Join the discussion
Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.
- Hacker News
- Their new law requires parking lots with more than 80 spaces to have solar panels.
Great idea, where I live I'm pretty much maxing out the percentage of permitted structures allowed by zoning.
I could imagine that if solar panel carports didn't count towards structure limits, I'd build a carport across my absurdly large driveway :)
I think there are lots of "free" ways we could incentivize private construction of solar panels -- even without monetary subsidies.
Or we could even tax people for not doing it. In Denmark your land is taxed based on what it's zoned for, and how it could be utilized (not how it is utilized).
by jopsen - I wish the IRA infrastructure bill from a few years ago had included something like this. Not the total mandate, but these should be subsidized and encouraged. These installations actually improve an area and have multiple benefits. Instead the US bill incentivizes detroying large swaths of wild land which is unfortunate.by rurp
- We have a similar law in France. Something is unclear to me though:
"build a conceptually similar, 657 kW solar carport system across 12 parking lots (shown, above) that delivers more than 1.23 million kWh of clean, emissions-free power annually and offsets the equivalent of 185,000 vehicles’ worth of harmful carbon emissions."
Not sure what that means but that doesn't seem right.
by pingou - The article is a bit misleading.
The new law requires the installation of solar panels in all *public* parking lots operated by the government. I checked this through local news sources.
In South Korea, there are already incentives to install solar panels on buildings, including parking lots. If you operate a solar power system with a capacity of over 20 kW, you can sell the generated electricity at prices higher than the market rate thanks to government support programs.
Despite these benefits, many parking lots in South Korea still do not install solar panels. This is mainly because, given the country’s high population density, most parking lots are located on land that is considered potential development sites. Once solar panels are installed, it becomes more difficult to change the land use later for development purposes, and the owners would also have to bear additional costs for removing the panels.
by youknowone - This is not a bad idea. EVs can charge during the day, go home fully charged, connect to the grid and supply power to the grid. EV batteries are humongous and a large number of them will become an energy reservoir. All excess production during the day (which is being curtailed now) can be stored in Evs and reused later throughout the day.
The best thing is that EV owners can be paid during the day for providing demand and paid again in the evening and at night for supplying.
- This happened pretty organically in south africa, especially on malls.
* Prevents being affected by grid blackouts
* Seen as progressive / eco by customers and ofc shade
* You've got captive demand - air-conditioning giant mall & food shops need industrial fridges
* Enough scale to do meaningful grid feed in
* Already have the infra to do generator switch over
* Access to financing and ability to plan over the 10 years or so that it takes to recover cost
by Havoc - Generally the problem with carpark solar is the mounting solutions are low volume niche products that cost way more than traditional ground mounts. My biggest hope is that this policy creates a marketplace with actual competition that comes up with more cost efficient mounting solutions that make it practical worldwide.
Parking lots are horrible. They're butt ugly heat islands that take up way too much space. While adding solar on them doesn't solve the last issue, it does help mitigate the heat island effect and solar panels are no less ugly than asphalt. Plus it is power creation right next to where it is being consumed for minimal transfer losses. It's also much nicer for the vehicles parked there to be in the shade.
by jandrese