Long Beach City College has opened a new parking structure on campus with over 400-kW of solar. The system over the 900-car lot was installed to fully-power security lights, elevators, four emergency phones on each leve, and fire protection systems. Excess power being generated will be used by adjacent buildings on campus.
The project used Sanyo’s HIT Power panels, while Sullivan Solar Power designed and installed the system. “We chose Sanyo’s panels because they produce more energy per square foot than conventional panels, and the college wanted to install as much solar as possible on this structure,” Daniel Sullivan of the company says. “We worked closely with McCarthy Building Company and know the system will meet the needs of the college.”
Long Beach City College installed 2,100 Sanyo HIT Power 215N panels that offer a cell efficiency of 19.3% and a module efficiency of 17.1%. The system is the second largest system in the City of Long Beach, and is the largest to date for California Solar Initiative systems in Long Beach. The solar system is expected to produce approximately 59,000 kW hours a month, which should offset approximately 9% of adjacent buildings’ overall electricity needs. The system is expected to also dramatically reduce the total annual electric bill while considering the environment, reducing CO2 emissions by almost 18.4 million pounds (approx. 9,200 tons) over the warranty period on the panels.
To raise awareness of the benefits of the system, the college has also installed an information kiosk on the adjacent campus parkway to show energy levels being produced by the garage-top panels. Classes also benefit as the Electrical Technology department will be able to use the data as part of their coursework. The parking structure also features a parking space availability monitor, powered by the panels, that alerts students to open spaces on each level.
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