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Topic: CXO

Park right there, under the third solar panel

Summary: (Updated on July 28, 2010, to correct size of smaller projects, as well as total capacity served by Solaire projects.)Say you're a company that really requires most of your employees to work onsite.

Heather Clancy

By for GreenTech Pastures |

(Updated on July 28, 2010, to correct size of smaller projects, as well as total capacity served by Solaire projects.)

Say you're a company that really requires most of your employees to work onsite. You can't really support the telecommuting thing right now. How can you provide a little extra incentive to make your team feel good about being there ? How about adding some solar power to your parking lot?

That's the business proposition of Solaire Generation, a New York-based company that is helping businesses capitalize on underutilized real estate.

The simple fact, according to Solaire Generation CEO and founder Laurence Mackler, is that most parking lots are heat sinks, making them a prime location for solar installations.

Not only does an installation provide extra capacity that can be used by the landlord -- typically a corporate park or maybe a mall - but the panels provide some shade. Some businesses are also interested in supporting electric car charging with their installation, since the eight-hour window that most people spend at an office also happens to be an ideal time to charge your vehicle, says Macker.

Solaire works with the solar installation companies, which are the ones pitching these installations to businesses and retail organizations -- anyone with a parking lot, essentially. Macker says the projects range from small (about 500 kilowatts). A typical size for a 600-space location would be about 1 megawatt. Right now, California and New Jersey are two of the states with the best incentives for solar installations.

Solaire has recently completed a 1.1 megawatt project for Johnson & Johnson. It recently began a new project, for 3.5 megawatts, at an undisclosed site in New Jersey. For perspective, 1 megawatt would power the equivalent of 114 households, he estimates.

"We are only limited by the size of the parking lot," Mackler says.

Topics: CXO, Enterprise Software, Telcos

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21 comments
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  • Utopia meets reality.

    20% efficient solar panel: 200 watts per square meter.
    Typical parking stall: 6 square meters.
    Electrical generation per stall: 1.2 kilowatts.
    Time to charge an electric car for one hour of operation under said stall: 33.33 hours.
    frgough
    Reply Vote

    • From the article...

      " A typical size for a 600-space location would be about 1 megawatt." A little applied math tells us that would equate to 1.67 kilowatts, not 1.2. To charge a fully depleted Prius, it would take approximately 3 1/2 hours.
      jasonp@...
      Reply Vote

    • The 3 1/2 hours...

      is for the NiMH battery. An EDrive system roughly doubles the charge time, but also doubles the distance between charges.
      jasonp@...
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

      And everyone here is assuming full sun all the time. The sun moves in the sky with MAXIMUM power generated *ONLY* when the sun's rays are perpendicular to the solar panel. This only happens for about 15 minutes out of the day...and in 99% of the united states, it's a crap shoot if there's any clouds out at that time or not. And the solar panels must be operating at maximum efficiency..ie. no dust, bird droppings, or other items such as trees and the like. So, you need to take that 20% efficiency and aggregate it through out the average day with a bell curve. It turns out that this 20% efficiency is more like 8%...
      tech_ed@...
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

        @tech_ed@... This argument is based on a lot of old or incomplete numbers. It doesn't take a lot of googling around to see that even at 8% efficiency, the cost in environmental impact for modern solar cells is far less than fossel fuels and the economic value of the least efficient cells is enough to easily compete.
        grassdogstudio
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

      @frgough of course that's assuming that all the stalls will have electric cars in them. In reality, only a small minority of them will be taken by electric vehicles. The power used to charge vehicles will be a fraction of the power generated by the system.
      kevinrs1
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

    This is a wonderful idea. The construction of such panels should be everywhere.

    greetings!
    http://www.tomold.xaa.pl
    Upsilon2007
    Reply Vote

  • Bad idea

    What's the environmental impact of mining for minerals, manufacturing, shipping and installing the solar panels?

    To truly be environmentally friendly, companies should instead give incentives to people who carpool, to people who use mass transit; to help people move closer to their jobs.

    And plant more trees in islands and medians in the parking lot. Or even better, design underground parking into new facilities.
    aep528
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

      @aep528: I suspect the impact balances out after the first few months, though it would be interesting to see the numbers.

      Re. your incentives idea, agreed.
      scripter
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

        @scripter Replace "first few months" with "first few decades" and you are correct. It takes a LONG time to "pay back" on solar cells from a manufacturing perspective. Otherwise, they would be a lot cheaper to procure!
        joebob2000
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

        @scripter Less than a year for the newest (and interestingly, cheapest) panels. About two to three years for the ones in my grandfather's back yard down in Olympia, WA (which is pretty good for a Washingtonian).

        Solar panels are a bit more practical than a lot of people say or write.

        RE: joebob2000 - They already are cheaper to procure.
        grassdogstudio
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

      @aep528 There have been some advances in solar technology that have brought that cost down significantly. The fact that these are not mainstream yet doesn't automatically negate their relevance. The technology has a chance. If it's truly expensive to keep it up, it'll never catch on, and then we don't need to worry about it. If it catches on and works out, then we can keep the pressure up to make them more economical and ecological.
      grassdogstudio
      Reply Vote

  • Love IT

    What a great use...shade and a little juice...Some days I think would allow them in our lot and my driveway and let them have the juice just for the shade.
    stevej@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

    I agree and disagree with aep528. I agree that companies should give carpooling and mass transit incentives - and I think that many do, already. But, I don't think installing solar panels in a parking lot and encouraging mass transit are mutually exclusive. They both offer different solutions, and at this point, we need as many solutions as we can get.

    -Nami
    sunrun_nami
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

    In deciding upon the merit of solar cell arrays, the question we must ask is: How many kilowatt-hours per year can we harvest, and how long will it take to pay back the investment in money and materials? Actually, given the threat to our standard of living if carbon dioxide-induced global warming is for real, I hope Solaire Generation's ideas work out. I have no emotional, intellectual or financial reason for wanting them to fail.
    AlexKovnat
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

      @AlexKovnat Agreed. I work at Dell. We've installed a few solar panels in our parking lot here in Round Rock. They have the car charger ports installed as well. I think, though I am not officially a sustainability spokesperson for Dell, that we are studying how long it takes to recover the initial investment capital with an eye on expanding to more panels in more parking lots worldwide. I wish only the best of luck to Solaire Generation. It's a noble effort.
      Dell-Bill B
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

    Very interesting concept, one that is already being deployed by many companies including Patagonia in Ventura, CA.

    The power can be used for a variety of purposes. Certainly charging stations for EVs is one idea. The power can also be used to reduce the demand placed on the grid by the company (ies) located adjacent to the parking structure.

    Data centers are another facility type typically adjacent to large parking lots and/or open spaces suitable for PV and wind power development.

    With sufficient FITs (Feed in Tariffs) the parking structure could be used as a cash generator during times of peak incentives.

    Now one does have to wonder about the financial worth of the PV charging station to those who take advantage of it for their EVs. Should the charging station be metered? Should the person receiving the charge for their EV be required to pay for this energy? Perhaps through a credit/debit card or monthly billing system? If not, then does the company have an obligation to report this as ?income? to the IRS? If so, at what nominal rate for energy?

    That then creates a regulation issue as only authorized/permitted utilities are allowed to charge for energy.

    Yet a select few would be receiving the benefit of the charging station along with the Federal and State tax credits and incentives associated with installing the PV array.

    Something to think about.

    Jack Pouchet
    jpouchet
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

      @jpouchet Now one does have to wonder about the financial worth of the PV charging station to those who take advantage of it for their EVs.<br><br>Here's an idea. If the business provides a vehicle to the CEO and the like, make it an EV. Then, those EV charging spots would be "reserved" for them and only them. Thus, the charging of the EV's would be part and parcel of the executive's compensation package. But what CEO, COO, CFO, et cetera would want to be caught dead in an EV? Unless somebody converts a Cadillac Escalade into an EV.
      reziol
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Park right there, under the third solar panel

        @reziol

        The Tesla Roadster might be good enough for some corporate officers.
        grassdogstudio
        Reply Vote

  • Greentech

    Pave paradise. Put up a parking lot.
    dc.martin@...
    Reply Vote
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