Charging stations take advantage of sunlight
Local governments, businesses and educational institutions continue to provide free electrons to the community to demonstrate how plug-in electric cars can be refueled by Southern Nevada sunlight.
Tom Perrigo, deputy director of planning and development for Las Vegas, introduced a sustainable energy strategy in September 2008 that adopted goals for city operations, codes and policies. Implementation of these plans has created jobs for Southern Nevadans, while reducing the community’s electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
In the past three years, Las Vegas has installed 1 million watts of photovoltaic solar panels on top of carports and stand-alone structures at 32 locations. The photovoltaic cells on carports can generate electricity that is fed into the NV Energy utility grid to offset energy costs .
The city also invested in several plug-in electric vehicles for its fleet and installed recharging stations at strategic locations.
The pilot program was at Stupak Community Center. Photovoltaic cells mounted on parking canopies generate electricity that provides power to a recharging station donated by Ecotality. More recharging stations have been installed in the City Hall parking garage on Main Street that are partially powered by photovoltaic solar tree sculptures at the front entrance.
In March, the city of Las Vegas finished installing recharging stations at three community centers: Mirabelli, Veterans Memorial and Centennial Hills. All three of the community center parking lots also have solar photovoltaic carports that provide shade and free electrons to recharge electric cars.
NV Energy has been investing in an electric vehicle fleet and each corporate office has installed recharging stations. In January, the Pearson office building at 6226 W. Sahara Ave. was outfitted with a solar photovoltaic carport that included five ChargePoint stations, each with two plugs.
The carport’s solar panels were divided into three types of arrays to compare efficiency over time and during seasonal changes. Data generated by monitoring the solar-cell arrays’ comparative performance will be shared with local contractors and government agencies, including Clark County, which has a solar photovoltaic carport with multiple ChargePoint stations at the Government Center.
On Saturday, Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef Aquarium will host a Party for the Planet to celebrate local renewable energy and conservation projects.
On April 20, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus will host a Festival of Communities and GreenFest 2013 .
For more information on solar-powered electric vehicle recharging station locations, visit the website of the Nevada Electric Vehicle Accelerator at http://nevadaeva.org/evse-locator-map.
Stan Hanel has worked in the electronics industry for more than 30 years and is a longtime member of the Electric Auto Association and the Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association. Hanel writes and edits for EAA’s “Current Events” and LVEVA’s “Watts Happening” newsletters. Email him at stanhanel@aol.com.
