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Geneva unveils largest Swiss solar system

The biggest solar panel installation in Switzerland was inaugurated by officials on Tuesday at Palexpo, the Geneva exhibition centre.

Geneva unveils largest Swiss solar system
Photo: SIG/Palexpo

The rooftop photovoltaic system, comprising 15,000 panels, is capable of producing enough electricity for 1,350 households — 4.2 gigawatt-hours per year.

Covering 15,000 square metres, the solar project is three times bigger than the previous biggest such installation in the country.

The Services Industriels de Genève (SIG), the state-owned utility, invested 15 million francs ($16 million) in the new system, boosting its output of solar power by 50 percent in the process.

In a statement, Palexpo said that it and SIG wanted in the planning process to ensure the electricity produced by the installation would be affordable — less than 50 centimes a kilowatt-hour.

In fact, it said the cost is 33 centimes, while the system is designed to produce 30 percent of the exhibition centre’s annual power needs.

Engineers faced a number of challenges in retrofitting Palexpo’s roof to accommodate the solar panels and associated electrical equipment, which weigh a total of 560 tonnes.

The roof had to be reinforced to carry the weight of the installation.

“With a photovoltaic panel surface per resident three times more than the national average, Geneva is positioning itself at the head of Swiss cantons,” said Pierre Maudet, Geneva cabinet minister responsible for energy.
 
The project fits in with a policy adopted by the canton to promote renewable energy whenever possible.

The Palexpo installation has more than double the capacity of one at the Federal Institute for Technology at Lausanne (EPFL), which previously held the Swiss record with an output of two gigawatt-hours per year.

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Danish U-turn: children with sick relatives should stay home

Children who live with someone ill with coronavirus-like symptoms should not attend kindergarten or school, Denmark's health minister has announced, responding to widespread concern surrounding the reopening of the country's schools.

Danish U-turn: children with sick relatives should stay home
Parents have been worried about the reopening. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix
Magnus Heunicke announced the new policy in a press release sent out on Sunday, following widespread criticism of the guidance from the Danish Health Authority (Sundhetsstyrelsen) that having sick relatives at home should not prevent children returning when schools reopen this week. 
 

“Many have been unsure whether the right measures have been taken when schools and daycare services open up again on Wednesday,” Heunicke said in the press release. 
 
“In particular there have been questions over whether children should attend kindergarten or school if someone is infected with Covid-19 at home. This uncertainty is now being taken away by the government.” 
 
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Municipal governments in Aalborg, Aarhus and Odense, among others, had already responded to public unease about children bringing the infection from home by saying they would defy the health authority and allow the families of children who have sick people at home to keep them home. 
 
 

The Danish government's decision to overrule its own health authority sees the country's policy diverge from that of neighbouring Sweden, where the advice to parents is that children should be sent to school even if someone at home is ill. 
 
Heunicke said that the decision had followed a reappraisal of how likely it is that children will be able to follow hygiene requirements. 
 
“There are a number of strict requirements for cleaning, hygiene and self-insulation when there is a coronavirus infection at home. This can be really difficult for families with smaller children, and we understand that there are many who are unsure about this situation,” he said.  
 
“Therefore, in the government, we have decided, on a precautionary principle, that children living in a household with a person who has coronavirus should not attend school or daycare.” 
 
This decision applies only to children, and not to adult staff who work in schools or kindergartens, as the ministry believes adult staff will be better able to follow sanitary guidelines.  
 
According to a survey by Local Government Denmark, which represents the country's municipalities, over half of Denmark's municipalities plan to reopen schools and kindergartens on Wednesday, with the rest following no later than Monday. 
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