The potential of solar rooftops for the whole country is the number of rooftops appropriate for solar energy, depending on shading, size, direction, and location. Remember, that rooftop potential is not equivalent to the market or economic potential for the solar rooftop.
Moreover, the solar rooftop potential does not believe in availability or cost. Rather, we can say that, across the country, it is a higher limit on solar deployment on rooftops. The potential of a solar rooftop for an entity rooftop is the capacity of solar that we can install on that rooftop, based on its shading, size, location, tilt, and construction.
Satellite maps, irradiation data, device specifications, and other aspects report to a few bids. Other factors notify the proposals offered by the installer to help users understand the advantages and potential costs of solar panels on their roof.
- Rooftop potential at the national level:
In 2016, an analysis was provided by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) about national rooftop potential. According to that analysis, in the United States (USA), there are more than 8 billion square meters of rooftops on which the government can install solar panels. The installation that can take place on the rooftops will represent over 1 terawatt of potential solar capability.
As solar conversion efficiency advances, the rooftop potential could be even higher in the country. Residential and other tiny roofs represent about 65% of the national roof capacity, and 42% of residential roofs are from low to moderate-income families. NERL estimation will clarify it more for better understanding.
NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) provides an estimation that there will be a requirement of (maybe have to construct) an average of 3.3 million homes per year for roof replacement. The same will represent a potential of approximately 30 gigawatts (GW) of solar ability during the year. If a small installation is done on rooftops, then it also has a positive effect on the country’s economy.
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Rooftop potential in terms of the individual:
National laboratories and private companies (multinational companies) successfully developed several tools and gadgets to estimate the amount of solar energy specifically for individual rooftops. The purpose of the same tools is to install them on individual rooftops to obtain accurate results.
A party made the fund, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), to the tools (detail is mentioned below) to help consumers. The purpose of funding by SETO was to begin selecting solar by determining the potential of solar rooftops for businesses or homes of consumers.
a) EnergySage:
EnergySage (a preceding Incubator awardee) permits businesses, homeowners, or nonprofit organizations (NGOs) to estimate their power savings from solar. Moreover, it connects them with prescreened installers who can offer estimates precise to the user’s address. Consumers can freely evaluate the shop and choose the best system that fits their requirements.
Electricity bills are used to estimate the potential savings from solar power. The other primary purpose of establishing EnergySage is to recommend considerable savings over additional conventional products.
b). PVWatts:
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) also offers PVWatts. PVWatts, an online tool, estimates the power production and electricity expenditure for grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems all over the globe. It permits business owners, homeowners, and nonprofit organizations (NGOs) to develop estimates (without any trouble) of the performance of installations of potential PV. The facts are based on the consumer’s data or online map.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) offers another online tool: the System Advisor Model (SAM). SAM is totally free software that allows financial analysis and comprehensive performance for renewable energy systems.
c). Sun Number:
Sun Number basically provides a numerical score that signifies the steadiness of a solar building rooftop within a range from 1 to 100. The 100 number is considered an ideal rooftop for solar systems. The score is possible and easy to access by entering the correct address in an analyzed region.
The Sun number score is based on aerial photographs processed with proprietary algorithms to precisely analyze individual rooftops. Moreover, it is pertinent to mention that based on an amalgamation of aspects, each rooftop is weighed individually to provide a precise analysis. Factors comprise surrounding buildings, the shape of the roof, surrounding plants, local variability, and atmospheric conditions.
Business tools:
There are numerous business tools available, but here I would like to focus on some of them;
a). National solar radiation database:
This tool presents a serially entire collection of hourly and half-hourly values of meteorological data. The national solar radiation database tool also provides three most ordinary measurements of solar radiation;
- Global horizontal
- Direct normal
- And diffuse horizontal irradiance
b). PVLib:
PVLib offers consumers to simulate the performance of photovoltaic power systems; moreover, the good thing is that it is open-source software. Two different versions are available (PVILB for Matlab and PVLib-python). The reason for the development of the same is significantly from consumers’ contributions that are part of an active community.
c). System advisory model (SAM):
SAM or system advisory model is a totally free, techno-economic software model. System advisory model facilitates financial analysis and technical performance simulation of solar and other renewable energy projects. SAM merges system specification and time-series weather data to compute potential electricity production. Moreover, SAM software uses system cost, financing, compensation, and incentive data in an annual cash flow to determine;
- Identical cost of power
- Net present value
- Payback period
- Internal rate of return
- And revenue of a potential project
Final words:
I have tried to describe the complete data about solar rooftops’ potential in detail. The United States and China are working hard on solar energy, and many companies are working toward its adoption. Some companies are only making solar products and are known as solar equipment manufacturers globally. In my next article, I will try to explain more about the business tools related to the topic of Solar Rooftops Potential.
