VATICAN CITY (AFP) – The Vatican began its conversion to renewable energy system Wednesday with the inauguration of an array of solar panels on a key building.
The 2,400 panels on the 5,000 square metre roof of the Paul VI auditorium, near St Peter's Basilica, where popes hold general audiences, will convert sunlight into 300 megawatts of electricity a year.
This is enough for the year-round energy needs of the hall, which is also used for concerts and conferences, and several surrounding buildings, according to the Vatican.
The auditorium is one of the most modern buildings in the Vatican City and the system will save the equivalent of 80 tonnes of oil per year, or 225 tonnes of CO2.
The panels were donated by German company Solarworld, which recently hit the headlines with a plan to take over vehicle builder Opel.
Solarworld's boss Frank Asbeck met the late pope John Paul II in 2002, and according to his own account asked for a papal blessing on his firm's solar panels in the hope of stopping them being stolen while in transit.
Other buildings in the Roman Catholic Church's city state will soon benefit from renewable energy sources as the Vatican expands its green ethos across its 44 hectares (110 acres).
It plans to have enough renewable energy sources to provide 20 percent of its needs by 2020, in line with a European Union target.
The next project will be a solar heating facility in its so-called "industrial zone".
Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessor John Paul II both encouraged the Vatican to go progressively "green".
Since summer 2007, the Vatican has been involved with a scheme to restore an ancient forest in Hungary, under a pact with Planktos-Klimafa, an eco-restoration company... read more about the Vatican Solar Power project
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