EME 810
Solar Resource Assessment and Economics

6.10 Discussion Activity 2 - Brainstorming Your Solar Proposal

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Consider this activity as a slight detour in preparation for your final project proposals in this course.

While you are still on your way through the course lessons that explore solar design concepts, it is probably about time to start thinking about a potential locale and client you want to direct your efforts towards for your final solar project proposal. This final proposal will be the synthesis of your prior work, learned skills and tools in the form of a professional project SECS design, which eventually may become the basis for the real implementation scenario.

Here are some guiding points to start this off:

  • List a few (2-3) geographical sites that are of potential interest to you. Consider that the solar dataset (TMY2) needs to be available for a location nearby. This will initially limit you to several hundred sites in the USA for your SAM simulations (although data from other locations can be incorporated by synthesizing a weather file in SAM).
  • Take a brief look at policies in the locale or government incentives that would make a project proposal more likely in each site.
  • Address whether the constraints of site location and local/regional/federal policies might guide one toward proposing a residential, commercial, or utility scale SECS (thermal or PV).
  • Finally, address the following question: If you were looking for a client base (individuals or a group of investors), who is your target audience to make a "pitch" to in a future charette?

Create a post with your brainstormed project ideas on the Lesson 6 Discussion – Brainstorming Your Solar Proposal board in Canvas. Respond with comments to the posts  of your peers and answer any questions to yours.

Grading Criteria

Discussions will be graded on the quality of your post and the thoughtful contributions you make to your classmates' posts. Please see the Discussion Expectations and Rubric under Orientation/Resources. Feel free to express your opinion on the project locations your classmates propose. 

Deadline

The topic submission and discussion will be due by the middle of Lesson 7 week (Sunday), so you have some extra time to search and choose until then. Please see the Canvas calendar for specific due dates.