Solar for Office

Solar for Office

Office buildings typically depends on electricity for most of their operations and have little need for heat energy. The consumption of power in an office building during the day time is much greater than that of the night time, which makes them ideally suited to solar power where electricity is generated only during the daytime.

There are different loads in an office building depending on the nature of work done at the particular office; critical loads may be present that need to run continuously. There may be several benefits from using solar power, such as reduction of grid and diesel consumption but there are few constraints in using solar power as well; both are discussed in detail below.

Rooftop solar power can meet up to 20% of an office building’s electricity requirements in India If your building consumes a lot of diesel for power generation, rooftop solar can abate up to 20% of your diesel bills, subject to timing of load shedding 100 SF of shade-free rooftop space can provide 4 kWh of solar power per day, on average.

In two years, the prices for solar photovoltaic panels have plunged as a result of greater efficiencies in manufacturing and in the technology itself. Increasing competition among a growing number of suppliers has also helped reduce costs.

The forces are expected to drive prices further down in coming years, making solar PV installations a brighter investment prospect for commercial buildings.

Currently, though the market has grown significantly, solar power supplies less than 2 percent of the electricity used in the India. A capital-intensive proposition, like most renewable energy technologies, payback periods on the high end tend to range from 20 to 25 years.

So, why consider solar now? Sheppard offered six reasons:

Prices have dropped enough to be financially advantageous.
Your business can lock in lower electricity costs.
Your business can then have more predictable electricity costs.
You might not need any upfront capital.
Many utilities need to hit RPS (renewable portfolio standard) goals and, in some cases, lower "peak time" generation costs.
Doing so can help your company achieve sustainability goals.

As the cost of PV panels drops precipitously, that driving out the waste and inefficiencies related to installation will bring total systems costs down, cut the length of time for return on investment and bring solar power systems within reach of more companies Overall, such anticipated improvements would bode well for internal rates of return (which businesses use in capital budgeting to compare profitability of investments) for solar PV and help strengthen the industry.

We offer you the ability to predict and manage your energy use and spend. Our customers buy renewable energy from us for less than what they currently pay for electricity with no up-front cost. These advantages of solar power allow you to secure predictable, long-term energy rates to protect yourself from rising energy costs and price volatility.

There are many advantages to installing a solar PV system on commercial and industrial properties.

Future proof against rising energy costs
Receive income from the Feed-in Tariff
Generate your own free, clean energy
Meet your CSR objectives with renewable energy
Reduce carbon emissions

In addition, your business can generate profit from a solar PV system and spread the cost of capital over a 5year lease through the Energy Efficiency Loans Scheme.

Rooftop solar plants can deliver power during load-shedding, ensuring that critical loads are always running Not all solar plant configurations can deliver power during load-shedding.

Additionally, your energy cost is now fixed for the next 25 years, unlike diesel power which keeps increasing Reliable, A solar power plant has no moving parts, ensuring reliable power over 25 years Minimal maintenance, A solar plant requires very little maintenance from the energy consumer Flexible configurations, Solar panels can be installed on different kinds of roofs, including covered parking areas, as long as the structure can bear the weight of the panels. They are also highly scalable, with rooftop plants ranging in capacity from less than 1 kW to more than 1 MW.

The capacity of the solar plant that can be installed in an office building may be constrained by lack of sufficient shadow-free rooftop space. Roof requirements are discussed in detail here; a rule of thumb is that you will need about 100 SF of shade-free roof area for 1 kW of solar panels.

Insufficient roof area will mean that the capacity of the solar plant on your roof may be sufficient to meet only part of your electrical load In addition to the extent of the rooftop space available, the right to use that space may be a constraint especially in multi-tenant office buildings Infirm power –Solar power is dependent on the sun shining, and output varies depending on meteorological conditions passing clouds can temporarily reduce the solar plant’s output.

Therefore solar power for critical loads should be used in conjunction with another source of power Daylight power, Solar power is only available when the sun shines. Therefore night time applications will require other sources of power, or power from batteries charged through solar Inverter weight – The DC power output from the solar panels needs to be converted to AC via an inverter which can be very heavy: a 100 kW inverter will weigh about 1,000 KGs but occupy only a few square feet of space.

As the rooftop space may not be sufficient to support the entire electrical load of your facility with solar -it becomes necessary to estimate the different kinds of loads to identify loads that can be/need to be supported by solar. Electrical loads are estimated by calculating the wattage or amperage of electrical equipment in use (as shown here), which can be further classified as light loads and heavier loads, with solar being used to support the light loads.

The price of commercial solar power has dropped dramatically over recent years, while electricity prices have skyrocketed and the price hikes may continue. with a commercial PV system, generate electricity at a lower cost than purchasing from a utility by harvesting the power of the sun.

In addition to outright purchase, we also offer other options – solar leasing and Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Your organization can benefit from solar with zero capital outlay. These arrangements are also backed by a solid performance guarantee.