If when you think of solar panels, you envision stretches of the desert filled with the deep-blue glint of enormous solar arrays, you’re not wrong. That’s the environment in which solar power is both most efficient and most cost effective. But did you realize that solar panels on your townhouse or high-rise in an urban environment can also be incredibly useful?

If you live in an apartment building, getting approval for roof use can be tough. However, small condo buildings or co-ops tend to be easier nuts to crack. Your condo association or co-op board may even want to consider mounting solar panels on the roof in order to provide power for the building’s common areas: laundry, kitchens, meeting or rec rooms. The major financial incentives for residential and commercial solar panel installations in this country are a combination of tax benefits and cash rebates: the installation costs may not be as high as you think.

One reason urban solar makes sense–and is even specially incentivized in some cities–is that densely populated areas create the largest burden for the grid. Distributed power generation, which is what solar panels on your home or business provide, relieves pressure from the grid during the busiest times of day. It’s in the utilities’ best interests to move some of the responsibility for producing power off their own power plants, and onto yours.

Solar panels do require some space to spread out and do their job. A good rule of thumb is 100 square feet of south-facing, unshaded roof area for every kilowatt of system size. Newer, more efficient solar panels are working to slim that space requirement down. But think about it: if you own a flat-roofed garage or warehouse in Manhattan or San Diego, you could probably host an easy 20 kw of solar power and see immediate, significant reductions in your monthly electric bill.

The moral of the story? Even with limited space, solar power could make sense for you if you live in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, New York City, Boston, Miami, Newark…well, the list goes on. Contact us to find out more.