Ameren Missouri plans to offer its customers more information about use of solar energy and will begin a demonstration project next year.
On Monday the St. Louis-based utility that serves Central Missouri unveiled a design for a multi-technology solar installation at the company’s headquarters in downtown St. Louis.
By the end of the year Sachs Electric Co. will complete installation of five solar power systems on the roof of Ameren Missouri’s headquarters on Chouteau Avenue in St. Louis.
Thomas R. Voss, Ameren president and chief executive officer, said the utility wants to provide its customers with practical information on the effectiveness and efficiencies of specific types of solar generation systems in Missouri’s climate.
Voss said “information on our experience with these technologies will be available to the public so our customers can evaluate the use of solar energy at their homes or businesses.”
The project also will offer a viewing area and a classroom where visitors will be able to see the rooftop solar systems along with monitors showing how much energy it’s solar system is generating.
Voss said the firm’s experience with the solar energy demonstration project will be made available online for the public to view after the project is completed. It will be available in the spring of 2011 a twww.ameren.com/solar on the Internet.
The three main solar generating systems to be installed on Ameren Missouri’s rooftop will be polycrystalline, monocrystalline and thin film.
These systems have solar modules containing solar cells. They are square-shaped panels with semiconductors made of conductive materials. When sunlight strikes a solar cell, the sun’s energy is converted into electric current.
Crystalline silicon is the material used in the majority of solar modules today.
In the monocrystalline system, each module is made from a single silicon crystal and is more efficient. However, it is more expensive than the newer and cheaper polycrystalline types using multiple silicon crystals. The polycrystalline and monocrystalline modules will each provide 30 kilowatts of electricity.
Thin-film technologies use small amounts of specialized materials to create solar panels. These materials don’t have to be thick because they absorb energy from the sun efficiently. As a result, thin-film solar cells are light and flexible. The technology will account for 30 kilowatts of total capacity.
As part of the demonstration project, two tracker systems will be installed on the utility’s roof. These units use a pyramidal stand so they will rotate to follow the sun, thereby increasing their energy yields.
Missouri voters in 2008 approved a ballot initiative known as Proposition C that created a law by the initiative petition process. The law requires Missouri’s four investor-owned electric utilities to buy or generate 2 percent of their electricity from renewable fuels starting in 2011. The amount increases to 15 percent by 2021. At least 2 percent has to be solar energy.
Ameren Missouri, which changed its name on Oct. 1 from AmerenUE, is experimenting with generating solar electricity and is sharing what it learns with its customers who may want to try installing solar energy at their homes.
Some of the issues with solar panels are the initial expense involved in erecting them along with the durability of solar panels over the years in resisting sun, rain, snow, ice, wind and hail.
-DON NORFLEET
