5 Eye-Popping Solar Installations

When it comes to solar energy, we tend to focus on practical applications, relating how green energy can make a difference in the world. Yet sometimes the drive to make solar more efficient and affordable needs to give way to the imagination. Here are five solar installations that push the boundaries of scale and possibility.

1. The Alpine Capsule

Industrial designer Ross Lovegrove, whose credits include the world’s first bamboo bicycle, lightest suitcase and first commercial solar tree, has designed something that he calls the Alpine Capsule, a self-contained structure to fulfill his Italian client Moritz Craffonara’s dream to sleep under the stars in the Italian Alps.

No more than 25 feet wide, the egg-shaped capsule is covered with a reflective coating that makes it blend seamlessly with the surrounding environment. Inside, the capsule appears to have been made of glass. The tiny home will be powered by electricity generated via wind turbine and solar panels.

2. Tûranor PlanetSolar

Last week a strange contraption sailed silently into Hong Kong Harbor, a craft topped by an array of flat solar panels, looking for all the world as if a rooftop solar array had tumbled off someone’s home and floated away to sea. The solar-powered Tûranor PlanetSolar is the vision of Raphael Domjan, who sought to combine established technologies – solar energy, wave-piercing hulls, carbon fiber construction, super-efficient electric motors – in a vessel capable of sailing round the world.

Built in Germany, Tûranor – yes, that’s Tolkien-speak for “power of the sun” – began her journey in Monaco in September of 2010, and has since crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, staying as close to the equator as possible to get the maximum benefit from sunlight. 1,762 square feet of solar panels generate 93.5 kilowatts of electricity, enough to push the motors along at a leisurely 4 to 8.5 knots, with power left over to charge the world’s biggest lithium ion battery. While the Tûranor PlanetSolar costs nothing to run, the project cost $18 million.

3. Odysseus

Odysseus is a solar concept plane designed to stay afloat for five years straight. Made specifically for unmanned flight in the stratosphere, the aircraft features a Z wing configuration of solar panels that span nearly 500 feet. Craziest of all, the wings depart separately and reconnect with each other mid-air. The designers, Aurora Flight Sciences, hope the model will fulfill its goal of uninterrupted surveillance on a given target, aka advanced solar spy missions. Think the idea is too farfetched? It won a contract with the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), with a prototype expected this year.

4. The Sundial Building

Had the Tûranor PlanetSolar coasted north into the Shandong Peninsula in northwest China, her crew might have witnessed the largest solar-powered conference center in the world. The 245,000-square-feet compound features a giant fan-shaped structure of solar panels that arcs overhead, providing 95% of the building’s electrical needs. Named the Sun and the Moon Altar, the complex was fashioned after the sundial to stress the world’s urgent need for clean, renewable power.

5. Swamp Eyes Solar Alligator

This one’s pretty silly, but for low-end, small scale solar oddities, it’s hard to beat the Swamp Eyes Solar Alligator by Sundance Solar Corporation. The 10-inch-long alligator head has a solar panel perched on top that charges a battery. At night, the eyes light up. The product is meant to keep fish-eating birds and animals away from ponds and pools.

Looking for residential solar?

Click here to get pricing, contractors and more.

5 Eye-Popping Solar Installations