One of the fastest growing trends in the photovoltaic market is the use of carports as a means to support a PV system. An ideal location to build solar carports is anywhere with a parking lot and limited shading from trees and tall buildings.
Colorado-based Lumos Solar tells of more pre-engineered carport and canopy structures appearing in the market recently. For its part, Lumos released SolarScapes, a pre-engineered canopy that comes in four configurations but is fully modular. It is designed specifically for the Lumos LSX frameless modules. The focus of these systems is aesthetics, ease of install and long-term durability.
Pennsylvania-based solar racking manufacturer PV Racking has teamed with a local construction company to design and fabricate two 14-kW solar carports for a U.S. Army base in Maryland. PV Racking will fabricate the racking and all steel used in the project. The company plans to introduce its own four-car carport design this spring, which will be sold direct to installers.
Solar installer Sunlight Electric turned to Schletter, a manufacturer of solar mounting systems and other metal products, for a project in California. Schletter makes the majority of its carport systems from aluminum, as opposed to more-popular steel, says Justin Smith, a regional manager with the company. He says the lighter-weight metal makes installation easier.
“Steel allows larger spans, so you could do canopy structures with more than two rows of parking, but then you have to deal with the additional weight,” Smith says, adding that clients have told him aluminum is more aesthetic, too. It allows a carport architecture unlike others on the market, he says.
Photo courtesy of DPW Solar
Schletter’s Park@Sol solar carport comes in three primary design options. B1 is a single-row system for parking that runs east-to-west. B2 accommodates two rows of cars parked nose to nose. B3 is similar to B2, but its V-style roof structure allows the system to be more productive when the parking lot is running north-to-south. It catches the sun as it’s rising and setting.
A solar carport design will maximize both leasehold improvements and aid in energy reduction and independence with minimized expenses. Additional advantages when compared to a roof array are that there are no roof penetrations or water protrusion points of concerns, or engineering costs regarding the age and integrity of the roof. Roof warranties and other building system logistics that are directly affected with rooftop installations are of no consequence to solar carports.
Some carport manufacturers include engineering and design tasks and construction crews. Baja Construction, for instance, designs and builds cost-effective shade structures and solar support systems. Baja’s structures include cold-rolled, light-gauge, high-tensile steel and galvanized structural members. The structures are pre-fabricated, pre-engineered and assembled on-site with no field engineering or soldering. For solar projects, direct attachment from modules to purlins is simple —no racking or decking required.
DPW Solar and partners will introduce the new SR Series solar-ready shade structures engineered and optimized to site-specific applications. The structures feature an integrated photovoltaic-module mounting system and are available in a variety of structural types and finishes. These solar support structures feature tilt angles up to 10° and optional solutions for water and snow protection.