Solar Panels

Solar Panels at Dundee Charging Hubs and Car Parks

Solar energy is the cleanest and most abundant power source available, as well as being the cheapest in the country. It became clear to us at DCC that utilising solar will enable us to continually reduce our carbon footprint, therefore, we have installed solar panels to our charging hubs and multi-storey car parks in Dundee. We feel this teamed with our charging infrastructure for electric vehicles is a great eco-friendly partnership.   

Before we started installation of the solar panels, we were challenged with a variety of building structures to work around. Therefore, we established two different designs to adapt to what was already in place. These were either solar canopies or solar buckets.

The solar canopies pictured above, provide shelter for cars parked underneath but their main function is to absorb energy from the sun to supply chargepoints with power to charge electric vehicles. The energy can also be used to power elements of the car park, like lighting etc.

Our solar canopies can be found at Queens Street, Princes Street, and Greenmarket with a further destination to host canopies next year at Clepington Road. These canopies at the Clepington Road hub will be lower in height with extra space around each point to allow for drivers to gain easier access. This design has been introduced to accommodate all drivers. The solar panels on the canopies will absorb the suns light to supply energy for the chargers. Any left-over power will be added to the battery storage system on site, for use at a later date.

The solar panel buckets pictured above are the second design used and can be found at Gellatly Street and Olympia multi storey car parks. These are held on the roof tops as the structure of the building was unsuitable for canopies to be installed. These panels work the same way as the solar canopies where they absorb the suns energy to power chargers which are also located on the rooftop.  

How it works

A solar PV panel consists of many cells made from layers of semi-conducting material. When light shines on this material, a flow of electricity is produced. Unlike common belief, the cells don’t need sunlight and can operate on cloudy days. However, the stronger the sunshine, the more energy that is produced.

If solar panels do not have batteries, the energy will return to the National Grid (or battery storage if located on site). Therefore, less green energy waste is released into the atmosphere.

Benefits

The Solar power generated by all solar panels is a source of renewable energy, it can be accessed easily by all and available every day. As solar power is generated by the sun, it will not run out. Solar panels create very little climate-health issues and the energy source produced does not release dangerous gas (like carbon). They also reduce the greenhouse effect and little maintenance is required other than to be cleaned a couple times a year. With more people being mindful about the environment, the rate of solar panel installation has increased.