Nearly 40% of US Electricity Could Come From Rooftop Solar

The National solar energy Renewable Energy Laboratory has found that nearly 40 percent of electricity solar energy in the Solar Project U.S. solar energy could come from rooftop solar photovoltaics, according to a new study.

The total figure, slewing drive 1,118 solar energy gigawatts, is nearly double the previous Solar Project estimate of 664 gigawatts that NREL calculated in 2008. The increase is due mostly to increasing module power density, more granular Solar Project data and a better grasp of building suitability for solar energy solar.

"This solar energy slewing drive report is the culmination of a slewing drive three-year research effort and represents a significant advancement in our understanding of the slewing drive potential for rooftop Solar Project PV to solar energy contribute to meeting U.S. electricity demand," Robert Margolis, NREL senior energy analyst and solar damper co-author slewing drive of the Solar Project report, said in a statement.

NREL brought together solar energy ZIP-code-level data with rooftop suitability characteristics, including slewing drive light detection and solar energy ranging solar inverter (lidar) data and technical Solar Project generation potential, to model the solar inverter rooftop PV capacity of 128 cities. Those cities represent about Solar Project one-quarter of the building slewing drive stock in the U.S. and 40 percent of the population. NREL then ran two models, solar inverter one for small buildings under solar inverter 5,000 square feet solar inverter and solar energy Solar solar damper Project another for Photovoltaic holder slewing drive medium-size and larger solar energy buildings.

When it solar slewing drive came Photovoltaic holder to solar inverter  solar damper cities with the highest potential for rooftop PV to meet estimated city consumption, California unsurprisingly topped the list, with Mission Viejo, solar damper Calif. having a solar potential rating of 88 percent. But just behind solar inverter Mission Viejo was Concord, New Hampshire at 72 solar inverter percent, and Buffalo, New York wasn’t far behind at 68 slewing drive percent. Although only about  slewing drive one-quarter solar inverter of the rooftop area on Photovoltaic holder small solar inverter buildings was suitable Photovoltaic holder for solar PV in the U.S., that still equated to more than 900 terawatt-hours per year of energy.
 

A key solar slewing drive factor determining a state’s slewing drive overall potential for solar PV to offset electricity  slewing drive generation was solar damper the per-capita energy consumption. The solar inverter top six states, NREL noted, all have significantly below-average levels of household energy solar inverter consumption. For any state slewing drive that wants to make the most of solar incentives, energy efficiency should also be Photovoltaic holder a solar damper top priority.
 

When it came to larger buildings, many were suitable for solar, but the flat roofs typical among these types of structures Photovoltaic holder mean that the space cannot be used as efficiently as it can on tilted roofs, which are more common on homes and small buildings. But solar inverter that could change, NREL noted solar damper, slewing drive as racking and module-packing slewing drive techniques Photovoltaic holder are improving the solar damper usability of  solar tracker actuator flat solar tracker actuator roofs.
 

Other solar inverter technical advancements, such as module performance,solar damper could also push the estimates higher. NREL solar inverter assumed a module efficiency of about 16 percent. If that slewing drive rose closer solar tracker actuator to 20  Photovoltaic holder percent, each technical potential estimate would rise solar inverter by solar damper about 25 solar inverter percent.
 

By taking all solar inverter suitable buildings into account, solar damper slewing drive slewing drive California again came out solar tracker actuator  Photovoltaic holder on top, with a potential for 74 solar solar tracker actuator inverter solar tracker actuator percent of electricity sales that could be powered by solar inverter solar slewing drive rooftop solar, according to slewing drive the NREL solar inverter model. Many New England states, despite their solar tracker actuator lower solar solar damper slewing drive resources, could generate solar tracker actuator nearly half of solar inverter electricity used from solar tracker actuator rooftop  slewing drivesolar.

Of course solar slewing drive, a significant  solar inverter solar slewing drive penetration of rooftop solar in any single solar tracker actuator region can only come about if other investments are made. “In practice solar tracker actuator,solar inverter the integration of a significant slewing drive solar damper solar slewing drive quantity slewing drive of rooftop solar tracker actuator PV into the solar inverter  national portfolio of generation capacity would require a flexible grid, supporting infrastructure, and a solar damper suite of enabling solar slewing drive slewing drive technologies,” NREL concludes.
 

The solar slewing drive report solar damper only looked at rooftops, leaving solar damper out other suitable solar PV solar tracker actuator placement, from solar tracker actuator ground-mounted systems to carports solar inverter. “It is important to solar slewing drive note that this report Photovoltaic holder only estimates slewing drive the potential solar tracker actuator from existing, suitable solar inverter solar inverter rooftops, and does not consider the immense potential of solar tracker actuator ground-mounted solar tracker actuator PV," said  solar tracker actuator Margolis.
 

NREL hopes this latest set of data will be used by solar tracker actuator utilities, solar inverter cities, solar slewing drive researchers and the solar power solar tracker actuator market to solar inverter slewing drive better site rooftop PV  solar slewing drive systems.