News

San Francisco Airport Installs UNI-SOLAR Array

March 03, 2002 by Jeff Shepard

The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) installed a 20kW array of building-integrated photovoltaic roofing panels to supply a portion of the power needed at one of the airport's support buildings. The UNI-SOLAR photovoltaic laminates were bonded to metal roofing pans and installed in modular units. The system is grid-connected, which means that when the photovoltaic array generates power, the utility meter runs backward. A utility inverter was installed that changes the direct current generated by the array to the alternating current used at the airport.

The system, designed and installed by Renewable Energy Resources (Occidental, CA) uses UNI-SOLAR PV laminates, which are manufactured by Bekaert ECD Solar Systems (Troy, MI), a joint venture between NV Bekaert SA and United Solar Systems Corp. United Solar is a joint venture between Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD) and Bekaert.

"We are proud to help San Francisco lead the way in the use of photovoltaics," said Stanford Ovshinsky, chairman and CEO of United Solar, and president and CEO of ECD. "This installation will showcase the uniqueness and versatility of our building-integrated photovoltaic products and increase awareness of the benefits of our Ovonic UNI-SOLAR products."