This huge indoor ski slope is now covered in solar panels

The 12,500-square-meter (134,549-square-foot) roof of an indoor ski slope in Belgium is covered in solar panels.

SnowWorld Antwerp now has 1,452 solar panels on its vast roof. SnowWorld rented its roof to Belgian solar company EnergyVision, and the indoor ski slope can use the clean electricity generated.

Before the solar panels were attached, a 1.5-mm-thick waterproof membrane was laid on the roof, which rises to 40 meters (131 feet) high. Renolit Alkorplan, the company that installed the membrane, said the solar installers analyzed wind loading on the roof to determine the safest configuration.

SnowWorld doesn’t say what Antwerp’s solar capacity is, but its sister sites – at Landgraaf and Zoetermeer in the Netherlands, with 10,000 and 3,000 panels, respectively – together generate around 2.5 million kWh of clean energy annually.

Rooftop solar is an excellent choice for indoor ski resorts since they use a lot of electricity. They’re enormous places that must keep temperatures extremely low to support energy-intense snowmaking.

You can watch the solar installation at SnowWorld Antwerp in this short video:

Read more: Rooftop solar could power up to 35% of US manufacturing – study

Photo: Renolit Alkorplan

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