Over 7000 Solar Panels...On One Skyscraper!

[aliendroid]

good for publicity but not very good idea, at least 50% of the solar panels will be in shade all the time and during noon time, the time of highest sun light intensity, they'll be making no electricity as these solar panels are vertical.

[LMagic007]

Bear in mind that in this instance as indicated in the article, "Further problems developed as mosaic tiles began to fall off, exposing the concrete structure to weather damage. An urgent long-term repair was needed."

Thus they need to replace the existing tiles anyway. The article says the solar panels will power 1000 PCs.

See also from the article "The solar panels will create 181,000 units of renewable electricity each year - equivalent to the energy needed to power 55 homes for a year."

OK this gives me a better picture of its projected yearly power output. If we say the average home uses 20 kwh per day then thats 20 x 55 = 1100 kwh per day being charged at say .14c AU per kwh, that's $154 per day in electricity output. That's $56,210 per year saved in electricity. Hmmm thats not very impressive I freely admit.

OK being generous here, UK power is about twice the cost of Australian power at say 14p per kwh. So double the annual savings to $112,420 AU and it would still take the 5.5 million pound / 11 million AU project 97 years to pay for itself.

But of course you need to factor in that the building tiles would need be replaced anyway, thus we need to know the replacement cost of tiles first to get the additional cost of the solar panels. Thus for example if the tiles cost say 3 million pounds to replace anyway , then the incremental cost for panels is actually 2.5 million pounds or about 5 million AU. Thus on this basis the cost recovery would be about half the 97 years being around 49 years. Of course the panels wont likely last that long, so yes its still a tall order, no pun intended.

You must consider though the following article statement;

"It is vital that we work to promote renewable energy and energy efficient solutions in order to meet national and regional targets in this area. The Northwest is a region known for its leadership and this project highlights that as climate change continues to move up the political agenda, the Northwest is yet again leading the way for the rest of the UK."

Clearly monolithic symbolism is an important catalyst for change in our society and this project surely reflects that. It's thus also a bold statement and advertisement for solar power. Bold ideas can translate to action on a wider scale, even though in themselves they may not always appear practical. When you think of all the money that is spent in advertising around the world by big corporations, this is a drop in the bucket to promote solar energy.

I believe that in 1980s and 1990s expenditure on tobacco advertising and promotion in the UK exceeded £100 million a year. And all this for a product that kills and adds further health costs to our society. In this context, I think this bold statement on solar power is well worth every penny.