Solar Parking Lot (actually a solar shield)

I like solar, but sometimes I get a bit apprehensive about some solar projects, like building a huge solar farm but needing to bulldoze acres of wild land or other green space for installation.  

That being said, I saw a solar project a couple of days ago that I just loved.  I was moving my daughter into college and we parked in a huge parking lot on a hot, sunny day, fully expecting to have the van heated up like a microwave.  But not this day!  Turns out that the university recently installed a huge array of solar panels 20’ or so above the parking lot.  The lot was all nice and shaded all day and the van stayed fairly cool.  I checked the specs for the parking lot array, and that lot had a maximum output of 1.2 megawatts!  Not bad!  If we assume that there are about 5 peak(ish) hours of sunlight on a bright day then the whole array would produce about 6 megawatt-hours of energy (this is all after losses from converting from DC to AC).

I thought this was one of the best solar applications I have ever seen.  Nobody really likes a parking lot so no nature is damaged.  Electricity is produced silently and the parking lot stays much, much cooler.

Eric

just seeing the title, i thought there might be some application with surface of the parking lot itself. the shade idea is better.

I like that it was both electricity and cooler temperatures.

Companies here and there have been doing this for decades. It is a brilliant idea that I wish would catch on more. Roof mounted arrays have the drawback that reroofing is significantly complicated; parking lot arrays only have to worry about slow vehicle traffic when doing maintenance.

The first time I saw something like this was at a zoo parking lot here in Japan. It's a cool zoo, one of the best rated in Japan because the animals actually have space to move... unlike many of the zoos here. I wish the shade was a little broader, and didn't move so much during the day, but it definitely provided some relief from the sun. I don't know how much energy it produces.

Good point about re-roofing Glenn.

Actually I know of a small handful of reasons that rooftop solar Incan be problematic, with re-roofing being just one issue.  I have sometimes mentioned rooftop solar issues/difficulties and I inadvertently come about sounding like I am anti-solar which I am not.  And like I mentioned in the first post, I do have issues with bulldozing acres and acres of green space to put up solar panels.  I get the feeling like the land was better left with trees on it (I am thinking specifically about the new Apple headquarters which is all solar powered but had to bulldoze a woods to do so).

But nobody likes a parking lot in the first place!  They are big, featureless, ugly, and hot pieces of ground.  Why not cool the ground, cars and make energy all at the same time?

Eric

Nice picture L!

I would not have thought of an array that was arranged lol the one pictured but it is a clever idea.

The one I saw was basically flat.  The panels covered the parking spaces while the driving space was left open  to allow plenty of light to shine through.

I found out the power rating by going online and checking the university’s website.

In some ways the site was not ideal (but why let that stop a good idea).  The parking lot was on an east-sloping hill, so the panels all sloped east whereas a southern slope would have been better and gotten more hours of direct sunlight.

Still, though, 1.2 megawatts is nothing to be ashamed of and the parking lot was still cool by 1:30 in the afternoon on a sunny day, so again, I really thought this was a great idea.

Eric

It's pretty standard in the SF Bay Area for schools to have solar panels in the parking lots. Both of my kids high schools and the community college had them. Here in southern Oregon, they have the big solar farms on flat open land. I really don't understand why some people are opposed but haters gonna hate.