Premier Power Renewable Energy, Inc.

California’s largest public utility with one of the nation’s largest portfolios of clean energy projects, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E), had a dual purpose to turning its Harrison Street building solar: to supply solar electricity directly to the grid and to serve as a visible demonstration of the utility's commitment to renewable energy.

A conventional commercial solar roof would not offer the high visibility PG&E wanted, so Premier Power came up with an innovative solution: a raised system that 'flowed' over over the parapet and down the front façade in a waterfall effect. The raising and tilting of the rooftop PV array would not only make the system visible to the public, but would also increase the solar panel building's productivity by about 15 percent (71,385 kWh/yr) over a similarly sized vertically mounted flat roof system (62,021 kWh/yr) and by more than 85 percent over original plans (38,577 kWh/yr).

In addition to the solar facade and rooftop systems, Premier Power also installed a ground-mounted solar power system in the employee parking lot. Overcoming a number of structural and seismic challenges, the Premier Power team successfully installed a 48.67kW roof array that blends seamlessly with a 31.2kW façade array and a truly innovative solar panel building.