Solar Energy

There are many different types of solar energy. There are photovoltaic solar panels, which are what people generally think of when they hear solar energy but solar energy is not limited to these.  There is also passive solar (heating a home through letting the sunlight in through windows) and solar water heating systems to name a couple.  There are some examples of solar energy being used in Rhode Island but are limited mostly to smaller privately owned projects.  There is one large-scale solar energy project in Rhode Island owned by Toray Plastics.  The reason there aren’t many solar projects in Rhode Island is simple…there’s not that much sunlight here.  You will typically see more solar project the farther south you so and in dessert environments where there is no shortage of sun.

Toray Plastics put up a 375 kW photovoltaic solar panel installation at their North Kingstown location.  There are two solar fields that add up to 3.5 acres and are made up of 1,650 panels. The panels are mounted on concrete foundations using single-axis trackers.  The single-axis trackers move from west to east and are meant to maximize the sun exposure to each panel, thus allowing them to produce the most electricity.  These made the Toray Plastics solar farm the largest in the state. 

If you would like to know more about this Solar
Farm, you can find more information here.