But this parking lot is solar-powered. Mike at Green Car Congress gives us the details on Kyocera’s “Solar Grove”: “an array of 25 ‘solar trees’ that converts a 186-vehicle parking lot into a 235-kW solar electric generating system.”
Based on test conditions and adjusted for inverter efficiency estimated at 94%, the 235 kW system is capable of generating 421,000 kilowatt hours per year.
The system’s 25 solar trees form a carport in a Kyocera employee parking lot, utilizing a total of 1,400 Kyocera KC-187G solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and 200 custom-manufactured, light-filtering PV modules….
The standard Kyocera solar modules used in the Solar Grove are covered by a 25-year manufacturer’s warranty, and Kyocera anticipates that the Solar Grove will pay for itself within 12 years.
Adding vehicle-charging stanchions to such a design to support plug-in hybrids as well as full EVs seems a small additional step.
As long as we’re going to have parking lots (and I don’t see them going anywhere soon), this is a great step forward. Now if we can just get folks into those plug-in hybrid cars…
Technorati tags: solar power, parking
Buy Dan Ramsey’s Complete Idiot’s Guide to Solar Power for Your Home at Powell’s City of Books