Staff Reports
The Tonawanda News
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A local company is introducing what it calls the state’s first solar-ready business park at its River Road, North Tonawanda location today at the Riverview Solar Technology Park.
Dupont Apollo, a subsidiary of Dupont, manufactures the technology and also supplied the demonstration with a product called thin-filmed solar panels, which can be found mounted on five eight-foot poles and generate six kilowatts.
The Dupont plant in the town also makes Tedlar, a product integral to the production of the solar technology.
“I believe it is a first of its kind project,” said Daniel Montante, director of solar project development for TM Montante Development. “It’s a relatively new technology.”
Montante said the reality is that environmental conditions in Western New York are better suited for the thin-filmed solar modules, while the majority of business conducted with solar products often lies in the warmer climates of Asia.
“From a market prospective the biggest opportunity is at latitudes similar to where we are here,” he said. “This technology tends to perform very well here. It does well at dusk and dawn.”
Riverview Solar Technology Park is a 180-acre commercial development site, Montante said, and features office space, light manufacturing as well as research and development opportunities.
“There is great potential for this project in Western New York to have an influence on our development of solar technology worldwide,” said Jrhong Chen, technology group director at DuPont Apollo, in a statement released Friday.
“Our amorphous silicon PV modules are known for their superior tolerance to all weather conditions and are comparatively more efficient at converting the sun’s energy into electricity at dawn and dusk, as well as on overcast, cloudy days. When it comes to power performance, optimizing electricity production under real world operating conditions is a large part of our value proposition.”
