My son Adam, who lives in Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany, took a bike ride with his girlfriend Sina to Bonn, the old West German capital.
Don’t they make a lovely couple. Anyway, on with the story.
Now, some of you may know that Germany is a renewable energy leader, which many countries could learn from, and it is not surprising that Adam and Sina found this when they arrived.
In the distance they saw the Kennedy Bridge over the Rhein, and noticed something sparkling on it.
As they got closer they saw that it was covered in solar panels. 392 panels @ 230 watts each, producing 90 kW at peak to be exact! The installation was completed in May 2011.
The display reads that it was producing 57.6 kW at the time of the photo, and had generated a total of 66 MWh since it was installed last year. I think that is amazing. It would take me 3666 years to generate that much electricity with my system!
Don’t you wish there were more prominent installations like this in your neck of the woods to show the benefits of renewable energy? I know I do!
Yep, we’ve got the Gateway Bridge – could be a good spot I think.
Just thinking outside the BOX would be nice, for Govt here in Aus!
🙂 Nice one
Lots of the barn and farm building roofs in our area are covered in photovoltaic panels. We have the second sunniest climate in France.There are very few solar panels for water heating though. Ours heat the water for nine months of the year and even on the gloomy grey days the solar energy will warm the water.
Helen in France
Wow, imagine that on the side of the west gate bridge!
I was supposed to be involved in a project to line part of the
Western Ring Road in Melbourne with solar panels by “Going Solar” (http://www.goingsolar.com.au). Unfortunately I had to pull out due to other committments. The project should be underway now and is a good example of this type of project in Australia. Going Solar also installed the solar powered noise barrier on the Calder/Tulla interchange. You can see some pictures on their website.
Yes, I’m good mates with the team at Going Solar and a lot of other sustainable businesses and no, I don’t have shares in any of them. Just like promoting them.
Cheers
MOC
haha only a few years later they have all been removed as a failed experiment.