The Australian National Maritime Museum has installed the country's largest lightweight solar panel roof on its Wharf 7 Heritage Centre in Sydney's Darling Harbor. By using flexible, glass-free solar panels designed by Dr. Zhengrong Shi of SunMan Energy, buildings which previously were considered unsuitable for solar panels can now take part in the renewable energy revolution.

     Dr. Shi's flexible and lightweight solar panel design, called eArche, opens up a whole new marketplace which the traditional solar panel industry has been unable to tackle to date. While the broad expanses atop many factories, warehouses and similar buildings may seem ideal for solar panels, these light, metal-skinned roofs generally don't have the structural integrity to support the weight of traditional solar panels.