The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Course in Hong Kong recently became one of the world’s first golf facilities and the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., one of the first U.S. golf clubs to power their entire golf car fleets with solar energy. Both courses retrofitted their existing Club Car fleets using the SolarDrive system, which is part of the Club Car Solutions Network.
A study of energy use by the Golf Resource Group recently concluded that most golf courses use between 250,000 and 5 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity in their annual operations. At the high end, that’s equivalent to the amount of electricity used in 278 2,500-square-foot houses, according to the report from the Phoenix-based research firm.
“Power costs are very expensive here on Long Island and are getting more expensive around the world,” said Michael Pascucci, owner of Sebonack. “Why not take advantage of the free solar power we have on earth?”
But reducing the charging requirements for the club’s 40 golf cars and lowering its electric bill isn’t the only reason Pascucci retrofitted his fleet with solar canopies.
“We penciled it out and concluded we were going to get our money back pretty easily,” said Pascucci, who first saw the solar canopy system while playing golf with Ernie Els in Jupiter, Fla., last winter. “But even if the numbers weren’t as strong as they are, I still would have done it.”
Pascucci thinks Sebonack members will be impressed that their club is going green.
“I think it’s really a positive thing for our members and their guests to see that they’re not using any energy while they’re riding around on the sun’s power. It makes a statement,” Pascucci said.
The SolarDrive-equipped golf cars capture and convert daylight into energy that can be used to power the vehicles (on sunny or cloudy days) and to supplement energy created by the car’s electric batteries. Pascucci calls the system “a major industry innovation.”
The solar-cell roof panels installed on 40 cars at Sebonack and on 205 cars at The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course were designed and engineered by SolarDrive, a Denmark-based firm specializing in off-grid, solar technology for mobile use. SolarDrive and Club Car entered a marketing alliance earlier this year to promote the use of solar energy.
The price of SolarDrive panels (normally $2,700) often can be defrayed by approximately 30 percent with tax incentives. For information about tax credits and incentives when purchasing products that promote energy efficiency through solar technologies, go to www.dsireusa.org/solar.
“SolarDrive and Club Car have provided us with what we believe is a smart solution that makes both environmental sense and good business sense, too,” said Cameron Halliday, general manager at The Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau, the only public golf course in Hong Kong.
Peter Randow, managing partner of SolarDrive, estimates the Jockey Club will reduce carbon emissions by up to 30 metric tons per year as a result of the fleet’s reduced power requirements. Consumption of grid electricity for the fleet will be reduced by 50 to 75 percent and the cars’ battery life also may be extended, Randow added.
The high-profile nature of Sebonack and Jockey Club, and their decisions to go all solar, are expected to lead other courses to evaluate the technology, according to Mike Read, marketing director for Club Car’s golf car category. “The need to conserve energy as a means of lowering costs combined with more widespread environmental awareness makes solar energy an attractive strategy for many courses,” he said. “We think we’ll see more courses here and in other parts of the world take a serious look at solar.”
