As we saw a few weeks ago in a post about solar carports in New Jersey, these structures with photovoltaic panels are being constructed with federal stimulus money. This is also the case for solar carports in Columbus, OH for a police station. While Ohio has plans for 25 alternative energy projects, this current project involving photovoltaic panels on carport-like structures for a police station has been stalled somewhat. The city, presently, has questions about the project, including how it benefits the city overall, and the likelihood of these structures being constructed will be at earliest spring 2010.
The company behind the solar panels, Solar Vision, LLC, received a grant of $335,328 in federal stimulus dollars for building solar carports on the city’s new police station, according to the article. More specifically, the solar-powered structure that will be set up includes four carport structures supporting photovoltaic panels in the police station parking lot. These will, then, generate 122,312 kilowatts of power per year, which would cover 15 to 20 percent of the police station’s power and, over 20 years, would save the station about $75,000 dollars. So, in terms of alternative energy projects, why wouldn’t this be beneficial to the city?
The project costs a large sum of money to create and the amount from it won’t even be made up within 20 years. In fact, the total amount will be made up in electricity reduction in 90 years, at the current pace. Additionally, the project only powers less than a quarter of the police station. While having primarily solar power is one goal of alternative energy, such a project to power a portion of a police station isn’t really rational. Instead, the city of Columbus should be finding ways to incorporate alternative energy sources without such a high price tag.
