Cincinnati Zoo Solar Parking Lot Goes Live – CleanTechnica

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When it comes to solar power, there are lots of places to put it. There are rooftops, carports, outbuildings and garages, vacant lots, and land that’s not being used (at least by humans) outside of the cities. Sure, you could use any of these places, but the further you go from where the power is going to be used, the more expensive it is to get the power from A to B. Transmission lines, utility coordination, and all of that is far from cheap.

Plus, just because humans aren’t using land doesn’t mean it isn’t being used! The environmental cost of using more land, displacing more animals and plants, disrupting ecosystems, and such all adds up. So, it makes heaps of sense to build solar arrays on land that’s already been disrupted by people. But, the land that’s already being used by people is…already being used by people. So, we need to find current uses of land that leave room for a second use — to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

The Cincinnati Zoo found a way to do exactly this, but instead of only killing two birds with one stone (proverbially speaking, of course), they found a way to do three things at the same time: provide solar power, put shade over cars, and still leave room for cars to do what they already did there: park. The zoo’s PR people say that the array will provide enough power for up to 330 homes annually and reduce the area’s carbon emissions by almost 1300 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.

“We partnered with Melink Solar in 2011 to install a 1.56 MW solar array over our Vine St. parking lot,” said Mark Fisher, Cincinnati Zoo’s VP of facilities and sustainability. “This array is roughly the same size but produces about twice the power due to advances in solar panel technology. With both arrays online, about 2/3 of the electricity for the entire campus is coming from our parking lots.”

It’s also going to provide significant cost savings for the zoo. As you can imagine, a place as big as a zoo, with all of the buildings, lights, pools, pumps, heaters, air conditioners, and everything else, can rack up a pretty big power bill. The array alone will save the zoo about $300,000 annually.

Another thing the zoo is excited about is setting an example in the community. Many people visit the zoo every day, week, month, and year. Many more people drive by the zoo on Euclid Avenue and other nearby streets.

“Sharing our success is also important to us,” said Fisher.  “We’re showing people how it can be done, and they see that every time they drive by the Zoo or park here, and also making it happen for some members of our community.”

The solar company that put the array in is also excited about this possibility: “We love that the Zoo’s solar arrays are very visible to the community and that they’re sharing a lot of the solar love with communities in need as well,” said Monica Niehaus, business development manager for Melink Solar.

Part of what Niehaus is referring to is that there were some extra solar panels at the end of the project, and these have been donated to a project that puts them elsewhere in Cincinnati. Most recently, panels from the project were installed at Lydia’s House, and another batch is headed to Horses on the Hill later this fall.

Featured image by the Cincinnati Zoo.