Chinese PV mounting system provider Enerack is offering a solar carport solution for shopping centers, gas stations, public parking lots, and private homes. “The main market for our solar carport is Europe, but we also sold the system in the Middle East, South Africa, Panama, Guatemala and Chile,” the company's designer and business developer, Ivan Yordanov, told pv magazine.
According to the company, the carport can host all types and sizes of solar panels. “We started developing the system a few years ago when the average size of the solar modules was 1,755 mm x 1,038 x 35, mm and power output was 300 W,” said Yordanov. “Nowadays, our carport system can host modules with dimensions of up to 2,280 mm x 1,133 mm x 35mm.”
The panels can be installed on the carport with a tilt angle ranging from 5 to 30 degrees and in either a landscape or portrait configuration.
The carport is made with aluminum alloy of the type AL6005-T5 and relies on a longitudinal sink rail that is able to catch water from the horizontal gap between the solar module. “To keep the water out of the sink as much as possible the solar panels are installed at a distance of 1 mm,” Yordanov stated “The fixed way of the solar panel is designed to be fixed from the bottom of the module itself with a customized clamp, which makes installation easier.”
The system is scalable in a MW-sized configuration. “We use rail connects and rail slices which allows more solar modules to be installed,” Yordanov explained. “Each carport can host a different number of modules, depending on the project's size and characteristics.”
The system can be grid-connected, linked to storage, or used for the recharging of electric vehicles. “The cost of a basic system hosting two vehicles ranges from $1,300 to $1,350,” Yordanov concluded.
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This article is missing vital information. From their website “Our carport solar mounting system are sold to Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Europe and the South America.” Maybe update this article when it’s available in the US?
Seeing all the solar arrays in viable agricultural land gets to me – especially now, since we’re going to lose most of what’s growing in Ukraine! Why oh why can’t there be panels placed around all our car parks? Vehicles get very hot when in the sun, so why not provide us with solar generating shaded areas, charging EV’s while limiting the need for ICE cars to run their engines for the HVAC system to run?
It might be difficult to place the panels on industrial buildings (although this is a perfect place for them) due to weight limits on the relatively fragile roofs! Although these roofs should be designed in the future to be able to take such systems – the ideal place for them at the moment is retrofitting the carports in car parks around our cities and, of course, those industrial sites!
Very Nice,👍