last updated 8th September 05
By 4ecotips

Solar power planned for local residents

The Shanghai municipal government aims at turning the city's roofs into sites for solar-energy production. If the project becomes operational, 100,000 of the 6 million roofs in Shanghai, a city plagued by chronic power shortages, will be used to supply solar energy to local residents.

Apparently, rooftops selected will be equipped with a system that is able to convert sunlight into electricity by the end of 2015. Crystalline silicon solar cells set upon large boards will turn sunlight into solar energy and be linked to the buildings' utility cables, which will then transmit electricity to the power grid.

It is estimated that the 100,000 roofs will be able to generate at least 430 million kilowatt hours of electricity every year, enough to supply the city for nearly two days. If all of the current 200-million-square-metres of rooftops in Shanghai were equipped, the city could produce more than 28.6 billion kilowatt hours of power. This is equal to one-fourth of the city's power consumption for a year.

The roof areas will expand as the city is constructing more houses, malls and factories. Professor Su Jinghui, from the highly regarded Solar energy research center of the Ministry of the Education, says: "It is better to link all the solar cells to the power grid, then it can make full use of the cells."

Professor Jinghui stresses that the central government should draft specific laws and regulations to promote the use of clean energy like solar and wind as some developed countries like Japan and Germany have already started.

Shanghai Ministry of Finance is now working on establishing special funds to promote clean energy nationwide.