A shopping mall in the Philippines now boasts the world’s largest commercial rooftop solar array, which generates 2.9 MW of clean energy to help run the mall’s operations.
To date, the project is also the biggest private solar power system designed for self-consumption in the country.
The Philippines-based property developer behind the venture, Robinsons Land, has plans to add rooftop solar panels to its other retail centers, for a total of 12.5 MW by the end of this year.
The 2.9 MW solar array was switched on this month atop Robinsons Starmills shopping mall in San Fernando, in the province of Pampanga.
It is the latest in a series of solar projects backed by the Robinsons Land company, which announced in March a lineup of six currently on deck – they are were targeted for completion by May last year. Two others have already running by the end of 2016.
The company switched on at least two other solar plants on mall properties in 2015, and each project is bigger than the one before.
In total, the developer is aiming for 12.5 MW solar power capacity across 10 solar plants, all located on the rooftops of shopping malls. The company said in a release that those 10 plants combined will generate almost 16 million kW/h of clean energy, saving 8,760 tons of CO2 emissions each year. According to the developer, that is equivalent to planting 223,965 full grown trees.
By the end of 2016, Robinsons Land promised the plants will, together, generate around 30 percent of the energy needed to run those shopping malls. The developer eventually plans to install solar power arrays on the rooftops of all of its 41 malls.
The original article is written by the Cat Distaclo, published on 31 May, 2016.
