Solar Firm Claims Renewable Energy World First

A UK-based solar cell manufacturer is set to make history by drawing on renewable energy as a power source from the end of 2010 onwards.

The installation of a wind turbine at the site will provide the first instance anywhere in the world of renewable energy being used to manufacture renewable energy products.

Supplied by UK-based renewable energy firm Ecotricity, the wind turbine will have a 2.3 Megawatt output and will stand 120 metres tall. It will feed power into Welsh company G24 Innovations’ facilities, where the latest developments in solar cell technology are taking place.

G24i produces a range of flexible and reduced-weight solar cells, which are capable of being incorporated into products including laptop cases, Smartphones and other modern-day electronic devices.

Wind and Solar: Combined Renewable Energies

According to Ecotricity’s Managing Director, Dale Vince, the combination of renewable energies at G24i is unprecedented and – in blending wind and solar - represents a true global first.

“We're chuffed to be building this windmill to power G24i: it's not just a world first, it's a small glimpse of the future and for me at least a very exciting one”, Vince stated in a company press release issued online on 3 August 2010. “It's almost perpetual motion”, he added.

As per G24i, the wind turbine – which is scheduled to become operational before the end of 2010 – will generate 5.9m electricity units on an annual basis for approximately 25 years – sufficient to electrify more than 1,700 houses.

Renewable World First

Use of the wind turbine will also reduce the company’s annual carbon footprint by over 2,500 tons, while electricity produced through this renewable world first which is beyond G24i’s own requirements will be supplied to the National Grid.

“At G24i, our vision is to create a new type of solar technology that works in low light, indoors and where no other solar cell can effectively operate - and to accomplish this with the smallest carbon footprint possible”, G24i’s Robert Hertzberg commented, describing the wind turbine installation and use as “...just another step in our innovative approach in developing a world class “green” technology company.”

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