Solar Panels and Parking Lots: An Extraordinary Dual Use

Yesterday Envision Solar and Bright Automotive announced plans to develop a nationwide network of solar panel equipped parking lots. The basic idea is to install Florida style carport covers over existing parking lots and then fill the open roof space with PV panels. While the partnership's plan is to use the solar energy for PHEV charging stations, the electricity could just as easily be used in the businesses that own and maintain the parking lots or sold back into the power grid. It's one of the most customer friendly approaches I've seen for dual-use distributed power generation. After all, there's no sense pushing acres of solar farms into the boondocks and then building new transmission lines to bring the power back to places where people live when we already have millions of acres devoted to parking lots in urban and suburban areas that can easily be converted to dual use and readily connected to the local electric grids.

I was in Scottsdale last spring and used a covered grocery store parking lot for the first time. Since our rental car had leather seats, my wife and I were both wearing shorts and the temperature was in the mid-90s, we thought the parking lot covers were a wonderful customer service; exactly what one would expect from a considerate Scottsdale merchant like AJ's Fine Foods. The idea of adding solar panels and turning a customer service into a productive asset is a minor stroke of genius.

I found out about the Envision Solar - Bright Automotive partnership because they plan to use advanced lead-carbon PbC™ batteries from Axion Power International (AXPW.OB) to provide short-term energy storage for their PHEV charging stations. But with or without PHEV charging stations and with or without short-term energy storage, the fundamental idea is just good common sense.

When I was much younger, Joni Mitchell protested suburban sprawl in Big Yellow Taxi, a Bob Dylan song that included the now famous refrain "they paved paradise, they put up a parking lot." Wouldn't it be supreme irony to see a perceived catastrophe of the '70s turned into one of the biggest energy opportunities of the new millennium.

Coming to a mall near you, megawatts of clean solar power that offers nothing but benefits for parking lot owners and the customers that use them.

Disclosure: Author is a former director of Axion Power International and holds a substantial long position in its stock.

Comments

[battman:]

I'm glad that they chose to use Axion considering, I would suspect anyways, that weight wouldn't matter in this application. I would think it was probably a mixture of cost and performance and the best bang for the buck was Axion. This would bode well for Axion for many of the uses where weight wasn't an issue.

Apr 22 08:34 AM

[john s. gordon:]

covered parking with solar panels is a wonderful idea - except -
in regions subject to high wind conditions (i'm thinking tornado or hurricane prone regions) we could end up with a building-code requirement for robustness to prevent flying panels.
> jack

Apr 22 08:50 AM

[John Petersen:]

I suppose what I like best about the proposal is that it serves as a solid example of the type of creative thinking that will help solve the energy problem. I'm particularly pleased to have another concrete example of how things we don't normally think of a storage intensive applications may in fact require huge storage investments.

Apr 22 08:57 AM

[User 395761:]

So let`s hope that in the long run everywhere where our cars park there will be renewable energy plus storage.

This would help a lot!

Apr 22 09:21 AM

[Tricky:]

Agree, very clever, hope it pays off for them


On Apr 22 08:57 AM John Petersen wrote:

> I suppose what I like best about the proposal is that it serves as
> a solid example of the type of creative thinking that will help solve
> the energy problem. I'm particularly pleased to have another concrete
> example of how things we don't normally think of a storage intensive
> applications may in fact require huge storage investments.

Apr 22 09:30 AM

[stockdoc123:]

www.ted.com/index.php/...

A TED presentation about reinventing cars. GM's goal is 2010-2011.

Apr 22 10:04 AM

[John Petersen:]

I just got a personal e-mail from a reader that said:

What I always wondered about was why developers didn`t combine geothermal energy production and solar covered parking areas... the geothermal would produce constantly year round and the solar would enhance it most days year round... Seems like a doable combo that would take advantage of the great space that parking lots take up in malls, etc.

My response was:

When folks talk about geothermal they're typically talking about drilling deep wells to tap very hot rock and water formations that can be used to generate electricity. The shallower installations are generally referred to as "ground source" where you use the stable temperatures a few feet underground to make a heat pump more efficient.

In the past most of the alternatives were more expensive that a more wasteful conventional system. Now that waste is getting expensive, I think we are going to be seeing a world of changes. The next couple decades should be very exciting indeed.

Apr 22 11:39 AM

[Henry Buttal:]

Ouch. Its a great idea...I know, I was working on it too.

to John S. Gordon - it isn't that hard today getting the wind loading integrity correct. My company has deployed relatively low cost solar mast structures of up to 1K watts per location for railroads that stood without problems during Katrina in wind gusts in excess of 70 MPH. Based on the math, there should have been no problem to 90MPH plus.

Of course, they weren't as big or as pretty as what Envision has done...

Apr 22 12:00 PM

[John Petersen:]

Henry, this is not the kind of application that is likely to give anybody a particular IP edge and the final determinants will likely be better, faster and cheaper. So I wouldn't be in any hurry to assume that somebody else has a better mousetrap.

Apr 22 12:18 PM

[Scrooge:]

The copper downspouts on our church have been stolen 3 times in as many years. Great idea, PV cells above parking lots: but a problem will be getting the volts to the power pole, after the yobbos swipe the copper lines. Or aluminum lines. Infrastructure costs to protect those lines need to be figured in

Apr 22 12:19 PM

[Popgun trader:]

John, EEStor Battery Company just released a news item (saw it on Earth Times) claiming certification of some game changing aspect of their superconductive battery. I was wondering if you might peruse it and comment on just how much closer does this bring them to a commercial offering. Thanks.

Based on your advise I dumped all my shares in junior lithium miners and bought into AXPW, CBAK and ZNN-vc in Canada.

Apr 22 05:20 PM

[John Petersen:]

Popgun, I have a very hard time getting past the sense that EEstor has an interesting R&D project going but is a long way from a manufactured product. From everything I've read, the EEstor device is a good deal more complex than Axion's PbC lead-carbon hybrid. But it took Axion almost five years to learn how to manufacture the device in volume at an attractive cost. Most battery technologies have a development timeline of 7 to 10 years. EEstor is quite secretive and all the news seems to flow through Zenn, which carries an objectively high market capitalization because of their interest in EEstor. Under the circumstances about the only things I would feel fairly confident saying are (a) it won't be any time soon, and (b) it won't be cheap.

Apr 23 12:04 AM

[Advill:]

There are many iniciatives around PV in malls, Walmart is adding them in all new stores, HEB is considering it since most of stores are in sunny Texas, and the Google approach, but is happening as with ethanol, there are now Flex 85 engines, ethanol is available in more states than ever and ethanol companies are dying like flies.
Americans are again buying SUV acting as "businees as usual" in relation to oil prices, now that GM and others are cleaning inventories pressure for producing more SUV in a effort to keep jobs will put a "all over again".
A european approach using taxes and incentives to energy comsumption is the right approach but that is to "european" for american tastes and political pork barrels.

In relation with Eestor, things are moving mora that you think, DARPA, Navy and Pentagon buyed 120% the idea and will push to the limit to master the physics involved in this process, a surprise and change of the rules announce could be in any moment.

Regards

Apr 23 06:08 AM

[John Petersen:]

Advill, I've got a substantial interest in a biodiesel company and can tell you first hand it's a tough business. The ultimate bitch is that the feedstocks and finished products are uncorrelated commodities and it's easy to have a situation where feedstock prices are rising and finished goods prices are falling. After several tough years with this dynamic in place I keep hoping to see trends reverse, but it's not easy. I'm convinced that the U.S. is in for another and more permanent oil price shock within the next 12 to 18 months and that the current relapse into petroleum addiction will be temporary. At least I hope so.

A European approach to taxes and incentives without a European infrastructure would be a true tragedy. I've gotten very spoiled by the train system in Switzerland and rarely drive more than 30 km if I can get there by train. Even longer trips to Paris, Frankfurt and Milan are faster on train by the time I account for airport delays and hassles. So while I can support the $3 per gallon I pay in gasoline taxes as an incentive to use alternative transport, I would have a hard time supporting the tax without the alternative.

I don't know enough about EEstor to be a performance cynic and their military and aeronautic relationships are enough to tell me that they may well have a technically intriguing solution if money is no object. But 30 years of watching companies fail because they couldn't move exciting science into a factory and manufacture an affordable product leaves me quite skeptical about likely costs.

Apr 23 06:53 AM

[Futurist:]

John,
I have been examining the solar companies for years. Always an exciting breakthrough in technology that will make solar power "cheap". However I don't see a product yet that can compete with regular carbon burning produced electricity. Without Government subsidies the entire industry would be failing. I bought my first solar company stock in 1975. I'm still a believer but I don't suspect economic success for another ten years. I live in Florida and can't understand how its possible to waste all of this free sunshine power.

Your articles on alternative energy storage really has caught my interest since it allows me to invest in energy with some proven technology. Have you ever studied the field of solar energy and applied your theories of "how to value a developement stage company" to that field?

Apr 23 08:13 AM

[ECONOMICS 101:]

Johnathan Vrozos said this is a wonderful idea and will talk to parking lot owners to create a business for all. Everybody is looking for a 'renewable' source of revenue not only "renewable" source of energy!!!
By Johnathan Vrozos
johnathanvrozos.ca

Apr 23 08:44 AM

[John Petersen:]

Futurist, the thing I like best about the solar equipped parking lots is the panels have more value to the merchant than just the electricity. I spent years scorching my buns climbing into hot cars in Phoenix and Houston. Given a choice between a merchant with covered parking and one without, I would always pick the covered parking even if the store was a bit further or the prices a bit higher. So if you look at the single installation providing two values and distributed generation assets, it's a whole lot easier than looking at grid parity only.

Johnathan, that's why I had to write about it. There are few alternative energy solutions that create multiple values for users. This is a big one!

Apr 23 08:49 AM

[Wisdom vs. ...:]

Panels can provide shade in the form of an arbor or overhang, this idea is the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, at current prices of 1.60 to 2.20 wholesale for CSi and the inefficiency of retroactive installation, this is good publicity but extremely expensive power.

Panels and racks are built to withstand historical wind loads, 90mph around here, up to 130mph on the coast.

Apr 23 09:36 AM

[John Petersen:]

Wisdom, it's not a retroactive installation if you are starting with a bare asphalt parking lot that has nothing more than light poles and painted stripes. You design the covers for the purpose of maximizing panel efficiency and install an integrated system in one fell swoop. While the pure economics of the PV panels may still be marginal, the additional customer service value to merchants may well prove to be enough to tip the balance of the cost-benefit analysis. Overall, this proposal reduces the effective cost of PV by the enhanced customer service value and will work throughout the South.

Apr 23 09:49 AM

[john s. gordon:]

scrooge - copper piping (exterior and interior) became a target for thieves in many places when speculation in copper futures drove copper prices thru the roof. in the case of your church, a burglar alarm system hard-wired to your local police station would have helped. reduction in your insurance premium might have resulted also.
> jack

Apr 23 10:41 AM

[billp37:]

"megawatts of clean solar power"

How many megawatt HOURS?

"I have several questions regarding performance of PNM's Algodones solar array.

Second purpose of this email is to submit a complaint and a proposal to Mr Sterba regarding solar-generated electricity.

First the questions.

1 What is the purpose of the PNM Algodones solar facility?

2 Is the PNM Algodones solar facility connected to the grid?

3 What is the CAPACITY FACTOR of the PNM Algodones solar facility by month from September 2007 through March 2009?

Please provide a plot similar to the ITRON SGIP Figure 3-1.

4 How many kWh [kilowatt HOURS] of electricity per month from September 2007 through March 2009 does the PNM Algodones solar facility produce? Table presentation please.

5 What is the average peak output [kW] of the PNM Algodones solar facility for each hour [24] for each month of the year from September 2007 through March 2009? Table presentation please."

mywebpages.comcast.net...

No response from Don Brown so far. :-)

Apr 23 12:01 PM

[Ricknplano:]

Rooftop installations on big box stores is another double value application for solar panels. The shade reduces solar heat gain thus lowering AC costs at the same time if makes power and this saize structure is large enough to make it economic (as solar panel installations go anyway).

Apr 23 12:17 PM

[33Nick:]

We've always wondered why not more businesses slap solar panels on the top of their roofs to lower their energy use, and eventually sell back the excess. There is an interesting project going on in the south of France where the local government helps local businesses do that and so far the results have been positive.

Electricnick.com

Apr 23 12:33 PM

[John Petersen:]

billp37, I wouldn't presume to speak for PNM but a solar panel with a peak capacity of 1 kWh will start generating at less than 100% efficiency at first light, increase to peak efficiency over the course of the morning, and then decline as the day fades. While I know you should never trust anything you find with a quick Google search the tables at the following website indicate that a 4 KW panel in Tucson will generate roughly 567 kWh in the month of June, or roughly 19 kWh per day.

www.trustyguides.com/s...

Ricknplano, rooftop installations on big box stores have been gaining in popularity for a long time, but if you think of your neighborhood WalMart and compare the store's footprint with the parking lot footprint, the numbers get very big very quickly. Besides, roof-top solar panels will do nothing to keep the interior temperature of your car out of the 140 degree range.

Apr 23 12:46 PM

[Stephen Lip...:]

As an investment based on the recent agreement is Exide (XIDE) a preferable risk benefit ratio than a direct investment in Axion (AXPW)

Apr 23 04:55 PM

[John Petersen:]

Stephen, I am a huge fan of Exide and think it may well be one of the most undervalued companies in the market. With a trailing price earnings ratio of 6 and an amazing price to sales ratio of 0.1 I don't think there's a better long-term value on the planet. That being said, Axion has a very attractive market capitalization compared with its peer group and partners like Exide and East Penn speak volumes about its technical competence and likelihood of success. So it's probably worth looking at as a speculation on new technology.

Apr 23 10:12 PM

[ripskii:]

This is just another example of a good application that solves several problems at the same time. I see several company parking areas in my region with solar shade covered parking areas that supplies power to the factory.

Unfortunately due to short sighted policies on net metering (achieved by local power company lobbying) several housing projects with covered parking areas have reduced the quantity of solar panels because they couldn't benefit from from their original larger array design that covered the entire parking area.

PG&E has been moving toward installing arrays on commercial buildings in the LA area so the power is generated where it is used and avoids the usual transmission losses. This sort of distributed power generation is very efficient and doesn't require expensive grid updates that may take a very long time to implement.

Apr 23 11:17 PM

[TinyTim:]

Speaking of shaded parking spots in Arizona, for the same reasons, a not insignificant benefit of solar panels on residential roofs is they protect from direct solar impingement, i.e. they shade the house.
Besides generating power for the house, they reduce the power required by the house for cooling.

Apr 24 04:21 PM

[tireman63:]

John,
If the 4kw solar panel in Tucson only generates 19 kwh/day,my math says that is only $1.90 if we use $.10/hour as a base. That does not sound like a fast rate of return. Your comments, please

May 01 08:20 AM