BUILDING INTEGRATED: A building mounted solar energy system that is an integral part of a principal or accessory building, rather than a separate mechanical device, replacing or substituting for an architectural or structural part of the building. Building integrated systems include but are not limited to, photovoltaic or hot water systems that are contained within roofing materials, skylights, shading devices and similar architectural components.
FLUSH MOUNTED: A building mounted solar energy system that is mounted to a finished roof surface where the solar collector, once installed, projects no further than six inches (6") in height beyond the roof surface.
NON-FLUSH MOUNTED: A building mounted solar energy system that is mounted to a finished roof surface where the solar collector, once installed, projects more than six inches (6") in height beyond the roof surface.
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL: A semiconductor device that converts solar energy directly into electricity.
SOLAR COLLECTOR: A professionally manufactured device, structure or part of a device or structure for which the primary purpose is to transform solar radiant energy into thermal, mechanical, or electrical energy.
SOLAR COLLECTOR SURFACE: Any part of a solar collector that absorbs solar energy for use in the collector's energy transformation process. Collector surface does not include frames, supports and mounting hardware.
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM, BUILDING MOUNTED: A solar energy system that is professionally mounted on the roof of a principal building or accessory structure. A building mounted solar energy system includes building integrated, flush-mounted and non-flush mounted systems.
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM, GROUND MOUNTED: A free-standing solar energy system that is placed or mounted to the ground.
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM, LARGE: A solar energy system that contains multiple solar collectors and is primarily used to produce energy to be sold commercially.
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM, SELF-CONTAINED: A professionally manufactured device that utilizes solar collector(s) to produce small amounts of power that are generated exclusively for the device. A self-contained solar energy system is typically located in areas that are not in close proximity to a utility power source. Examples of these types of self-contained solar energy systems include, but are not limited to: light poles in parks for security or safety reasons, pedestrian street crossing signs that alert oncoming traffic of the crossing, natural resource observation systems (such as tracking flood level depths), pumps that aerate an isolated pond, and attic fans mounted on a roof that are used for ventilation purposes.
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEM, SMALL: A professionally manufactured system accessory to the principal use that utilizes solar collectors to convert solar energy from the sun into thermal mechanical or electrical energy for storage and use and is intended to primarily reduce on-site consumption of utility power. Energy produced in excess of on-site consumption may be sold back to the electric utility service provider that serves the proposed site for use with the existing energy grid. For the purposes of this section a solar energy system includes building mounted and ground mounted solar energy systems. (Ord. 0-18-17, 11-6-2017; amd. Ord. 0-15-18, 8-6-2018)