Wanted: More solar energy powering photovoltaic production plants
Why aren’t more solar production plants powered by solar energy? Although it’s not uncommon for solar cell and module companies to have some panels operating onsite, atop the roof or bolted to ground-mounted racks, they’re usually smallish test arrays, of no more than a few kilowatts, not serious power systems providing a significant chunk of the electricity needs of the plant. Nothing says “sustainability” like clean and green products manufactured using renewable power, not to mention the benefits for a company’s carbon footprint and energy payback time stats. That’s why the news of a couple more manufacturers plugging in decent-sized PV systems on their own factories provides a modest pretext to be thankful.