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May 29, 2008 7:47 AM PDT

Floating solar farm juices up winery

by Martin LaMonica

Napa Valley winery Far Niente on Tuesday commissioned what it says is the first floating solar farm.

(Credit: Sharp Solar Systems)

Called a "floatovoltaic" solar array, it is a collection of almost 1,000 solar panels hitched to pontoons that float in the vineyard's irrigation pond.

In tandem with another 1,300 panels next to the pond, the entire array will generate about 4.000 kilowatts of energy at peak time, covering the winery's annual electricity use.

The panels in Far Niente's solar array, made by Sharp Solar Systems, were installed by SPG Solar.

Originally posted at Green Tech
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin.
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by rmva May 29, 2008 11:03 AM PDT
Excuse me for being incredibly dense, but I have one question. Electrocution?
Reply to this comment
by LewTheDu May 29, 2008 12:35 PM PDT
I would imagine this would also cut down on how much water evaporates from the pond.
Reply to this comment
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