Jinko Provides Solar Panels for EPFL Roof Project in Switzerland

JinkoSolar, one of China’s largest producers of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, has supplied EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Europe’s No.1 university in the field of “Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences”) with a total of 0.7 Megawatt solar modules to install the first phase of the solar energy park over the roofs of EPFL’s campus. This three-phase project, covering an area of approximately 20,000 square meters and constructed with an estimated budget of $35 million, is going to create Switzerland’s biggest solar park and will ultimately supply over two million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year. More uniquely, the park is also destined to function as a foremost research and development center by the year 2011, accompanied by a strategic partnership in the field of energy innovation.  “One tenth of the park area will be dedicated to scientific research by the many EPFL laboratories working in the field of new energies”, said Prof. Francis-Luc Perret, EPFL’s Vice Director to the Kuwait News Agency. He added that the new facility will act as a modern showcase for the development of soft technologies. Romande Energie SA, the power utility company for the region of Lausanne, financed the project and will operate it. A special communication program based on square-meter renting is proposed to the customers. For that reason, the project is not contracted within the frame of any feed-in-tariff program. Due to the project’s significance and publicity, many solar product producers have participated in the tender process. Jinko Solar, working with its Swiss partner Solstis SA, has been selected as the supplier for the first-phase installation, which is located in the center of the EPFL campus and occupies eight rooftops amounting to 7,000 square meters. “We are proud to be part of this initiative and to ” commented Kerong Wang, managing director of Jinko Solar GmbH. “as a first-class higher education institute of technology and science, EPFL is certainly very particular about whom to cooperate with. Jinko has distinguished itself with high-quality products and customer-oriented services. Together, we hope to contribute to the research and further development of solar power generating technologies.”