Shanghai World Expo series 9: Solar Application at Shanghai Expo

The sun has long been a symbol of power and strength for all life on our planet. Solar energy is one of the most developed clean energy sources in the world. The 2010 Shanghai World Expo will see the greatest use of solar energy in the event's history.

Solar street-lamp, tourist car use solar energy, and even solar newsstand, we may see them all in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo Park. But as experiments, we can first see them here at city solar power application center.

This building fully takes solar energy to create electricity. It has been put into use since Sept 2005, and so far produced nearly 133-thousand kilowatt hour of electricity. The electricity it produces not only covers all the staff’s daily use; it can also supply superfluous power to the entire city power network.

Prof. Zhang Zhongwei, Shanghai Solar Energy S&T Company, said, "This is the first BIPV building in the city, also the first in the country. The capacity of this building’s solar power plant is 40 kilowatt. It is more than enough for our daily use. We can also cover all the electricity use in our entire application center area."

BIPV, namely Building Integrated Photovoltaic, refers to photovoltaic systems integrated with the building phase. The systems were initially included in the construction planning procedure and then usually build along with the building to supply its future electricity use.

In fact, BIPV technology will be widely used in the expo park. Three of the four permanent building structures in the Expo Park will take up this technology, to go inline with the expo theme.

Dr. Hao Guoqiang, Shanghai Solar Energy Research Center, said, "The theme of our expo is “better city better life.”

The solar panels on the World Expo 2010 Theme Pavilion cover 26,000 square  meters of roof space. All designs use Chinese technology. It is the world's largest rooftop with a solar energy system. The system can generate 2.8 million kilowatt-hours per year - enough electricity for 2,500 Shanghai families for a year.  The electricity generated can reduce carbon dioxide discharges by 2,800 tons.

To use the renewable energy is a key element to a better city life, and the best practice of renewable energy is the solar technology.

And the best practice of solar power in the city lies in BIPV. So we recommended BIPV technology to BIE at first place. The final decision is to take up BIPV technology in three of the four permanent buildings in Expo Park. The Theme Pavilion has a big flat surface, so its capacity of solar power can reach 2800 kilowatts. The China Pavilion is smaller in size, but it has different significance. Its solar power can reach 300 kilowatts. And the expo center reaches 1000 kilowatts."