role in the success of this project.”

“The GM project clearly demonstrates the global trend toward larger, utility scale installations,” said Steve Rhoades, Satcon’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “As the largest rooftop system in the world, Zaragoza showcases the future of distributed power production. Satcon is honored to be a member of this world class team delivering on GM’s goal of producing reliable and efficient energy.”

The PV system will be operational at the end of September 2008 and is comprised of roughly 85,000 thin film solar panels that will be connected to Satcon PowerGate Plus Inverters. Once fully operationally, the solar installation will generate 10 MW of peak power output and 15.1 million kilowatt hours of power annually.