Our team have designed and installed a large solar carport for a local authority in the North East.
This is a new 196 space car park with a mobility hub funded by the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund based at Holmeside in the City Centre. Sunderland City Council wanted to install destination EV charging points so that car park users could charge EV’s whilst they were using the facility. To reduce carbon emissions, they decided to install solar panels with battery storage to harness the energy from the sun rather than rely on grid supplied electricity. There is also cycle storage available at the car park.
The main contractor, CR Reynolds, approached AR Power to design, supply and install the solar canopy. Working to our specification, they installed the concrete pads and fixings for the car port, along with providing cable and data ducts, to provide the foundations for the installation.
Our team then installed a 56.64kWp 14-car solar car port made up of 96 bifacial double glass 590W N-type panels using car port structures from SIG including guttering, a bar for EV Charging and custom end gable façade plates. The innovative design of this system allowed for all work to be carried out from below, providing a safe and efficient installation process.
Due to the panels generating energy during the day and the requirement to charge EVs at night we designed a 150 kW / 400 kWh battery storage solution from GivEnergy to store unused energy for when its required. This design is modular and provides the potential for future expansion if required.
A large shed was constructed on site to house the large battery storage solution and other devices to support the EV charging infrastructure of the car port.
Andrew Atkinson, Energy Services Manager at Sunderland City Council said “AR Power was able to provide a solution that met the requirements of the scheme. They were very helpful and kept the main contractor informed throughout the process and communication with Sunderland Council was excellent too. We are happy with the final solution”
Mark Dunville, Technical Director at AR Power said “We are finding more local authorities are turning to solar car ports having maximised roof top solar options. . It looks impressive and is an excellent addition to the city centre making EV charging, utilising power from zero carbon solar energy, even easier than before.”
Car ports are an excellent way to benefit from solar energy if you have run out of roof space or if your roof is not suitable for solar. If you have a carpark be it at your workplace or within your local authority and would like to get a quote to install a solar car port, please get in touch with us today.
