City of New Smyrna Beach Solar Feasibility Assessment

Primary Author(s)

Florida Solar Energy Center
Charles Withers, Jr., Florida Solar Energy CenterFollow

Secondary Author(s)

Metzger, Donard; Fenaughty, Karen; Showalter, Keith; McIlvaine, Janet; Kettles, Colleen McCann

Report Number

FSEC-CR-2099-19

URL

http://publications.energyresearch.ucf.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FSEC-CR-2099-19-NSB-plus-ExecSum.pdf

Keywords

Buildings; Commercial; Energy Analysis; Photovoltaics; Solar Feasibility; Energy Audit; Rooftop Solar; Building Energy Efficiency; PV Watts Software

Abstract

At the request of the City of New Smyrna Beach, the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) assessed rooftop solar and building energy efficiency improvement potential for 17 city-owned facilities. The intent has been to assist City leaders in identifying opportunities to reduce the City's overall electricity consumption and increase its use of renewable energy.

The FSEC team conducted Level 1 energy audit activities and site assessments including:

On-site assessment

• Solar feasibility measurements and characterization including orientation, roof shading (adjacent structures, encroaching trees, etc.), available roof area, system output, annualized savings
• HVAC characterization
• Lighting survey
• Occupancy density, schedule, thermostat settings

Post audit calculations

• Solar system sizing estimates using industry-standard software PV Watts
• Utility bill analysis -- based on City-provided utility bills
• Annual energy use
• Weather corrected utility bill analysis to gauge cooling and heating as a portion of annual energy use
• Energy use per square foot of conditioned space

Conferring with City staff

• Planned improvements
• Controls and typical building operation

The research team determined that there were ample opportunities to deploy solar energy, and also additional energy efficiency improvements to those buildings that would extend the value of the solar investment.

Date Published

12-14-2019

Identifiers

27

Subjects

Solar energy; Energy consumption--Measurement; Buildings--Energy conservation; Renewable energy sources

Local Subjects

Buildings - Commercial; Buildings - Energy Analysis; Photovoltaics

Type

Text; Document

Contributor (Linked Data)

Kettles, Colleen McCann [LC]

Collection

FSEC Energy Research Center® Collection

STARS Citation

Florida Solar Energy Center and Withers, Jr., Charles, "City of New Smyrna Beach Solar Feasibility Assessment" (2019). FSEC Energy Research Center®. 27.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fsec/27