The United Solar subsidiary of Rochester Hills-based Energy Conversion Devices Inc. has several major recent groundbreaking installations to its credit. One of the largest cruise ships in the world, Royal Caribbean Allure of the Sea, has an 80-kilowatt solar installation aboard, installed by BAM Energy Group in Florida.
The ship launched in December.
The laminates were installed above the ship’s shopping district. This installation, plus an initial project on the Oasis of the Sea in 2009, is believed to be the only photovoltaic laminates in operation on the open seas, helping the world class cruise liner incorporate its environmental stewardship practices.
Also, Uni-Solar is part of the Zephyr High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle from Qinetiq, a British defense and research company.
The aircraft, rolled out in July, is an ultra-light carbon fiber plane, kept airborne on solar power provided by Uni-Solar’s thin-film amorphous silicon technology. The solar array covered the 22.5 meter wingspan of the Zephyr and is no thicker than a sheet of paper.
The Zephyr was launched on July 9th and landed on July 23, remaining airborne for a full two weeks, thereby shattering the official world record set by Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4A Global Hawk. The latter flew for 30 hours 24 minutes in March of 2001. The new Zephyr also set the world record for the longest, non-stop flight without refueling.
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Source: WWJ Newsradio 95
