![\"\"](\"http:\/\/panamaadvisoryinternationalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/solar-300x201.jpg\" "\\"solar\\"")
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This is got to be one of the greatest ideas that I have seen for taking advantage of underutilized real estate and one that a number of developers that I know in Panama should think about doing.\u00a0 This in from an article in the ULI magazine Urban Land.<\/p>\n
All across America, surface parking lots dot metropolitan landscapes, serving the same solitary purpose day after day, a poster child for underutilized real estate.<\/p>\n
But that is changing in some parts of the country. Parking lots are quietly becoming the new frontier in solar power.<\/p>\n
While photovoltaic solar-panel installations are most often seen on swaths of vacant land or on top of buildings, parking lots are quickly emerging as a new hotspot for solar projects, primarily on the East and West Coasts. So far this year, thousands of solar panels have been constructed over parking lots at government offices in California, a football stadium in Maryland, a zoo in Ohio, and a corporate campus in New Jersey, among other places.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have this huge, massive, underutilized resource in this country\u2014parking lots\u2014and people are starting to figure out it\u2019s the best place to install solar,\u201d says Desmond Wheatley, president and CEO of California-based Envision Solar, a firm that specializes in the development of solar parking installations.<\/p>\n
Large-scale parking lots are becoming increasingly popular for solar power because they are wide-open outdoor spaces that cover a large footprint, typically larger than building rooftops. Plus, because the panels are raised 12 to 20 feet (3.6 to 6 m) off the ground, they provide the additional benefit of shade for the cars parked underneath them. Thus, solar parking products and projects often use terms connoting shade, such as \u201csolar trees,\u201d \u201csolar canopies,\u201d \u201csolar shields,\u201d and \u201csolar carports.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSolar parking lots are great green opportunities because you can put a roof over them and have the project serve two purposes,\u201d says Margaret Cafarelli, principal of Urban Developments, a California development company specializing in green building practices, and a vice chair of ULI\u2019s Sustainable Development Council.<\/p>\n
Solar industry associations don\u2019t keep specific statistics on parking-lot projects, but overall solar installations are booming in the United States, the result of growing interest in renewable energy, the availability of government incentives, plus steadily declining panel costs. The amount of photovoltaic energy installed in 2010 was double 2009\u2019s level, in terms of megawatts produced, and installations in the first half of this year are up 70 percent over the same period last year, according to quarterly surveys and research conducted by the Solar Energy Industries Association in Washington, D.C., and Greentech Media Research in Boston.<\/p>\n
About two-thirds of U.S. solar projects this year have occurred on nonresidential commercial real estate. In parking lots, solar projects are usually constructed in one of two ways: the traditional row after row of raised rectangular strips; or column after column of single pole-mounted panels, resembling a grove of trees. Likewise, project deals are usually structured in one of two ways: a utility company or solar developer installs the solar system and either leases it to the property owner or makes lease payments to the property owner, depending on who uses the electricity.<\/p>\n
For property owners, the benefits include lower energy costs on the site, reduced carbon emissions from using less plant-generated electricity, plus the public display of sustainable business practices. Overall, the return on investment for property owners can be in the range of 10 to 15 percent, according to Ryan Park, director of business development for REC Solar, a California-based solar installation firm that has designed parking-lot projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s another way for real estate owners to make money,\u201d Ryan says. \u201cThis is going to be a megatrend over the next decade.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, solar installations overall and parking-lot projects are concentrated in California and New Jersey, but they are popping up in other states. Consider some of the largest projects of 2011 so far:<\/p>\n
Solar parking projects have also been mounted at schools, colleges, apartment buildings, police stations, even a national park (Yosemite in California). Basically, any place with a large lot is a potential candidate. But the industry is still in its infancy and lacking in uniformity, with different states offering different programs and incentives and setting different standards and policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy isn\u2019t everyone doing these parking projects? There are a lot of people who don\u2019t know the options, and it\u2019s easy to be confused,\u201d says Mike Taylor, director of research for the Solar Electric Power Association, an industry advocacy group in Washington, D.C. \u201cIt\u2019s still a market in its early stages.\u201d<\/p>\n
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