Episode Details

Solar carport installation costs can swing by 12 cents per watt before a single panel goes up. Kyle Sinclair, CEO and co-founder of SDE (Sinclair Designs and Engineering), James Strizki, Project Manager and CFO of GenMounts and Renewable Energy Holdings, and Matt Boyce, a PE licensed in 27 states and Principal Engineer at Engineered Solutions, join Tim Montague to break down exactly how carport projects are won and lost. Between them, they have engineered, manufactured, reviewed, and installed hundreds of megawatts of solar structures. This webinar covers the full arc of a carport project from initial bid to commissioning, with a focus on where costs blow up and what to do before you break ground to prevent it.

Here is what you will learn in this conversation about solar carport installation and commercial carport project execution:

• Find out why experienced rooftop EPCs get surprised when they move into carports. Carport structures run 25 feet tall, require serious drilling and concrete work, and the average project size is around half a megawatt, with 100 cubic yards of concrete per site.
• You will learn how to structure the due diligence process before a single hole is drilled. James Strizki walks through geotech reports, 811-dig calls, web soil GIS software, conversations with local drillers, and a field layout walk a week before mobilization.
• Understand what ground conditions actually cost you on a carport bid. Kyle Sinclair gives real numbers: $800 per drilled hole in clean Michigan clay versus $2,500 per hole when you hit shale, a difference that adds $60,000 to a half-megawatt project and creates a 12-cent-per-watt cost swing.
• Find out the three foundation types you will encounter on carport projects and when each one applies. James covers drilled shafts, spread footings, and hybrid helical pile systems, and explains why the wrong choice or a rushed choice can undermine a parking lot within a year or two of commissioning.
• You will hear Matt Boyce explain why he will not stamp an existing carport structure for solar unless it was originally designed for the load, and what independent structural review actually protects in a project.

With residential installers entering the commercial carport market in growing numbers, the gap between what a project looks like on paper and what crews find underground is widening. Kyle Sinclair notes that some EPCs entering this space are used to low-cost, high-volume, cookie-cutter projects and are now bidding work that is the complete opposite, large, expensive, heavily customized, and months in the making. If you are pricing carport work or planning to, the cost variability covered in this conversation is not theoretical.

Connect with Guests

Kyle Sinclair | LinkedIn 

James Strizki, P.E. | LinkedIn 

Support the show

Connect with Tim  

Clean Power Hour 
Clean Power Hour on YouTube
Tim on Twitter
Tim on LinkedIn 

Email tim@cleanpowerhour.com 

Review Clean Power Hour on Apple Podcasts

The Clean Power Hour is produced by the Clean Power Consulting Group and created by Tim Montague. Contact us by email:  CleanPowerHour@gmail.com

Corporate sponsors who share our mission to speed the energy transition are invited to check out https://www.cleanpowerhour.com/support/

The Clean Power Hour is brought to