NEW SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC INSTALLATION

ETIENNE SPITERI, TECHNICAL SERVICES MANAGER

Global CO2 levels in our atmosphere have been on a steady and sustained increase, beginning roughly with the Industrial Revolution (18th century) and rising sharply, in fact almost doubling, since the 1990s.

Every year, globally, we humans generate almost 40 billion tons of CO2.

It is a fact that our modern lives are more comfortable. We have more and better cars, better heating and cooling in our homes, and some of us travel on planes to go on holidays, even multiple times each year.

Current levels of CO2 emissions, however, are unsustainable. This simply means that if we humans continue putting out the current amount of CO2, the world will become unable to sustain life within a few decades. However scary or unreal this may sound, this is a very real fact that has been repeatedly and scientifically proven.

So, while we must first ensure that we are not being wasteful, and are being responsible in our energy use and all we take from our world, we must also look for alternative sources where to derive our energy from, preferably from ‘renewable’ sources.

Renewable means ‘from a natural source that is replenished at a higher rate than is being used”, and, most importantly, does not create CO2 byproducts. Some examples of this kind of energy are Solar, Wind or Tidal, amongst others.

If we consider Solar energy, the sun outputs roughly 1,000 watts of power on each square meter of the surface of the world it falls onto. This is a staggering amount of free energy. We can either use its electromagnetic radiation directly, say through a solar water heater, or choose to turn it into electricity to power anything. The best PV systems in the market can harness around 22% to 25% of the power and convert it from light energy into electrical energy.

Farsons had already invested in its first installation of PV panels 10 years ago. This system has generated a total of 309 KWp, that is, enough to power over 100 households. This system made use of the roofs at the ‘old’ HR, the administration offices, the canteen, and the PET and Process block. When Farsons gave the land on the North side (the facade) over to Trident to develop, the PV panels were not scrapped but shifted to the then newly-built Beer Packaging Facility, which had a much larger roof. At that stage we started thinking about making better use of the rest of this roof, and even considering other areas to invest even more in this clean form of energy. After some studies we decided to completely cover the roof of the Beer Packaging Hall and of the ‘old’ and the ‘new extension’ of the Logistics Centre canopies. In total, with the new system, we managed to generate another 624 KWp. We did this by investing in high efficiency Polycrystalline Technology, with an output of 405W per panel.

As of today, in total, Farsons has almost 1MW of Solar Power installed, enough to provide clean energy to 300 domestic houses. This covers around 15% of the total electrical energy required by Farsons to operate. This new system is in an advanced commissioning stage and will be fully operational in the coming weeks. Anyone who wants a brief tour or more information about this project (or about any other sustainable projects) is very welcome to speak to me.