Siemens installs solar systems in Italy for producing regenerative energy.

Other News   Subscribe to newsletter

2 Nov 2007

Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution (PTD) has installed and commissioned two photovoltaic systems in Italy. They're located on the site of a biomass-fired power plant in southern Italy and on the facade of a waste recycling plant in Lombardy.

Siemens was awarded the orders by Ecosesto, a subsidiary of the Actelios Group of Milan, whose core business also includes power generation from renewable energy sources. Siemens was not only responsible for linking up to the local medium-voltage system as part of the turnkey construction of the solar systems, but will also be responsible for service and maintenance work.

The first solar project in southern Italy is as big as one and a half soccer fields put together. The solar technology experts from Siemens PTD have installed a solar system on a 12 by 150-meter steel structure on the façade of a biomass-fired power plant in Rende in southern Italy.

The system is equipped with monocrystalline solar modules from Sharp that feed their generated power into the grid. 5,500 solar modules, each with a rated output of 180 Wp, generate a total of 1.4 GWh of electrical energy.

This energy is fed into the Italian power supply system via a 1000-kVA Geafol cast-resin transformer, gas-insulated medium voltage switchgear and the necessary inverter technology. The system provides an environmentally friendly supply of electrical power for 450 households.

The second photovoltaic project is a façade-mounted solar system with a total output of 70 kWp. Siemens has clad the 30 and 40 meter high façade of a waste recycling plant belonging to the Actelios Group in Trezzo in Lombardy with solar modules, and linked up the system to the Italian power supply network. It is the first photovoltaic system of this size in Italy to be integrated into a building.