200 parking spots covered by solar
Avalon Ballroom in Boulder is home to a 65,000-square-foot solar carport.
What is a Solar Carport?
A solar carport is a parking lot covered by solar panels. They provide a dual use of the space.
And why not create a little energy where we park our cars?
They’re awesome, here’s why:
Solar carports make better use of already developed spaces.
Solar panels out in a field can take up a lot of space. However, when paired with parking lots and buildings, the use of that space is maximized and the impact on our environment is reduced.
And renewable energy, like solar, is good for our air, and its fuel (the sun) is free, unlike oil and gas.
The Avalon Ballroom Solar Carport
The Avalon Ballroom’s solar carport has 200 parking spots, and covers 65,000 square feet (enough room for a firetruck to turn around). The panels making up the carport are sealed together, which means there are no cracks in between them. This allows for maximum energy production in the allotted space. It is a 1.3 MW contiguous monoscope solar carport and was the largest in Boulder County when it was built in 2018.
According to Custom Solar, who built the solar cover, this project was completed using monocrystalline solar panels, which are more efficient but more costly than the common polycrystalline panels.
The 1.3 MW provides enough energy for Avalon to operate entirely off the energy the solar carport supplies.
They protect you and your vehicle
Covered parking lots protect cars and people from all types of weather including hail, heatwaves, snow and ice. In the middle of winter, cars parked under carports don’t need as long to defrost and heat up. In the middle of summer, cars are protected from intense sun rays.
Let the sun fuel our homes and businesses not cook our vehicles.
Sources:
https://www.greenlancer.com/post/solar-carports
Topics
Authors
Danny Katz
Executive Director, CoPIRG Foundation
Danny has been the director of CoPIRG for over a decade. Danny co-authored a groundbreaking report on the state’s transit, walking and biking needs and is a co-author of the annual “State of Recycling” report. He also helped write a 2016 Denver initiative to create a public matching campaign finance program and led the early effort to eliminate predatory payday loans in Colorado. Danny serves on the Colorado Department of Transportation's (CDOT) Efficiency and Accountability Committee, CDOT's Transit and Rail Advisory Committee, RTD's Reimagine Advisory Committee, the Denver Moves Everyone Think Tank, and the I-70 Collaborative Effort. Danny lobbies federal, state and local elected officials on transportation electrification, multimodal transportation, zero waste, consumer protection and public health issues. He appears frequently in local media outlets and is active in a number of coalitions. He resides in Denver with his family, where he enjoys biking and skiing, the neighborhood food scene and raising chickens.
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