Beach 8 will look a little different the next time you visit Presque Isle State Park.
The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has added five solar canopies to the parking lot.
Presque Isle’s power getting an extra boost with Beach 8’s solar panel development
The building project was designed to take all of the park’s power needs to ‘net zero.’ Which means they are trying to create as much power as they’re using.
Park officials said the canopies will produce shade for vehicles this summer and should offset the park’s current power costs.
“We recently renovated that location as well. This will kind of be one of the final touches that we put on Beach 8 before moving on to another area. Another factor that went into this was sighting. Obviously, there has to be a good open area that can get a good amount of sun for the solar panels,” said Matt Greene, operation manager at Presque Isle State Park.