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The city of Industry in California is making plans to build solar paneled carports, and electric car charging stations at the Metrolink public transportation station.
The plan is for 1,000 carports, which would have space for 500 cars in the northwest corner of the parking lot. Southern California Edison will purchase power from the 2 megawatts of power generated by the photovoltaic solar panels.
The Industry City Engineer, J.D. Ballas, said the city signed an agreement with Southern California Edison which will purchase power produced by the solar array for 20 years.
The electric car charging station will also be included in the planning of the Foothill Transit 5 story park and ride structure. The charging station will not use the solar power generated by the carport panels, but will instead be powered by a separate source to accommodate for rainy or overcast days.
The 1.2 million dollar project is being built with the cities general fund. Bids for the project are being accepted now for construction to begin this summer with a projected completion date of February 2012.
