Team ProjectCommercial Solarscapes

Mike Dobbins

• Reduce the wasteful use of Reduce the wasteful use of water by the power industrywater by the power industry

• Shift the economics of power generation to sustainable locallocal systems

• Lower the use of fossil fuels and generation of CO2

• Reduce future demand for more power plants

• Address Social and QOL issues

Overarching Goals

Austin Energy

• Non-Profit

• Focused on power delivery, not generation

• Current power sources• Coal *• Nuclear *• Bio-gas• Wind• Natural Gas/Fuel Oil*• Small efforts in solar- This is the opportunity

point

• Strong supporter of renewable and alternative energy sources and resource conservation

Solar in Austin

• 300+ sunny days per year

• Not a lot of open unused space

• Lots and lots of roofsLots and lots of roofs

Rooftop Solar in Austin

• Residential vs. Commercial

• Residential• Lots of tiny roofs• Thousands of stake holders• Low adoption• Tough sell

• CommercialCommercial• Lots of huge roofs• Few stakeholders• Burgeoning acceptance• Low Hanging Fruit

Project Goal• Develop an inventory of commercial roof tops

applicable for solar systems• Develop an estimate of generation potential using

these roof tops• Investigate applicable technologies• Economic and generation Proof-of-concept (will it

work)• Determine (if possible ) if commercial roof top solar

systems will actually achieve the Overarching Goals• Lower water use or growth of use at generation

facilities• Reduce reliance on fossil fuels• Etc.

The Plan• Inventory of applicable commercial roof space• Map showing prime properties

• GIS & database if possible• ‘Best-Practices’ and/or ‘State of the Industry’

• Installation• Technology (current and future)

• Estimation of Generation Potential• How many Kwh generated based on

acceptance

• Benefits to Austin Energy• Less load demand during peak times• Offset future demand for more

generation/plants• Lower need to purchase fossil fuels• Lower water use (my primary goal)

• Value to End-user• Cost savings• ‘Good-will’• TBD

The Payoff (What we hope to show)

• Value to Austin• Lower power generation cost leading to lower

consumer cost• Lower local water budget (less pumping from

aquifer and river)• Austin can become a solar hub

• Solar industries locate to Austin• Prestige • Local investment• Cleaner local environment• QOL increases

• Jobs• Local economy

• Lower air pollution• Austin is currently at non-attainment

Resources and Requirements

• Quite a bit of phone and face time with sources• Screen time determining assets• Some quantitative analysis• Quite a bit of qualitative analysis• GIS and database – if possible• Some field trips to see installations, meet vendors

and/or clients