[llninja]

Has anyone seen one?

https://www.smartflower.com/en/smartflower_pope

 

[emartin00]

They had it on display at SPI in Vegas last year.
Pretty cool looking, but I imagine it's not cheap.

 

[RFE]

I was wondering the same thing.

There is only one reseller in the U.S. located in Boston.

 

[khalfyard]

Our workplace is considering getting two of them in the near future. But there are currently no resellers in Canada, only the Boston one, and I'm not sure how easy it is to move something like this across the Can/USA border in terms of customs/duty/import.

 

[srmarti]

Visited their site. They want more information than I'm willing to give them just to find out the price. I already get enough calls about solar. Several per week.

 

[Raymondjram]

A 4kW sun-powered EVSE will not be cheap. This is better for EV fleets, where the cost is shared among the TCO of each EV.

 

[250volts]

Has anyone seen one?

https://www.smartflower.com/en/smartflower_pope

Looks like an ideal device to catch both solar and WIND!!!! A nice burst of wind and I can see solar panels up and down the street

 

[Fyodor]

Looks like an ideal device to catch both solar and WIND!!!! A nice burst of wind and I can see solar panels up and down the street

I was thinking that too. On the other hand, it wouldn't take much to adapt this to a hybrid windmill / solar system.

 

[llninja]

Visited their site. They want more information than I'm willing to give them just to find out the price. I already get enough call about solar. Several per week.

I've submitted a form, hope to hear back from a rep soon.

 

[edk-austin]

There is also:
www.envisionsolar.com
They've been installing these for a few years already. Not cheap! Like $40K
I've actually seen one in Boulder CO.

 

[caskConditionedAle]

With a relatively small solar area, I wonder how long it would take to make up the price difference between this and a standard EV charge station? 50 years? I suspect the customers will be deep pocket non-green companies trying to look green. You might see them in the parking lots at Exxon-Mobil.

 

[Raymondjram]

I was thinking that too. On the other hand, it wouldn't take much to adapt this to a hybrid windmill / solar system.

Are you milling wind? The correct definition is "air turbine/generator". Actually it is a type of "gas turbine/generator" where the "gas" is the common atmospheric air.

 

[jsmay311]

The EVSE aspect of this seems like little more than a gimmick. The main product is just the solar panels.

My initial gut reaction was derision at such a gimmicky, costly idea. But then remembering how installation is such a huge part of the cost of rooftop solar nowadays, such an idea suddenly doesn't seem so foolish. And not everyone has a suitable rooftop for solar to begin with. And being able to track the sun significantly increases output too.

Granted, not many people are going to have a suitable sunny spot on the ground to put something like this. And I would be concerned about durability in general and wind specifically.

Interesting concept.

Edit: Found out that it adjusts to protect itself in high wind conditions. At ~30mph, it changes position to have the panels parallel with the ground. At 40+ mph, it folds itself up. Pretty clever.

 

[Fyodor]

Are you milling wind? The correct definition is "air turbine/generator". Actually it is a type of "gas turbine/generator" where the "gas" is the common atmospheric air.

You missed the bit about the solar system. Just an idea, Raymond, not a technical paper.