World’s Largest HIT-equipped Solar Power Plant in Italy

Sep 3, 2011

Solar Power Plant at Torre Santa Susanna A solar power plant equipped with Panasonic Group‘s high-efficiency high-output HIT® solar modules has been constructed in Torre Santa Susanna, southeast Italy.

The plant is designed to generate 7.567 MW with 32,202 HIT-235 solar modules fitted to solar trackers to maximize the power generation. It is one of the largest tracking solar power plants in Europe, and the largest system to use HIT® solar modules in the world.

The solar power plant project was originally started by a consortium led by Deutsche Bank‘s Asset Finance and Leasing Renewable Energy Division. In December 2010, construction of the plant was completed and the system was connected to the grid in April, 2011. The role of SANYO, a Panasonic subsidiary company, in the project was to provide its highly acclaimed HIT® solar modules to the system.

The HIT® solar modules, with their high conversion efficiency, high output for their surface area and high level of reliability, have traditionally been very competitive in the market for residential and medium-sized commercial systems. With this project, the suitability of HIT® solar modules for large scale systems has been highlighted.

An opening ceremony was held on July 1 to celebrate the official commencement of operations at the facility, with representatives from each of the companies involved in the project as well as the members of the local government taking part.

Mitsuru Homma, Executive Vice-President of SANYO, commented, “I would like to express our sincere congratulations on the completion of the project and thank Deutsche Bank for utilizing SANYO’s HIT solar modules in the plant. Recently, we are seeing a rapid shift towards renewable energy sources, including solar power, globally. We at SANYO, as a member of the Panasonic Group, are aiming to become the world’s leading company in the field of energy and environmental technology, and it is our sincere wish that we can deepen our collaboration with our partners to provide safe and clean energy throughout Europe.”

Overview of the Solar Power Plant

Location – Torre Santa Susanna, Brindisi, Puglia, Italy
System Size – 7.567MW (32,202 HIT® solar panels / 235W per panel)
Solar Modules – HIT-235HDE4 (conversion efficiency: 16.9%)
Special – Solar trackers installed for increased power generation

Panasonic has a number of green initiatives and has published various business reports featuring its environmental activities and CSR efforts. These reports detail the efforts of the Panasonic Group in the fiscal year 2011 ended in March 31, 2011. To reduce its environmental footprint, Panasonic Group has abolished printed brochures, and instead its reports are in PDF and online pages, available for download from their website.

‘eco ideas’ Report 2011 – Disclosure of information on environmental activities started as the ‘Environmental Report’ in 1997. With the intent to further strengthen Panasonic’s initiatives toward a sustainable society, the environmental data book had been published along with the CSR social reports from 2005. Since 2009, the current form, ‘eco ideas’ Report, has been introduced to report the company’s annual environmental activities in consideration for the increasing importance of the environmental sustainability management. Check the following link to read/download the Full Report:

http://panasonic.net/eco/env_data/back_number/pdf/panasonic_eiR2011e.pdf

Sustainability Report 2011 – This report details the major corporate social responsibility (CSR) events and efforts of the new Panasonic Group. The company selected four themes based on the ISO26000 guidance on social responsibility launched in November of last year: customers, operations, supply chain, and employees and communities. The information is available for download from their CSR website at the following link:

http://panasonic.net/csr/

Notes:

HIT® is a registered trademark of SANYO Electric Co. Ltd. The name “HIT®” comes from “Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin-layer” which is an original technology of SANYO Electric Co. Ltd.

Source: Panasonic.