(October 14, 2002) For the last five years, Messestadt Riem has enjoyed a great distinction. It is home to the largest building-borne photovoltaic facility in the world. Located on the roof of Munich's fairgrounds, the facility has 7,750 square meters of photovoltaic panels. Their capacity is 1.06 MW of electricity a year.

That figure is about to double, thanks to the adding on of a further 6,500 square meters of panels. The Euro 5.5 million expansion will be commissioned at the end of October.

That's good news for the world's climate, as the electricity produced by the expanded facility will cut Munich's annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 2,000 tonnes.