Advantages of photovoltaic installation in zoos

Many people wonder: Is it feasible to install solar energy system in zoos?

At present, zoos are facing unprecedented development opportunities in terms of self-transformation, self-development, and self-improvement.

1. Zoos consume huge amounts of electricity. Most non-native animals need to be kept warm or cold 24 hours a day. After installing distributed photovoltaic power stations, the zoo’s electricity consumption is adequate.

2. The zoo is large and flat. Taking the operable space of the peripheral parking lot as an example, it is simple and easy to install photovoltaic power stations and photovoltaic carports. The nearby environment is open and unobstructed, with abundant lighting resources, and the photovoltaic system has higher power generation efficiency.

3. For investors and installers of zoo photovoltaic projects, it is a manifestation of social responsibility; for the zoo itself, it is a full use of photovoltaic green energy to achieve sustainable development and respond to the national "double carbon" policy.

4. Enhance the awareness and recognition of local zoos. After the epidemic is relaxed, the number of annual visitors to the zoo will be huge. We can see the possibility of a perfect integration of photovoltaics and ecology. Photovoltaics will become a unique landscape of the zoo.

Belgian zoo installs 60,000 solar panels

The Paradise Zoo in Belgium is known as "the most beautiful zoological and botanical garden in Europe". It not only contains rare animals and plants from all over the world, but also has a "Chinese Garden", which was built in 2005 and is currently the largest in Europe. There is a 5,300-square-meter "Giant Panda World" specially built for the Chinese giant pandas who came here in 2014. The giant pandas "Hao Hao" and "Xing Hui" live here with their three "children" born in Belgium.

In 2021, Paradise Zoo cooperated with LONGi to install more than 60,000 solar panels 445W in the parking lot, with a total panel area of 104,000 square meters and a total power of 20MW. It became the largest photovoltaic parking lot in the world at that time, providing green and clean electricity for this top zoo, which is well-known throughout Europe.

This large photovoltaic parking lot has 7,000 parking spaces. The electricity provided by the photovoltaic panels can fully meet the electricity needs of the zoo. The photovoltaic carport can also provide shelter from wind and rain for more than 80% of the parking spaces. The excess electricity can be used to charge electric vehicles and be transported. to the grid.

Denmark's oldest zoo installs photovoltaic panels

Copenhagen Zoo, founded in 1859, is the oldest zoo in Denmark and one of the oldest zoos in Europe. With a history of 160 years, it is now home to more than 3,500 animals and 240 species.

In 2019, Copenhagen Zoo installed Q CELLS solar panels on the roofs of 12 buildings in the zoo.

The solar system has an installed capacity of 273kWp. Since being connected to the grid, it has continuously converted sunlight into clean energy. The power station will help reduce electrical bills by 20% each year while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 170 tons, thereby achieving the zoo's long-term climate goals.

Copenhagen Zoo adopts a self-consumption model, which not only reduces its energy costs, but also effectively and sustainably improves the ecological balance.

American zoo photovoltaic power station for self-use

In 2013, a zoo in Ohio, USA also used photovoltaic power generation. However, this photovoltaic power station is not built in the zoo, but a 2MW capacity photovoltaic power station built on a 22-acre open space outside the zoo, specifically used to power the zoo.

After completion, the photovoltaic power station provides 30% of the zoo's electricity. A total of 28,000 photovoltaic panels installed can generate nearly 2.6 megawatt hours of electricity every year, all of which is used for the zoo's daily electricity consumption.