SWISS SOLAR PRIZE AND NORMAN FOSTER SOLAR AWARDS 2018

The Ceremony of the 28th Edition of the Swiss Solar Prizes and the Norman Foster Plus Energy Building (PEB) Solar Awards, organized by the Swiss Solar Agency, has been held at Luzern, Suissa.

Swiss Solar Prize and Norman Foster PEB Solar Award Jury Members (left),  presentation of Swiss Solar Potential for PV generation in buildings (middle),  Torsten Masseck, Gallus Cardonau and Wolgang Palz (right)

A Plus Energy Industry Building (Pilatus Flugzeugwerke AG), a Plus Energy School Building (Kastanienhof in St. Margarethen) and an experimental Plus Energy Wellness Unit at the NEST Research Building of EMPA at Dübendorf have been this years Laureates, which convinced the jury not only through their energy performance and positive energy balance, but also through their attractive architecture and the aesthetic building integration of their photovoltaic energy systems. 

Torsten Masseck, Member of the Norman Foster Plus Energy Building (PEB) Solar Awards Jury since 2014 stated that the quality and quantity of projects increases from year to year, and that Plus Energy Schools are an important contribution for allowing young generations experiencing the quality of Plus Energy Buildings, gaining consciousness together with their parents about the importance of understanding our buildings as energy generators and not only as places of energy consumption. He was pleased to read the laudatio and hand over the Prize to the adminstrative delegation of the Kastanienhof PlusEnergy School.

Gallus Cardonau, Director of the Swiss Solar Agency, presented numbers about the newly calculated overall solar potential of Swiss roofs, corresponding to the amount of 50TWh/a of potential PV electricity production, corresponding to 6-7 nuclear power plants. Confirming this enormous potential of renwable energy generation in buildings, and as special guest of the ceremony, Wolfgang Palz, former EU Division Head of Renewable Energies Development in Europe, presented his new book The Triuph of the Sun: The Energy of the New Century.