Making your facility sustainable through solar power has many benefits beyond the immediate and long-term impacts to your bottom line. It’s helpful to the local and global environment through a reduction in your carbon footprint, and it makes a statement to the communities in which you operate. Although solar installations are typically associated with roofs, looking at an alternative installation, such as with a parking canopy can extend the benefits of switching even further—such as cutting down on winter maintenance costs! However, before taking the plunge you need to conduct due diligence and plan appropriately.
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Kevin Casey and Bradley Cardoso, writing for Building Operating Management present 4 planning steps to successfully get your solar parking canopy project off the ground and fully operational:
- Work with state and local government early in the process. Getting appropriate government input at the start of the process can help save your project from “costly and time-consuming adjustments” by ensuring the design meets the requirements for permitting. They also note that since solar has proven itself over the last decade or so, local and state officials are now more receptive to sustainable infrastructure projects.
- Be a good neighbor and conduct impact studies. While installing a structure on your property might not impact neighboring businesses and residents, solar panels present unique issues. To function properly and be as efficient as possible, the panels need to be situated to best harness the sun’s energy. Now imagine that angle reflects a commercial solar array’s worth of light into your neighbor’s windows. A proactive study will give you a solid understanding of any potential impacts and allow you to tweak the design (prior to the costly installation) to mitigate any negative outcomes.
- Choose your vendors wisely. It’s always a good idea to get quotes, but when looking at a major undertaking such as this, cheap isn’t always better. Casey and Cardoso recommend looking for installers “committed to high-quality construction as well as having experience with solar.” These systems are fragile, and require a delicate touch during installation, and “great care must be taken to install the modules so they perform properly at optimal design capacity.” This includes ensuring proper integration with a facility monitoring system, and all the associated testing.
Be sure to account for logistics during installation. Constructing a solar array over a parking area is a significant task, and it’s sure to eat up a large amount of parking space at your facility. Planning where people will park during high-traffic business hours can save you a great deal of trouble during the process. Planning prior to construction will also give you plenty of time to look at alternatives, such as renting other parking areas and setting up a shuttle service. Be sure to build regular updates regarding the progress into your communications with facility tenants, as knowing when the project will end can help reduce the pain of the short term inconvenience.