World First: Sunkid Moving Carpet Becomes an Eco-power Plant

INNSBRUCK, Austria, January 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The photovoltaic canopy above the moving walkway produces more power than it needs to power itself

With a market share of about 70 percent, Sunkid GmbH, based in Imst (Tyrol/Austria), is a leader in the area of pedestrian transport using outdoor moving walkways. The team surrounding CEO Emanuel Wohlfarter and CTO Herbert Zopf are continuously focused on further developments and new applications for Sunkid products in the leisure sector. The most recent achievement has just been installed at nearly 2,000 meters above sea level in the Austrian Alps. A Moving Carpet, that is now producing power from its PV modules mounted on its canopy.

PV modules produce more power than the Moving Carpet needs

"The solar modules installed on the canopy above the Moving Carpet produce more eco-power than the system itself consumes. The excess residual current can be fed into the power grid," explains CEO Emanuel Wohlfarter.

The 180 metre long Sunkid Moving Carpet in the Zillertal arena (Tyrol/Austria) consumes approximately 16,000 kWh power per winter season during its daily lift operation from 9:00 - 16:00. The photovoltaic system installed on the canopy of the Moving Carpet produces approximately 22,000 kWh per year. This "excess" amount of eco-power, amounting to 6,000 kWh - about one third of the total power produced - can be fed into the public power grid.

Sunkid, the global market leader for moving walkways

With more than 70 percent of the market share, Sunkid is the global market leader in the area of outdoor moving walkways, and is represented in more than 50 countries. More than 125,000 running metres of moving walkways have been installed so far in countries such as Austria, Italy, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Germany, France and Spain. Eastern Europe is also an important future market with about one fifth of the total turnover.

Sunkid operates several companies in the USA, Switzerland and France. With 80 employees, the group generates a consolidated turnover of 18 million Euros. For further information on the company and products, go to sunkidworld.com

inpublic GmbH
Jürgen Birlmair
Tel.: +43-(0)512-908400
E-mail: birlmair@inpublic.at