Taiwan Solar Stadium
Is Energy Independent
The new Taiwan solar stadium is a classic example of power generation that be achieved with existing roof space. The stadium has been constructed to host some of the events for the World Games to be held in Taiwan in mid 2009. An image of the stadium when it was under construction is shown below to the right.
The stadium was designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito. The roof incorporates over 8,800 solar panels which can provide in excess of 1.1 gigawatts of electricity over the course of a single year. That amount of electricity is enough to power the stadium entirely, or if it is not in use it can supply the local energy grid and power surrounding homes and businesses.MaintenanceOf course, rooftop solar arrays come with the slight extra hassle of having to clean them. In the case of a 50,000 seat sporting arena, cleaning the roof is no mean feat. There's also the long term issue of replacing panels as they become defunct. A Vision Of The Future?Utilizing roof space to generate electricity is the way forward for all urban areas. At present the costs associated with this prevent it from being implemented on a large scale. There is hope though that new production methods such as those being explored by Nanosolar will make for cheap solar panels that we can all afford to cover our roofs with.
25 May 2009
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