Going Solar | A growing trend

With the increasing importance of renewable energy and the federal and state incentives for going solar, more and more commercial entities have been turning towards solar solutions for their energy needs. Almost 74 percent of all solar installations in California are commercial in nature, including government and non-profits. Based on the data available at the California Solar Initiative website, we know the year 2010 witnessed the capacity of commercial solar installations almost triple. With even more installations in 2011, it has become clear that commercial solar is here to stay.

Source: Extracted from Raw data available at California Solar Initiative (http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/csi/index.php)

Source: Extracted from Raw data available at California Solar Initiative (http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/csi/index.php)

Ninety six percent of the capacity for commercial solar installation is for 10 kW or more, demonstrating the flexible options commercial solar offers.

Source: Extracted from Raw data available at California Solar Initiative (http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/csi/index.php)

Solar Technology |Challenge of commercial solar

Commercial solar installations present challenging, because of the differences that exists in the use and space allocation of facilities. For example, large retail operations have natural space in the form of parking areas and rooftops to install solar. On the other hand, many industries may not have similar space provisions. We at ClarySolar look at how different technologies, including thin film, concentrated solar, building integrated solar and solar tracking can be integrated to overcome various design challenges.