Norway plans to expand world’s largest vertical rooftop solar system

CGTN Europe

Norway is home to the world’s largest vertical rooftop solar system.   The panels sit on top of the national football stadium, but the developer wants to double the size of the stadium.  CGNT Europe’s correspondent Johannes Pleschberger went to find out more.

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00:00More than 1,200 vertical solar panels, a world record, currently covers a quarter of Norway's Ullevare stadium.

00:11In the first run we are going to at least double it.

00:16The motivation is for the environment.

00:20In some other panels generated about a third of the stadium's energy needs,

00:25a share that is set to increase this winter when the system fully unfolds its potential.

00:31In this installation here we generate more energy during the winter time, which is highly valuable.

00:37It's when the energy is more expensive and more needed here in Norway.

00:41It would make sense that solar panels generate the most electricity in summer,

00:46but this is actually not the case as panels tend to overheat,

00:51meaning the higher the air temperature, the less voltage generated.

00:56But while the sun might not be hot in the winter, it does still shine,

01:00meaning one solution would be to adapt panels to stand vertically to catch the rays.

01:07These vertical and bifacial solar panels achieve a higher output,

01:12not only when getting energy from the low-lying winter sun, but also at certain times on a summer stay.

01:19We basically have too much solar energy during the middle of the day in the summer time.

01:24And vertical panels, they generate more in the morning, in the evening.

01:28Whenever excess solar energy is produced, it is usually exported to other areas or goes to waste.

01:36To counteract this trend, Trygve Mongstad's solar technology company

01:40has been developing its off-peak power solutions featuring silicon heterojunction cells,

01:46a new generation of solar cells that have proved more efficient in energy conversion than previous cells.

01:52And we are collaborating very closely with some Chinese companies now,

01:57basically because this cell technology is the best for vertical bifacial solar installations.

02:04It's hoped the expansion of the stadium roof project will soon be given the go-ahead.

02:09Meanwhile, Mongstad's concept of vertical solar panels armed with Chinese technology

02:14is gaining popularity abroad, with several buildings requesting their own versions of rooftop solar fields.

02:21Johannes Besperger, CGTN, Oslo.

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