March 9, 2021
In the summer of 2018, Holman Automotive came to Renewvia to help one of its dealerships – Kuni Honda on Arapahoe in Centennial, Colorado – help address the impacts of Colorado’s severe hail events on the dealership’s businesses. Like many car dealerships in the region, Kuni Honda faced increasingly harsh and unpredictable weather patterns, with hail significantly impacting the market for auto dealer insurance.
Instead of simply fixing the issue, Renewvia presented a solution for Kuni Honda with the triple benefits of protecting its fleet from damaging weather, providing shade for customers, and enabling clean energy generation.
In the fall of 2020, Renewvia completed a solar canopy system for Kuni Honda featuring 13 new car canopies with 1,677 solar panels, protecting 287 vehicles from hail, snow and sun damage. The system also provides energy-efficient, under canopy lighting to ensure a well-lit car shopping experience for customers.
By generating more than 1,309 megawatt-hours (MWh) of renewable energy, Renewvia's system is providing 100 percent of the energy required to operate the dealership on an annual basis. The new solar system will offset approximately 868 metric tons of CO2 each year. This is equivalent to planting more than 1,134 acres of U.S. forests every year, according to the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.
“Renewvia worked closely with Kuni Honda to design and implement a customized solution that has already delivered incredible value for the dealership,” said Eric Domescik, President, Renewvia Energy Corporation. “We have seen increasing levels of interest in similar solutions from auto dealers across the US, given the immediate and substantial cost savings in both insurance premiums and energy bills.”