Sandbar Solar installed solar panels on the carport rooftop of the corporate headquarters of Plantronics, an industry leader in the design and manufacturing of headsets and personal speakerphones. Installed at 345 Encinal Street in Santa Cruz, California, the 608 kW of power helps Plantronics run their business and keep things cool.

Solar opportunities for parking lots.

According to research conducted by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 35 to 50 percent of most city surfaces are composed of pavement, and 40 percent of that pavement is parking lots. That has a large effect: Asphalt and concrete absorb the sun’s energy, retaining heat and contributing to the “urban heat island effect,” in which cities are hotter than the surrounding areas.

According to a new study published in the journal, Nature Climate Change, California could possibly get all of the electricity that it currently uses from nothing other than rooftop solar plus parking lot solar installations. Imagine the clean, renewable energy that could be produced if more businesses or shopping centers went solar on roofs and parking lots. This could make a huge difference cutting down on that heat, cooling down the cars that park in these lots, powering up electric vehicles, and generating a lot of energy to boot.

The client is the second largest power consumer in San Luis Obisbo County so maximizing array size and power production was a key design consideration as the financial benefit was obvious.  During installation, the site was beginning crush, so electrical activities could not impact equipment operation as grapes were being brought in from harvest.

The array size was maximized while facilitating a very organized and straightforward design so as to make the installation very efficient and cost effective.  Interconnection activities were coordinated tightly to minimize the shutdown and work required.

The system was built and interconnected within the 3 month schedule put forth by the site owner, investor and project team.