Menova Energy puts solar PV, thermal atop Wal-Mart Supercentre
I’ve got an article in the Toronto Star today about an Ottawa-based company named Menova Energy, which has what hockey fans might call a “hat trick” solar technology. The company’s Power-Spar array is a concentrated solar power system (1,000 suns), a solar thermal system, and a solar lighting system (using fibre-optic redirecton) in one. Menova announced today a $6 million project, half of it paid for through a loan from Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation, that will see a solar PV/thermal combo built on the rooftop of a Wal-Mart Canada Supercentre being constructed later this year in Markham, Ontario. Wal-Mart is testing the technology to see if it could be used in other locations across the Canadian, and possibly U.S. chain. What’s interesting is that the Power-Spar units will be manufactured in Toronto at an automotive tool and die facility, which has been devasted by a decline in the Ontario automotive sector. It’s encouraging to see that one struggling sector can adapt to take advantage of green-collar jobs.
The low-profile array is unique in its design (I’ll go into details in a later article), but perhaps most interesting is that it sits on a turntable-like system that rotates the entire array as it tracks the sun, allowing for two axis tracking. The Wal-Mart project will be 850 kilowatts in size, but will have the equivalent amount of heat energy. The solar lighting part, which the company is experimenting with for biofuel algae production and thermal storage applications, won’t be included in the Wal-Mart project.
Tyler Hamilton is editor-in-chief of Corporate Knights magazine and a business columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the clean technology and green energy market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper.
May 24th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Why won’t the solar lighting be in the Wal-Mart project? Would seem to be a logical extension of the ‘demonstration’ test. Article indicates one of their so called ‘arrays’ ‘can produce enough light to replace 560 flourescent-tube lights. Also any information on the biofuel algae production experimentation would be appreciated.