Pringle Creek Community in Salem, Oregon
Pringle Creek Community is one of the most sustainable communities in America, integrating green building, energy efficiency and respect for the natural environment. Pringle Creek Community utilizes innovative sustainable products and technologies in order to achieve its mission of developing a neighborhood that values community, green innovation and nature, and provides residents with an infrastructure and technologies to reduce their impact on the environment.
Solar energy continues to play an important role in Pringle Creek Community's building initiatives, and SANYO, the manufacturer of the HIT® Power Series solar panels utilized by Pringle Creek Community, has been an important partner in helping the community to achieve their sustainability goals.
With western Oregon's typically overcast winter days, it was important that Pringle Creek maximize production potential on the roof space of its community center by using the highest efficiency panels on the market. Utilizing SANYO's HIT® high efficiency panels was essential to achieving the goal of net-zero energy use in the retrofitted 1930s-era community center building. The 20.2kw system provides three times the energy required to be "net-zero," with excess generation powering the neighborhood's innovative ground-source district geothermal loop.
A Solution to Solar Energy
With the challenge of limited winter sunlight in Salem, the Pringle Creek Community sought out the highest quality panels in order to combat the challenge of limited sunlight. The Pringle Creek Community turned to SANYO North America, the leading company for 'energy and environment', and its HIT Power® series of solar panels, to achieve its goals.
The HIT Power® series features SANYO's proprietary HIT® technology. The hybrid solar panels with uniquely structured cells are among the world's most powerful solar panels. New technological improvements, including higher conversion efficiency, less vulnerability to high temperatures and enhanced construction make the HIT Power® panels the most efficient panels in the solar market today.
"The Pringle Creek community center shows what's possible when you use all the options – solar, efficiency, day lighting, water collection, and ground-source heating and cooling, which all contribute to the creation of net-zero structures, " said Alan Hickenbottom, President of Tanner Creek Energy, one of Oregon's leading commercial photovoltaic (PV) installers specializing in maximizing environmental and financial benefits from solar technology. "The highly efficient SANYO module is the perfect solution for those with limited roof space."
The Results
The SANYO solar panel system in Pringle Creek Community is currently generating approximately 21,000 kWh/yr. Forcasted to pay for itself in five years, the system is a key component of reducing long-term operational costs and a vital element in reducing the community's impact on the environment. "This is what it's all about," said Hickenbottom. "Integrating the highly efficient SANYO modules with an equally efficient building shows that net-zero buildings, even using older structures, are a real possibility." SANYO's HIT® and HIT® Double solar panels lead the world in sunlight conversion efficiency, helping customers to enjoy the maximum power generation per installed square foot. The HIT® solar cells developed by SANYO are hybrid solar cells composed of single crystalline silicon wafers surrounded by ultra-thin amorphous silicon layers.
"SANYO respects the mission and objectives of the Pringle Creek Community of achieving a net-zero impact on the environment, and because it embodies what we have envisioned for these types of products, this is an effective and crucial partnership," said Aaron Fowles, Corporate Communications Specialist for SANYO North America.
In May 2009, SANYO developed the world's highest energy conversion efficiency in its practical size (100 cm2 or more) crystalline silicon-type solar cells, achieving an efficiency of 23.0 percent (previously 22.3 percent) at a research level for its proprietary HIT® solar photovoltaic cells.
Visit the Pringle Creek Commnity Website for more information.