Pastry Smart

San Mateo, CA

InnerSol installed 156 Polycrystalline 220 Watt, CSG Photovoltaic Solar Panels on the roof of Pastry Smart in San Mateo, California. These panels produce 35,000 Watts, or 35 kW, of electricity every hour. 

Utilizing Microinverter technology and Unirack’s SolarMount railing system, the installation had a remarkably quick design and installation time. After the initial visit of the installation site-to-be, InnerSol carefully calculated the irradiance, voltage loss, and panel locations over the last two weeks of April. Once the system design was complete, it was submitted for permitting and the panels were shipped.

Arriving on May 4th, the team quickly went to work. In less than two weeks, the railing was installed, microinverters were installed on the railing, and the photovoltaic modules were connected to the inverters. In the week to follow, the Electricians installed conduit and wiring from the building’s power distribution panel to the solar panels.

The installed wiring includes safety precautions requested by the fire department of San Mateo. In the event of a fire, the system needed to have the ability to be shut off quickly. This would be done by simply turning a key at the front door, a device known as a Knox-Box. In addition to this safety device, each branch of panels has an AC disconnect. This allows each branch to be manually “shut off” for easy maintenance or repair in the future.

Financials:

This renewable energy project benefitted from several incentives. The federal government covered 30% of the total system cost as tax credits. The state of California omitted sales tax on green projects. The local utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), offered cash back for green projects paying $0.65 per AC watt, which totals approximately $20,000.