When does rooftop mounted solar PV serve multiple purposes? When designated disaster recovery areas such as schools and churches offer their rooftops as mounting sites for utility-owned grid-tied solar PV facitlities. In the event of a disaster and a loss of grid power, the facilities that will house refugees are thus assured of power for at least some of the day. And when energy storage is added, the facilities can operate lights and refrigeration.

Disaster recovery will become a fringe benefit of plans such as the Tuscon Electric Power Bright Roofs program announced recently, whereby public schools will contribute their rooftops to mount PV systems owned by the utility.

Distributed generation, as it takes hold, will open up new areas of synergy and creativity, where we get more from our investments.