Solar for Affordable

Free, Resilient Energy

By Erica Rascón on Jan 15, 2016 in News

The Clean Energy Group recently completed the report, Resilience for Free: How Solar + Storage Could Protect Multifamily Affordable Housing from Power Outages at Little or No Net Cost. The group’s research unveils just how easy and cost-effective it can be to furnish affordable housing with solar energy. The research and new technologies could be a game changer for the industry.

The report examines data for multifamily affordable housing communities in three major metropolitan areas: New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. The results show that solar + storage can be installed and implemented with zero net cost over the lifetime of the project. Zero. Returns are reaped in a matter of years. Solar has finally become a cost-effective competitor for conventional power sources.

The crowning features of solar + storage are especially important in affordable housing. Low-income residents have the fewest resources to pay for the rising costs of conventional energy. Prices for sustainable solar energy have actually decreased, making it more accessible than ever before.

Low-income areas are the most vulnerable populations during crisis, particularly housing for seniors and the disabled. Those populations are the least equipped to recover from disaster as they lack the resources and access needed to bounce back quickly. It is important to keep these communities functional until surrounding infrastructure and services resume. Storage and backup batteries have drastically improved in recent years, providing power for affordable housing communities in emergency situations. Such features position sustainable solar as a viable alternative to conventional energy in terms of cost, accessibility and reliability.

“There is now no economic or technical excuse to leave low-income and vulnerable people at risk,” Resilience for Free concludes.

Precisely how solar + storage works in an affordable housing community will vary by project type. In the case of Resilience for Free, the study examined solar photovoltaic (PV) cells combined with battery storage, as well as hybrid resilient power systems and aggregated energy storage systems. These options accommodate constraints on space, budget, minimum threshold requirements, and large critical loads.

What does affordable housing with solar power look like? Virtually anything that an architect or designer could want. Traditional PV panels are the most established technology, yet solar cells have become increasingly versatile.

Researchers at Michigan State University have created a fully transparent luminescent solar concentrator (TLSC). Solar concentrators are truly transparent, without the tints and grid patterns seen in other solar glass products. This technology can potentially transform any window in an affordable housing project into a photovoltaic cell. TLSC reduces the need for panel space in urban settings, and improves the aesthetic appeal of solar panels throughout project applications.

The technology is still in development. TLSC offers an efficiency of 1 percent in comparison to 7 percent offered by non-transparent concentrators. Research suggests that the efficiency can soon increase to 5 percent.

Currently, the applications are few, but researchers are confident that TLSC sheets of glass and plastic can be scaled to large residential and commercial projects while remaining “affordable,” with a rate of return is “just over one year.”

While Michigan State University’s TLSCs are one of the most exciting new developments, there are several companies that are already manufacturing solar glass products for residential uses. While these products are not as transparent as TLSC, the color they cast is no more obtrusive than a slight window tint already found in many urban high rises.

Such solar glass products offer a way for affordable housing developments to take advantage of resilient energy cost savings with fewer space and design constraints. Existing technology creates robust power generation and adequate storage for emergency purposes. Those who have the greatest need for low-cost, resilient power can reasonably gain access to it.

Considering the Resilience for Free report, what barriers to implementation do you foresee with solar + storage?