Lithuania’s largest PV carport powering 44 EV chargers
Lithuania-based Soliport has built what it claims to be the largest solar carport in the Baltic states. The 250 kW system is connected to 44 electric vehicle charging points and injects only a small portion of the electricity it generates into the grid.
October 7, 2024 Emiliano Bellini
Lithuania-based Soliport has commissioned a 250 kW solar carport linked to 40 electric vehicle (EV) charging points.
The company claims the system is currently the largest power plant installed over parking spaces in the Baltic States.
“Although the PV carport is grid-connected, only a small portion of the electricity that is generated is fed into the grid,” the company's managing co-founder, Gediminas Onaitis, told pv magazine. “Most of it will be used to charge around 4,000 electric cars per year.”
The EV charging systems were provided by Lithuanian specialist CityCharge and have two 22 kW charging sockets each. They were also equipped with Tesla superchargers.
A power management system (DLM) ensures that the input load is not exceeded during charging, so that the stations can charge at maximum capacity, utilizing all renewable solar electricity and residual input power.
The carport hosts 580 W bifacial double-glass modules from Jinkosolar and inverters from China-based Solax.
The carport structures are designed by Soliport and adapted to local infrastructure and existing parking spaces. “They are built without loss of parking spaces, with foundations hidden underground,” said Onaitis. “They have minimal impact on driving comfort and the possibility to open car doors. It is important not to complicate driving, especially in public parking spaces.”