Taiwan's National Stadium gets solar panel roof, hug from Ma Earth

Oh sure, we've seen photovoltaic panels strewn across rooftops before, but this takes things to a whole 'nother level. Taiwan's $152 million National Stadium, which will proudly host the 2009 World Games, is home to no fewer than 8,844 solar panels. With under a month to go before the events kick off, construction on the Toyo Ito-designed arena wrapped just in time, and we're told that some 55,000 observers will soon be spectating underneath the eco-friendly shelter. Early reports have noted that in optimal sunlight, the solar panels can cover around 75 percent of the stadium's energy needs, and on days when the facility is dormant, the power generated is simply fed into the grid in order to help the local community. So, who's down for a trip to Kaohsiung? Sunscreen's on us.

[Via Inhabitat]

[IceTheGreat Posted May 21st 2009 10:53AM]

Great achievement and hopefully some more places/stadiums start implementing this technique. Why cant the new Florida Marlins stadium incorporate this? or any new stadium under construction? Wouldnt the benefits outweigh its costs?

[AJ Posted May 21st 2009 10:54AM]

$152 Million (US) to build a stadium for 55,000? One of those figures has to be off by a factor of 10. That's gotta be the cost of the panel installation.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 11:39AM]

I just read about this stadium on a green social network called Greenwala. It's great to see that engineers and trying to come up with viable solutions to some of the greatest energy drawing offenders out there (I wish they'd spin their magic in New York City, too) but I think it's a shame that this design is such an eyesore, despite the Feng Shui approach. Wouldn't it be cool if they could camouflage the solar panels with a living barrier? I heard about living treehouses on www.greenwala.com and would imagine that the concept could be applied to this project. If anyone wants to check it out, here's the link: http://www.greenwala.com/my_videos/356-Grow-A-Treehouse-With-Terreform

[fixitphil Posted May 21st 2009 11:46AM]

This could be great for the stadiums here in the States! With the MANY stadiums all over the country... Just think of the possibilities of giving back to the community that they inhabit! Would this be a perk for building a stadium in your backyard?!

[ncxcstud Posted May 21st 2009 12:12PM]

This is a really cool idea. Especially since they'll be feeding the local power grid as well for the community when it isn't in use!

[Don Corleone Posted May 21st 2009 12:27PM]

Great idea. When do we get these in the US? After Exxon goes bankrupt?

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 12:27PM]

I'm from Kaohsiung!!

[i2hellfire Posted May 21st 2009 1:38PM]

me too! when the hell did they start bringing in good architecture?

[SuJay Posted May 22nd 2009 3:45AM]

I had been in Kaohsiung for 6 years.
The city has been changing radically in the past decade and progress to a even better city than the capital city (Taipei) IMO. The stadium is kinda like a milestone in city planning, and a beautiful one.

[zachbeale Posted May 21st 2009 12:48PM]

If the 'grid' there works anything like the 'grid' here, which it most likely does, they're not giving back, they're getting paid for the power they generate, which is probably what convinced them to put the panels in, they can make up for the cost easily, and after the cost of the panels is accounted for (and most likely the rest of the stadium), they'll have a building that can earn them profit when it isn't even doing anything.

To that extent, good idea.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 12:59PM]

Good but looks awful.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 2:20PM]

Wonder what the efficiency of these cells are. They must have some crazy cooling system for dissipating excess heat.

[(Unverified) Posted May 21st 2009 3:23PM]

this is a great project! I would like to see the longevity and maintenance cost but this should be every new stadium in the US...

[Dshark Posted May 21st 2009 4:13PM]

Didn't Bill Gates house cost exactly that much? For shame.

[Edward D Posted May 21st 2009 4:15PM]

Is it just me, or does that kind of look like a fancy CPU heat sink?

[jowie Posted May 21st 2009 4:42PM]

Now why can't our London 2012 stadium look that cool?

[appsman Posted May 22nd 2009 2:43AM]

I have 5kW of solar on my roof and one thing I think of every time I see these monster installations is - Who is going to clean those things! I was losing about 10% (which works out to quite a few dollars per month) until I washed the panels. Now I have to get up on the roof at least twice a year. Rain alone doesn't seem to clean them enough.

[Amusednow Posted May 22nd 2009 6:03AM]

Great another giant toliet seat, guess the "birds nest" couldn't be the only one in that part of the world.

[(Unverified) Posted May 23rd 2009 6:07AM]

Imagine every household in the united states installing solar panels on their own roof.

http://www.energizm.com

[(Unverified) Posted May 24th 2009 8:52PM]

hey i'm Taiwanese -.-

i know this stadium but i haven't been there XD

it's cost many money = = isn't it ?