Solar Ark - History

History

The Solar Ark was constructed by Sanyo Electric Co. Its development was accidental among other things. Initially, Sanyo Electric had intended to create the largest photovoltaic system in the world, with a 3.4 megawatt output, to mark the organisation's 50th anniversary. By 1998, designers had already been in discussions about the Solar Ark’s appearance. Sanyo had planned on using cutting edge solar technology available to them at the time, using a combination of crystal silicon and thin-film amorphous silicon with 14-15% efficiency. However during the initial planning, Sanyo had to recall several monocrystalline cells, which were the predecessors of the hybrid technology mentioned before, due to insufficient output.

Sanyo Electric Co. still decided to go ahead the Solar Ark’s construction; however, instead of using the previously planned technology, Sanyo instead, used the recalled monocrystalline cells. Sanyo says “We have done this to show our sincere regret that this problem has occurred and to express our willingness and determination to both remember what happened and how important it is to maintain quality.” Construction was completed in December 2001.

Panasonic acquired Sanyo, and as part of its corporate restructuring and re-branding strategy, the red Sanyo logo on the Solar Ark was replaced with a blue Panasonic logo in August 2011.