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Ontario Solar Farms
Throughout Ontario, people are showing increased interest in capturing the suns energy for their farm operations, homes, and businesses. These systems allow you to produce your own electricity and heat water with no noise and no air pollution while using a clean, renewable resourcethe sun.
Is My Site Suitable for Solar Energy?
A well-designed solar energy system needs clear and unobstructed access to the sun's rays for most or all of the day, throughout the year. Most farms and ranches have rooftops or open, sunny locations that are well-suited to solar energy, and you can make an initial assessment yourself. If the location looks promising, your GTECH solar installer can determine whether your home or business can effectively use a solar energy system.
The orientation of your system (the compass direction that your system faces) affects its performance.
In North America, the sun is always in the southern half of the sky but is higher in the summer and lower in the winter. Usually, the best location for a solar energy system is a south-facing roof, but roofs that face east or west may also be acceptable. Flat roofs also work well for solar electric systems, because solar modules can be mounted flat on the roof facing the sky or bolted on frames tilted toward the south at an optimal angle. They can also be attached directly to the roof as PV shingles.
If a rooftop cant be used, your solar modules can also be placed on the ground, either on a fixed mount or a tracking mount that follows the sun to orient the modules. Other options include mounting structures that create covered parking, or that provide shade as window awnings.
In general, the sun should be unobstructed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for solar collectors. PV applications are more sensitive to minor solar obstructions than solar thermal applications.
Solar Water Heating
Solar water heating systems use the sun to heat either water or a heat-transfer fluid, such as a water-glycol antifreeze mixture, in collectors most commonly mounted on a roof. The heated water is then stored in a tank similar to a conventional gas or electric water tank. Then, when water is drawn from the water heater, it is replaced with the solar-heated water from that tank. Some systems use an electric pump to circulate the fluid through the collectors.
