The 2 megawatt (MW) system, which was installed in 2010, is located on Sun-Earth’s factory roof, located in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, China. The factory occupies an area of 80,000 square metres and the 2 MW system is installed across the factory’s seven workshop roofs, which all have unique roof structures.
Electricity distribution and generation
Of the 2 MW of electricity that is generated by Sun-Earth’s system, 1 MW of electricity is sold as commercial power, and the remaining 1 MW is kept for Sun-Earth’s personal energy consumption.
According to Sun-Earth, the 2 MW project has the capacity to generate approximately 2,880,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per annum, based on the sunshine irradiation condition for Ningbo City.
Different countries or different cities in the same country will have a different sunshine irradiation condition, which calculates the amount of electricity produced by a particular solar system based on its geographical location.
Solar cost-efficiency
Sun-Earth says that the installation of the 2 MW system has been extremely cost-efficient, as the company was able to utilise existing roof space for the installation and had flexibility in choosing different types of solar panels to suit the different roof layout of the factory.
The availability of technical support through Sun-Earth’s technical department also made the installation cost-efficient.
Implementation challenges
Wind resistance was a great concern during installation due to the fact that Ningbo city is subject to typhoons throughout the summer months. To mitigate the potentially damaging effects of wind resistance, Sun-Earth used extra-reinforced concrete blocks besides the normal screw fixing of the mounting structures to reinforce the stability of the installation. This method has received approval from the Ningbo City Designing Institute.
Another challenge was integrating the solar panels smoothly onto the roof. Sun-Earth says that on the one hand, the designers had to make sure that the installation was safe and stable, yet there was a need to ensure that the installation did not affect the existing roof structure. For example, leakage issues and the susceptibility of the present roof structure to damage were all taken into consideration.
There are currently no plans to expand this project, as there is no extra roof space available.
Chinese solar products
Sun-Earth says that China is the biggest solar products manufacturing – as well as exporting – country in the world.
“Solar products that are made in China are very good quality, and most importantly, come with a lower price.”
These observations are mirrored in the successes of other companies in the solar energy industry, as the world looks to China as a possible leader of the clean energy industry.
