Why Don’t We Install Solar Panels On Every Parking Lot?

By Senoria Khursheed ⏐ 3 years ago ⏐

3 min read

Covering the parking lots with solar panels will benefit drivers and the environment.
Michigan University State Campus provides a premium parking spot as the parking slots are covered with solar panels to provide shelter from the rain, snow, and sun.

These are mounted above the lot on steel structures tall enough for tailgaters on RVs to park beneath.
Besides providing an excellent parking experience, the university enjoys getting cheaper, cleaner solar energy from solar panels.

By getting an example from the university, why don’t all parking lots have solar panels over them?
However, it will help eliminate fossil fuels to avoid the worst effects of global warming. If we evaluate, each solar panel installation has a different financial evaluation and energy. Ground-mounted solar panels and rooftops produce based on their latitude and the angle they are fixed at.

According to the research, 90% of Americans wanted more solar farms in 2020.

The High Upfront Costs Of Solar

The installation of solar panels will help homeowners to save money. According to Michigan University, it saves $10 million over 25 years. The university gets the electricity from the panels under a power purchase agreement. They show that it doesn’t own the panels but agrees to purchase the Power.

“A carport is roughly 40% more expensive than a ground mount system”, states Tim Powers, a research and policy associate for Inovateus Solar. It is the same company that built Michigan’s State System. Moreover, he added that it costs more because of extra materials, labor, and engineering costs.

Potential Change Coming

“We see doing the carports in the parking lots as a great dual-use story,” said Tyler Kamikazewski, vice president of sustainability for Inovateus. Dual use refers to using land for two things: solar Power and growing crops.

According to the study published in Nature, large-scale solar in the US is primarily sited outside of cities. However, 51% is in deserts, 33% is on farmland, and 2.5% is in urban areas.

Making decisions about land use can take time and effort. Desert solar installations raise social and environmental issues. Rural solar farms have sparked debates.

Additionally, in promoting one of the numerous awards it received for the array. Michigan state highlighted that its installation kept 45 acres of farmland in use.

On the other hand, parking lots are primarily helpful for one thing. Parking and solar canopies make that experience better.

However, increasing interest in sustainability will make solar parking lots more common.

” It’s hard to protect,” Kanczuzewski said. In contrast, they are very common in the South West. Unlike Inovateus conducts most of its business in the Midwest, installing solar over parking lots is rare.

95% of Inovateus installations are on ground utility projects measures by solar capacity. Almost three projects, 5% of the total, are over parking lots, 30% are rooftop projects, and 65% of projects are on ground.

“They are not a common option,” Power said. Though, they could be a particularly sustainable one.

“I think it’s super sustainable,” Kanczuzewski said. “Rather than taking up new land or additional property, why not take an existing space and do solar”?.