paranoia

Here’s one for sale in Denmark, where I am, and where it snows. Polycarbonate instead of PMMA. Same thing. I wouldn’t stand on it.

https://dancovershop.dk/products/carport-arizona-2-89x4-95m-palram-canopia-gra

Get an opaque sheeting if you want to keep UV off. Point stands.

Fuck off lmao. A canopy is a roof.

Northern/Western Europe.

Hail bounces off, rain flows off. For a very light duty structure like a smoking shelter, bike shelter or trolley corral, they sometimes have a curved plexiglass roof that snow can just fall off or be blown off. A person is a much more intense load than snow (a person’s whole weight can be on one foot). The frame might take it, but the cladding may not.

Usually they are just a product off the shelf.

Yeah, I do, and I have good reason to, because I am a structural engineer and have designed them myself on occasion. A lot of these canopies over car and bike shelters are just a sheet of plexiglass.

The structure for solar panels is much heavier than for pure sunshade, as a person will have to walk on it to install and maintain the panels. You also have to deal with the associated health and safety regulations for working at height and live electricity, as well as probably pay more for insurance since there is an increased risk of fire.

The car park itself is going to generate the same money with or without the solar. Consider that irrelevant for this discussion.

Building the solar over the car park only really makes sense if you have absolutely nowhere else to put it. The land for solar is usually very cheap, compared to the cost of constructing a large gantry that is designed for vehicular impacts. If you need to do any repair, maintenance or replacement, you have to contend with all the cars in the carpark, or absolutely nothing in a field. You also need to do it at height (i.e., with a crane or lift), which is much more complex than just driving out with a van and doing it on the ground.

The only instances that I would recommend doing this are:

1. You are already building a gantry for shade.

2. You have a green target for the development and cannot achieve it with only rooftop solar on the buildings.

There are many NIMBYs that are against using fields for solar, and make the suggestion of covering car parks for it instead.

The purpose of this image is to explain the economics and design reasons for each option.

It didn’t say anywhere about generating less power. It said it is more expensive per watt, which it is.