Non-Residential Single Phase Applications - AN untapped PV market
Agriculture, religious congregations and community centers have one thing in common: their untapped PV potential.
Agriculture
With 5.5% of the overall GDP of the United States, the agriculture industry has a significant share of the US economy. If we take a closer look, we can uncover that farms have plenty of untapped solar potential. With many barns, silos, sheds, and other buildings, farmers could put a lot of space to better use by adding solar panels, helping agriculture's energy bills. Since modern-day farms require a lot of energy, e.g., critical air conditioning for livestock, these roofs are a prime spot for solar.
Religious Congregations
Additionally, there are around 350,000 religious congregations in the United States. This, again, means a lot of buildings – churches, mosques, temples, and such – with a lot of roof space and electricity needs. Similar to agricultural PV, solar is also an attractive choice for religious congregations.
Community Centers
Furthermore, every town has some community center, adding thousands of comparable buildings with roof space, energy needs, and solar potential.
It all comes back to the grid.
What do these very different types
of facilities have in common?
Many times they are connected to a single-phase
grid. Therefore, when designing a solar system, a residential inverter needs to
be used. Unfortunately, typical residential single-phase inverters are not
ideal for larger systems than a standard residential
system. This often requires a high number of small inverters. In addition, the
National Electrical Code (NEC) has different requirements for dwellings and
non-dwellings – being stricter in homes. For example, residential systems
are limited to 600V DC. Thus, residential inverters are usually made for 600V
only. However, in non-residential buildings, it is beneficial to design them for
1,000V to optimize the overall system.
Combined with the communication features of the Fronius SnapINverter platform, the Fronius Primo 10-15 kW is the first choice for non-residential single-phase applications.
An untapped market
The non-residential single-phase segment is a barely touched source of potential solar business that needs to be addressed. As a whole, our industry can tap into the potential of this segment – getting closer to 24 hours of sun, one system at a time.
