There Are Two Ways We Use Solar Energy:
Customer-owned Solar
Utility-scale Solar
Customer-owned solar includes technologies and services that convert sunlight directly into electricity through photovoltaic cells with a total generating capacity of less than 2 megawatts. This sector also includes solar thermal technologies that harness sunlight to meet thermal requirements for water or heating and cooling or create heat energy used to generate electricity for residential purposes.
Utility-scale solar includes technologies and services that convert sunlight directly into electricity through photovoltaic cells for a total generating capacity of more than 2 megawatts. This sector also includes solar thermal technologies that harness sunlight to meet thermal requirements for water or heating and cooling or create heat energy used to generate electricity for commercial or industrial purposes.
Solar can be captured through panels in the following ways:
Solar Thermal Panels
Solar thermal systems use heat from sunlight for heating water used in buildings.
Solar Photovoltaic (PV)
Solar panels use photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight directly into electricity through a chemical reaction.
Featured Resources
Other Resources
Websites
- Homeowners Buying Not Leasing Panels
- Utility Scale Solar Pricing Trends
- NCSU Coop Extension: Evaluating Conservation Easements, Solar Leases, and Land Lease Proposals
- NCSU Coop Extension: Landowner Solar Leasing: Contract Terms Explained
- NCSU Coop Extension: Solar and Wind Energy Development Opportunities: Tax Implications
- NCSU Coop Extension: Solar Generation Property Taxation
- NCSU Coop Extension: Threshold Issues for Landowner Solar Leasing
- NCSU: Solar Panel Materials, End of Life, and Regulation
- NCSU: What is Solar Energy?
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Numbers current as of April 2017
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