SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ:SPWR) received the prestigious Smarter E-Award in the “Outstanding Projects” category in recognition of Powerhouse Brattørkaia, an 18,580-square-metre energy-positive future-proof office building located in Trondheim, Norway. SunPower supplied its high-efficiency Maxeon® solar panels for the project.
Powerhouse Brattørkaia is the world’s northernmost energy-positive building. This means it is designed to generate more energy than it will consume in its lifetime, from the production of building materials, construction, operation and management, to its eventual disposal. The excess clean solar energy – more than twice what the building needs for its own use annually – goes to a local micro-grid to power neighboring buildings, e-buses, cars and the nearby port’s ferry system.
Powerhouse Brattørkaia is the result of a collaborative effort. Entra, an environmental leader in the real estate industry, owns and manages the property, while the international architecture firm Snohetta designed the building. Global green builder Skanska performed general contracting services, while Solcellespesialisten is Norway’s total supplier of photovoltaic systems which designed and installed the rooftop solar array. SunPower supplied its high-efficiency SunPower Maxeon solar panels, which pair maximum power with unique sustainability standards like Declare Label, providing material transparency.
“The Intersolar Smarter E-Award is an important industry recognition, and we are very proud that this win for the whole team, will bring focus to Powerhouse Brattørkaia, truly a building of the future,” said Jeff Waters, CEO of SunPower Technologies and soon to be CEO of Maxeon Solar Technologies when it splits from SunPower. “It’s our honor to provide advanced solar technology that gives customers everywhere the power the make a positive impact on the world.”
Powerhouse Brattørkaia received the BREEAM Outstanding certification, the highest possible ranking by the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for an asset’s environmental, social and economic sustainability performance. Its solutions support the UNFCCC Paris Agreement that pursues efforts to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It also sets an example for responsibly constructing homes and office spaces for a renewable energy future. A location so far north required an integrated architectural solution to harvesting solar energy as the angles vary greatly across days and seasons, and panels work most efficiently at 90 degrees to the sun. The building’s steep rooftop angle was designed specifically to optimize for solar production, making the most out of the 1,157 SunPower Maxeon 3 solar panels, strategically placed to harvest as much solar energy as possible.
“This award is a testament to our talented team who delivers innovative world-class solutions to drive the energy transition forward,” commented Helene Bøe Tømmerbakke, Project leader for Solcellespesialisten. “Since Powerhouse Brattørkaia must produce more than twice as much electricity as it consumes in a year, we chose SunPower Maxeon panels, which generate more energy in a given space than any commercially available panel. We also had to use products that had documentation showing how much energy is embedded in sourcing and manufacturing. The Declare Label showed a commitment to transparency that was important to our choice.”
To learn more about the Powerhouse Brattørkaia, two blog articles are available on the SunPower global blog site.
