WHAT IS SOLAR ENERGY ANYWAYS?

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Commercial solar may seem straightforward — solar for businesses as opposed to residential solar for homes. However, commercial solar encompasses a variety of different types of customers and projects. In addition to businesses of different sizes, from large corporations to local small businesses, “commercial” solar customers can also include governments, schools and universities, and even nonprofits.

Commercial solar projects may take the form of rooftop arrays on buildings or ground mounts, and can range widely in size from kilowatts to megawatts. According to Joe Naroditsky, Director, Solar & Operations at the Community Purchasing Alliance (CPA), an organization that connects nonprofits with solar bids, the C&I solar projects his organization facilitates can range in size from 50 kilowatts (kW) for small churches to 300-400 kW for large schools.

Yes, dirty solar panels are less efficient than clean ones. Dust, bird droppings, and leaves hinder the solar panels to operate at maximum efficiency. The efficiency rating of the panels is based on the optimal performance of these panels which are adversely affected by general uncleanness.

Many solar panel owners ignore the importance of the cleaning their panels regularly. If you don't do this often enough, the performance of your system will be decreased because of the repelling layer of grime on them. For this reason, periodical cleaning is extremely important if you want maximum results.

Recent university research has shown that a dirty solar panel can lose 50% of it's efficiency compared to a clean solar panel.

California has 776 solar power plants, that produced 33,670 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2021, or 17.3% of the state’s energy, according to the California Energy Commission. Unsurprisingly, many are in the hot, brilliantly sunny deserts in the southernmost part of the Golden State. Let’s meet two of California’s biggest solar farms.

Covering over eight miles in southern California’s Kern and Los Angeles counties in the Mojave desert, Solar Star, the solar farm that generates the most solar power in the US, produces enough energy to power almost 255,000 homes. Containing 1.7 million solar panels, this 579W project is the size of 142 football fields (or four times the size of New York’s Central Park). Its environmental impact equals taking almost 108,000 cars off the road. (Death Valley, the hottest, driest place in North Ame

China’s solar prowess is staggering. With a whopping 392 GW, the country is the largest producer of solar energy in the world. In the first six months of 2022, the nation has deployed more than 30.88 GW of Solar PV systems. Moreover, it has set goals to install 108 GW of solar power this year. The nation is also the largest manufacturer of solar equipment. According to reports, China has invested over 50 billion USD, in new PV supply capacity since 2011.

With 135.7 GW of solar power capacity, the USA stands second in the list of top solar countries. From a measly capacity of 0.34 GW in 2008, the nation has come a long way in the solar domain. Presently, 3% of the US’s electricity is sourced through solar power plants. US’s solar potential is huge. According to a report by National Renewable Energy Laboratory, an area the size of Lake Michigan (around 22,000 sq. miles), covered with solar panels, would be enough to power the entire country.

The solar market in the US is growing at a rapid rate. Sources claim that solar jobs have increased by 167% in the nation. To encourage the switch to solar, the nation is steadily introducing favourable policies. Moreover, the administration under president Joe Biden has announced a goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2025. Out of this, solar power would meet 40% of the electricity demand.

San Diego is the most solar city in the U.S., followed by Los Angeles; Austin, Texas; Palm Springs, California; and San Francisco, according to Thumbtack data based on new solar panel installation projects booked across the country since March 2022. To aid in the costs of installing solar panels, the Internal Revenue Code Section 25D provides an uncapped 30% tax credit for rooftop solar panels that can go toward equipment and installation, according to Rewiring America.