Shanghai has approved a proposal to install thousands of solar panels on the roofs of office and apartment buildings, universities and nursing homes as part of a three-year plan to increase the use of green energy.

The plan calls for the installation of 100,000 square meters of solar panels over the next two years, government officials said yesterday.

"They are pilot projects and will showcase the advantages of solar energy, which is clean, renewable and inexhaustible," municipal spokeswoman Jiao Yang said yesterday. She said the government will subsidize construction of the panels.

The city also plans to set up several power generators with a combined capacity of 5,000 kilowatts by 2007, said Jiao.

All of these projects are included in a three-year plan the city government has just finished drafting to promote the use of solar energy.

Altogether 30 projects that combine urban construction with solar energy will be completed by 2007.

They will involve Songjiang University Town, high technology parks and New Jiangwan City, a residential complex in Yangpu District. A solar power generation project will also be built on Chongming Island.

Solar panels will also be installed in the factories of 20 to 30 heavy industrial power users.

Several landscaping lighting systems in the city's downtown core will also be powered by solar energy in the near future.

(Shanghai Daily September 15, 2005)