Solar Options

Commercial building owners benefit from the energy savings by fixing the costs of a predictable percent of their energy expenses as well as from federal tax credits, state incentives, and accelerated depreciation which are illustrated in the sample ROI calculations for New Hampshire and Vermont.

In addition, businesses benefit from the tangible green marketing visibility of having a renewable, solar energy system on their building.  A monitoring system, either on the web or in the lobby, will show your customers and employees what you are actually generating. Depending on your building’s orientation solar awnings or a canopy can really enhance the visibility of your solar commitment.

Electricity:

Solar electricity works exactly the same as the electricity you buy from your utility company, if you didn't see solar modules on the roof, you'd never notice any difference—except lower electric bills. Here's how PV solar works.

Solar electricity is generated by an array of solar modules installed on your roof or on the ground. When sunlight falls on the solar modules, a DC electrical current is fed into an inverter that changes it to standard AC electricity at the voltage and phase your building uses.

Solar electricity has been in use for more than 50 years and is proven to be highly dependable. Unlike other methods used to generate electricity, PV solar has no moving parts to wear out. PV modules come with a 25-year limited warranty on power output, and we have some 30 year old modules still within specifications.

In our climate the only maintenance is to clear snow, though on arrays at a 40 degree angle it generally clears itself.  

A PV system is sized based on your budget, area available for the array and energy usage. PV modules consist of solar cells which are made from semiconductor materials that convert sunlight directly to electricity. PV modules have no moving parts and, unlike conventional back-up generators, there’s no need for annual maintenance or periodic start ups and no fuel costs. The types of systems include:

• Battery charging systems where solar energy is stored for use at any time. PV modules are connected to a charge controller then to a battery bank which can power DC loads directly. Isolated lighting systems are examples where it might be more expensive to run AC wires to power a new light fixture than to install a self contained PV powered light.
• Utility Grid interconnected systems which are the most common send excess PV electricity not used by the business back to the grid. PV modules are connected to a grid-tie inverter which connects to the main breaker panel. These systems incorporate safety switches that shut off the power to the grid if there is a power failure. Another option is to incorporate a battery bank to provide power during a blackout for specific circuits contained in a separate sub panel.
• Building integrated photovoltaic systems for membrane roofs on commercial buildings that maximize your roof asset without penetrations or heavy ballasts. Panels can also be mounted on south facing walls to serve as awnings.

Water Heating:

A Solar Water Heating system captures the suns heat energy and transfers it to a storage tank (or tanks) to be used as needed. The systems are simple, reliable and because the energy is stored on site, the more hot water you use the faster the system will pay for itself. Since the sun produces the most energy in the summer months, we recommend solar water heating a year round requirement over active solar space heating. Here's how solar hot water systems work.

A Solar Water Heating system is sized based on your hot water usage. The size and number of collectors and the storage tanks are adjusted to each situation; we have designed systems for couples, large families, restaurants and factories.