Solar Trees

When I saw a solar trees link, I thought of these ascetically pleasing street lights. But these solar trees are cool too. Solar panels over parking lots. The idea is so simple, I should have thought about it. I can see this being a big deal especially in the south west where they put covers like these over parking lots now, without the solar panels.

From the Jetson Green blog

As you can see above and below, Envision Solar plans to make parking lots into beautiful power plants with their Solar Groves and Solar Trees. Envision Solar takes the hassle out of designing structures for solar with their turn-key solutions. Although the company is working on a next generation design for the Solar Tree, the current iteration includes 64 Kyocera solar modules laid out in total measuring 30' x 40'. The panels sit at a five degree angle and provide shading for six vehicles, too. Envision Solar has found success installing these parking canopies near commercial buildings and retail parking lots because the energy can be sold to businesses through power purchase agreements.