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RELATED ARTICLES: IN PICTURES: KAUST | KAUST praised by AIA | Tips to beat the recession
Conergy, a consortium of Hamburg-based solar experts, and Saudi Arabia’s leading solar system integrator, National Solar Systems (NSS), have built a 2 MW solar park on the rooftop of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) at Thuwal, near Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Conergy designed the park, and was responsible for the engineering, supervision and commissioning, while installation works and operational management were implemented by NSS.
The 2 MW solar plant – the first, and largest to date, solar installation in Saudi Arabia – consists of two rooftop solar installations with a capacity of 1 MW each, installed on the north and south laboratories of the university.
The power system features premium components, combining over 9 300 high-efficiency solar modules with Conergy Suntop III mounting systems and Conergy 280K central inverters. The photovoltaic plant occupies 11 577 square metres of roof space and produces 3 332 MW/h of clean energy annually, while also saving up to 33 320 tons of carbon emissions.
The solar park initiative is part of KAUST’s wider green technology programme, as the flagship university wants to advance solar energy research through its Solar and Alternative Energy Science and Engineering Centre, and deploy clean energy solutions on its campus.
A KAUST spokesman says: “We are proud to be among the solar pioneers in our country and to have the first and the largest solar park at KAUST. Despite our country being the largest oil producer, we think it is essential to develop new and sustainable technologies for the benefit of the Kingdom, the region and the world,” said a KAUST spokesperson.
“This project demonstrates that the development of alternatives to traditional fossil fuel has taken on a new urgency, even in oil-rich countries like Saudi Arabia,” said Conergy Asia Pacific and Middle East head Marc Lohoff.
“For the first time, clean power is flowing into the national grid. This is a historical event for us in Saudi Arabia,” said NSS MD Abdulhadi Al-Mureeh.
The new international graduate-level research university campus was designed by HOK Architects and completed in September 2009.
The university was established by the government-owned Aramco, the world’s largest energy corporation, to drive innovation in science and technology and to support world-class research in areas such as energy and the environment.
KAUST’s new campus is Saudi Arabia’s first LEED-certified project, earning a LEED Platinum certification. While the project was certified under the old LEED Version 1.0 certification, as a 496 000 square metre project, it represents the world’s largest LEED Platinum project.
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Dear Ghalib, if not cleaned...Dust keeps filling voids on the surface of the solar panel till you have a panel of only '