It seems sort of counter-intuitive that you could derive shade from a solar structure, but Envision Solar International has developed something it calls the Solar Tree.
Here’s a picture:
The technology is being targeted at buildings with big parking lots, which could use them as shade structures while generated solar energy for the main buildling. The company says that a standard-size regional mall parking lot “forested” by the Solar Trees would generate a half-megawatt of clean electricity.
Envision Solar is encouraging property owners and managers to install the technology under a Power Purchase Agreement (much like the one that Hewlett-Packard has negotiated for the solar installation at its facility in San Diego). Malls or property sites wouldn’t actually own the installations, so they wouldn’t have to lay out the capital, but they WOULD have to agree to buy the power that the Solar Trees generate at a prescribed rate.
