Maranello Goes Greener

[Julie B]

Ferrari Unveils Photovoltaic System

From Ferrariworld

Maranello, 20th January 2009 - The new photovoltaic system installed on the roof of Ferrari's Engine Mechanical Machining facility, was officially unveiled to the world today. The installation comes as part of the Ferrari's ongoing environmental sustainability and renewable resources investment programme.

The photovoltaic panels will reduce the amount of power Ferrari takes from the national grid by over 210,000 kWh annually. The system is the work of EnerRay, a Maccaferri Group company.

Ferrari's plan to reduce the environmental impact of its production activities also includes the installation of a trigeneration plant which will be operational by the middle of this year. The new plant will cover virtually all of the company's electricity requirements, which will in turn cut its CO2 emissions in 2009 by 25-30% compared to the present levels.

Ferrari's commitment to environmental sustainability dates all the way back to 2001 when it was awarded ISO 14001 certification; the Prancing Horse also obtained Integrated Environmental Authorisation in 2007.

Over the last few years, Ferrari has also made numerous investments to increase the size and number of green areas both inside and outside its various industrial pavilions. The complex now boasts around 165,000 square metres of green areas with more than 200 trees planted there in the last six months alone.

Our environmental protection investments are also part of the overall Formula Uomo programme launched in the early 1990s by President Luca di Montezemolo to put the individual workers, their needs and skills at the centre of the Company's activities.

Technical Specifications of the Photovoltaic system

Installed by: EnerRay

Type of system: not integrated - installed on flat roof

Orientation: South-facing

Number of modules: 1075

Module type: 185 Wp Mitsubishi Electric

Peak power: 198.85 kWp

Annual electrical output: 213,985 kWh

Number of inverters: 2

Inverter type: Siemens Sinvert Solar 100, master/slave configuration

[REDARMYSOJA]

Great news . It's good to hear of a company with concerns for the environment , and showing that concern isn't just hollow words .

[justjesper]

Respect all the way Ferrari

[GrndLkNatv]

Smart move!!! We have people here in Boulder Colorado who actually get paid by the power company as they put more power into the grid than they take out.. My favorite solar company is http://www.nanosolar.com which has spray on photo voltaic cells and house siding made from recycled organic plastic so the walls of your house are conductors which put power into the grid.....

[Red Rocket]

Excellent idea wish I could see photos of the installations.

[kumaran_govende]

Maccaferri - Sounds like a Mclaren and Ferrari combo (or Macdonalds and Ferrari)

[ferrari4life]

I wanted to do something like that at home. But start up costs are high. its a great idea wish prices would come down so people can get the real benefit of alternate fuel sources

[GrndLkNatv]

Excellent idea wish I could see photos of the installations.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...US311%26sa%3DN

Get the Nov 2007 issue of Popular Science.

http://cleantechnica.com/files/2008/...0e3e094b_m.jpg

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1927822/posts

The New Dawn of Solar (Nanosolar wins PopSci 2007 award -- claims 30 cents/watt cost)
Popular Science ^ | Nov 2007 issue | Michael Moyer

Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 7:11:05 AM by Uncledave

The New Dawn of Solar

Imagine a solar panel without the panel. Just a coating, thin as a layer of paint, that takes light and converts it to electricity. From there, you can picture roof shingles with solar cells built inside and window coatings that seem to suck power from the air. Consider solar-powered buildings stretching not just across sunny Southern California, but through China and India and Kenya as well, because even in those countries, going solar will be cheaper than burning coal. That’s the promise of thin-film solar cells: solar power that’s ubiquitous because it’s cheap. The basic technology has been around for decades, but this year, Silicon Valley–based Nanosolar created the manufacturing technology that could make that promise a reality.

The company produces its PowerSheet solar cells with printing-press-style machines that set down a layer of solar-absorbing nano-ink onto metal sheets as thin as aluminum foil, so the panels can be made for about a tenth of what current panels cost and at a rate of several hundred feet per minute. With backing from Google’s founders and $20 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, Nanosolar’s first commercial cells rolled off the presses this year.

Cost has always been one of solar’s biggest problems. Traditional solar cells require silicon, and silicon is an expensive commodity (exacerbated currently by a global silicon shortage). What’s more, says Peter Harrop, chairman of electronics consulting firm IDTechEx, “it has to be put on glass, so it’s heavy, dangerous, expensive to ship and expensive to install because it has to be mounted.” And up to 70 percent of the silicon gets wasted in the manufacturing process. That means even the cheapest solar panels cost about $3 per watt of energy they go on to produce. To compete with coal, that figure has to shrink to just $1 per watt.

Nanosolar’s cells use no silicon, and the company’s manufacturing process allows it to create cells that are as efficient as most commercial cells for as little as 30 cents a watt. “You’re talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it,” says Dan Kammen, founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. “It really is quite a big deal in terms of altering the way we think about solar and in inherently altering the economics of solar.”

In San Jose, Nanosolar has built what will soon be the world’s largest solar-panel manufacturing facility. CEO Martin Roscheisen claims that once full production starts early next year, it will create 430 megawatts’ worth of solar cells a year—more than the combined total of every other solar plant in the U.S. The first 100,000 cells will be shipped to Europe, where a consortium will be building a 1.4-megawatt power plant next year.

Right now, the biggest question for Nanosolar is not if its products can work, but rather if it can make enough of them. California, for instance, recently launched the Million Solar Roofs initiative, which will provide tax breaks and rebates to encourage the installation of 100,000 solar roofs per year, every year, for 10 consecutive years (the state currently has 30,000 solar roofs). The company is ready for the solar boom. “Most important,” Harrop says, “Nanosolar is putting down factories instead of blathering to the press and doing endless experiments. These guys are getting on with it, and that is impressive.” nanosolar.com —MICHAEL MOYER

[f1torque]

awsome stuff, glad to see ferrari know where the future is heading and adapting to it.

[diego_alunan]

green is the way to go