The biggest solar PV carport at a car park
Solarcentury (London, UK) will build the biggest solar PV carport at a car park at Garden City Mall, that is sittuated on 32-acre retail park, residential area and office development Nairobi’s Thika Superhighway. Solar energy harvested by the 858 kWp PV system will go to the retail tenants.
“We are incredibly proud to be bringing our second dual-mode solar system to Kenya, this time to build East Africa’s largest rooftop system,” commented Dr. Dan Davies, Director for Solarcentury in East Africa.
The new carport is going to be designed with the financial help of NVI Energy’s Solar4Africa, a 12 year financed solution that enables Garden City to harness the power of renewable energy, overcoming many of the barriers that can frequently beset commercial solar projects.
Besides helping with the shading, over 3000 solar panels will bring 1.256 MWh of solar energy every year and reduce carbon emissions by 745 tonnes every year.
The solution they came up with is a new one as it brings solar energy during the day and when the grid is down at night, the system also diminishes the need of diacutting the bills of Garden City’s retail tenants.
This is ideal for cities as there is few space left and the energy needs grow. The panels are useful because they are situated on an unused space. The technology also works in East Africa, on the biggest ground mount system for Williamson Tea in Kenya.
The solar system will also contribute to Garden City’s achievements in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.