Context of '1963: Japan Installs Huge PV Array on Lighthouse'

Japan installs a 242-watt, photovoltaic array on a lighthouse. It is at the time the world’s largest array. [US Department of Energy, 2002 ]

4 Times Square, the tallest skyscraper built in New York City during the 1990s, is completed. The building incorporates a record-breaking amount of energy-efficient building techniques, which include an array of PV panels on the 37th through 43rd floors that produce power from sunlight. The array uses a “photovoltaic skin” that replaces the usual glass cladding materials. [US Department of Energy, 2002 ]

The Powerlight Corporation installs the US’s largest rooftop solar power system, at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, California. It is the fourth largest solar electric system in the world. It reduces the jail’s use of conventionally generated electricity by some 30 percent, and provides energy to the jail via three acres of solar electric or photovoltaic (PV) panels. [US Department of Energy, 2002 ]