Could BC Place go solar?

BC Place presents a harder case: its cable-supported retractable fabric roof leaves only limited panel-suitable area, and Vancouver's roughly 1,123 sunshine hours are the lowest of any host city. Even so, across some 11,000 square metres the theoretical figure lands near 2,600 panels, about 1.0 MW, for an estimated 0.9–1.1 million kWh a year at the Whitecaps' home — comparable to around 380 homes.

Drag the handle — aerial photo left, Google Solar's measured annual sun intensity right. Brighter means more energy landing per square metre.

Roof area read from above: ~10,636 m².Imagery dated 2023-10-01.

Full methodology, assumptions and cross-checks: how we measure. Includes solar data from Google.

BC Place from above

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