Solyndra, Inc., a manufacturer of innovative cylindrical photovoltaic (PV) systems for commercial rooftops, today announced that Umwelt-Sonne-Energie GmbH (USE Projects), an authorized reseller, has completed the largest collective Solyndra project to date. The project consists of 1.9 MWp of generation capability installed on 10 rooftop sites in Belgium owned by a large international food retailer. The power generated by the systems will be sold to local utilities under an agreement with the building owners.
“This is a great example of how Solyndra’s PV systems can take advantage of underutilized commercial rooftop space to generate significant power. The project also offers a good model for how distributed power generation can work in an urban setting,” said Chris Gronet, Solyndra CEO and founder. “USE Projects designed and delivered a PV system that we believe can enable the highest energy production per roof over the system lifetime while taking advantage of Solyndra’s low overall installation costs.”
Solyndra’s cylindrical, thin film PV systems are designed to generate more electricity from typical low-slope commercial rooftops while providing significantly lower installation costs than conventional flat plate PV technologies. The Belgium project involved the installation of 1,928 kWp on 10 sites in ten cities, and was completed in just two months.
“Solyndra was the best solution for this challenging project given the number of sites, different roof orientations and desire for highest possible energy yield per roof,” said Arnold Berens, USE Projects CEO. “Our trained technical staff found the systems easy to install and we are pleased to be able to have completed this project which helps our rooftop host meet their corporate citizenship goals while also generating significant clean power.”
About Umwelt-Sonne-Energie GmbH (USE)
USE is a solar integrator based in Holzgerlingen, Germany near Stuttgart. USE designs, builds and services large-scale turnkey PV systems for their customers. The company has additional locations in Germany and various European countries such as the Czech Republic, Belgium, Austria and Croatia.
About Solyndra
Solyndra designs and manufactures PV systems, comprised of panels and mounts, for the commercial rooftop market. Using proprietary cylindrical modules and thin-film technology, Solyndra systems are designed to provide the lowest cost of electricity and the highest kilowatt hour production per rooftop for typical installations. Headquartered in Fremont, CA, Solyndra manufactures its solar panels in a highly automated plant where it performs all operations required to process commodity materials into the final product.
