Lockheed Martin has commissioned Advanced Roofing and Advanced Green Technologies to design and build a 2.25 MW solar carport at the defense and aerospace company's Mission Systems and Training facility in Clearwater, Florida.
The project, which is expected to be the largest private, non-utility owned solar array in Florida, will produce an estimated 3.33 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year.
The solar carport will cover 151,400 square feet (14,065.5 square meters) of the facility's parking lot with 7,260 solar modules to provide shade for 534 cars. At completion, Lockheed Martin expects the project to cut electricity purchases for the facility by up to 60%.
Florida-based Advanced Roofing will serve as general contractor, with sister firm Advanced Green Technologies providing construction and installation. Construction of the fast-tracked, multi-phased project begins this month and will employ more than 40 workers on-site, with completion set for summer 2015. In addition to design, procurement and construction of the solar carport, Advanced Roofing's contract includes resurfacing the entire 6.65-acre (2.69 hectares) asphalt parking lot at the facility.
Advanced Roofing will first resurface half the parking lot, and then install the carports foundations and structural steel superstructure. The contractor's crews will then install the solar panel canopy, using high-efficiency Hanwha SolarOne S-series modules, and will add the full under-canopy LED lighting system. The first phase will be in use as the second-phase parking lot work commences.
Throughout Florida and the rest of the United States, offsetting energy costs with solar carports is a growing trend for corporate, healthcare, hotel and government facilities. A recent study by GTM Research projected a 76% increase in solar carports from an estimated 2014 annual installed capacity of 180.2 MW to an estimated 318 MW in 2016.
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