Palm Springs Motors has a large vehicle dealership in Cathedral City, California on Highway 111 and has recently had installed a sizeable solar panel system at its site on a number of new shade structures.
Solar panels are popular in California
(image credit: Living Off Grid)
They certainly have a reputation for not doing things by half with, for instance, a 1,500 square feet American flag flying at their premises.
The 655-kilowatt solar panel system will be capable of generating around 80 per cent of the company’s electricity requirement and is one of the biggest systems in the Inland Empire that is owned privately. That is not taking into account larger utility scale projects.
Scott Simmers who is Palm Spring Motors General Manager at the Ford dealership made the observation that the solar panel system will generate 1.1 megawatt. They have one hundred service bays that are fully equipped with lighting as well as other things that will be powered by solar panels and it is estimated that it will take the company about six years to recoup the initial outlay.
The solar panel system is expected to be operational within the next few days and is one of many solar panel projects that have been installed across the USA in 2012.
It has been reported by Greentech Media, who are a solar power research firm, that in between 1 July and 30 September 2012 solar panel installations totalled 684 megawatts with that being an impressive increase of 44 per cent when compared with the same period last year. However, it is a drop when compared with the second quarter of 2012 that shows installations amounted to 775 megawatts. It is forecast that the last quarter of 2012 will show projects amounting to 1,202 megawatts being installed.
It is estimated that anything from 750 to 1,000 homes can be powered by a one-megawatt installation. California is installing more solar panels than any other state with 194 in the third quarter and 222 in the second.
