After years of promise and potential, solar technology finally might have arrived as a viable alternative for institutional and commercial facilities. Or has it?
The industry recently has added several thousand jobs in the production of solar cells and the installation of solar panels, reports The New York Times.
Not surprisingly, California is home to most of the manufacturers of and customers for the current wave of solar technology. The state generally serves as the bellwether of the next big thing, and solar technology seems to fit that bill.
California’s institutional and commercial facilities will serve as a laboratory for the technology’s next major hurdle — post-installation performance. For the technology to deliver energy savings to organizations, the installed systems will have to be reliable and easy to maintain.
But if installing the systems results in damage to rooftops, if the systems or other rooftop equipment are less accessible after installation, or if other problems arise once the ribbon has been cut and the applause fades — in other words, if it fails the practicality test — solar technology still won’t have fully arrived.