Sun shining on gravestones

You must have been dead if you haven’t heard the news over the past few days of the graveyard solar panels installed in Spain.  Yes, I know – that is kind of an awful way to put it – but seriously, please don’t hang out underground any longer.  Its time to think more broadly about potential real estate on which solar panels can be installed to generate clean electricity.  Why not a cemetery?

O.K.  At first, I was as shocked as you.  Is nothing sacred?

Let’s go to Spain.  There, a solar energy company, Conste-Live Energy wanted to install solar panels to generate clean, pollution-free energy. The problem was that, though the village of Santa Coloma, near Barcelona, wanted to start a solar energy program, it is very dense.  The city has a population of 124,000 people squeezed into 4 square kilometers (about 1.5 square miles).  While there are some cemeteries in Spain that have been outfitted with solar panels on office building roofs, the Santa Coloma project would be the first mausoleum installation.

Why the cemetery?  Perhaps the most obvious reason is that flat, open, sunny space is rare in Santa Coloma.  As the townspeople started looking around for places to launch its solar energy program, the mausoleum came out on top as the most viable location for a solar array.

Not everyone agreed that the cemetery’s mausoleum rooftop was an appropriate site for graveyard solar panels. In fact, some said, “over my dead body!”  As a result, it took Conste-Live Energy three years to get the required government approvals to install the panels.  They even launched a public campaign and promised to install the solar panels on top of the mausoleum in a respectful manner.  Eventually, the public came around to the idea of “green graves,” believing it would actually honor the dead that are buried there.

In a recent interview with Esteve Serret, the director of Conste-Live Energy, he observed:

“The best tribute we can pay to our ancestors, whatever your religion may be, is to generate clean energy for new generations. That is our leitmotif…”

Santa Coloma Cemetery Solar Panels

What are the basic facts, you ask?  Well, let’s start with the fact that Santa Coloma has 4 other rooftop solar installations but the graveyard solar panel‘s is the largest in town.  It has been a little over a week since the cemetery’s solar energy system went live – on November 19, 2008  – and so far the news has been buzzing as much as the energy generated by the solar panels.  The specific location was selected because of  the southern facing slope on which the cemetery is located (see photo to the right).  In order to minimize the aesthetic impact of the system, the panels were angled with a low profile.

Santa Coloma’s graveyard solar panel project is comprised of 462 solar panels, which cover only 5% of the surface area.  The remains of about 57,000 people are at rest at the mausoleum, which was constructed into 5 layers of coffins.  The project was relatively inexpensive, considering the positive environmental impact that will result.  An investment of only $900,000 (720,000 euros) for the solar panels, which will result in a reduction of 62 tons a year of greenhouse gas emissions.

Santa Coloma would like to eventually triple its solar capacity over time.  There is still some valuable real estate at the cemetary…. do you think there is a “ghost” of a chance more graveyard solar panels will be installed?

What do you think – is the Santa Coloma solar array appropriate or disrespectful?