Sunzaun - Vertical Solar

Sunzaun - Vertical Solar Sunzaun is a vertical solar solution that shifts the limits of renewable energy production.

This approach offers applications that conventional systems can't realize.

One of the best parts of attending industry events isn't just discovering new technologies—it's meeting people who are p...
06/01/2026

One of the best parts of attending industry events isn't just discovering new technologies—it's meeting people who are passionate about building a better future.

At the Solar Farm Summit in Chicago, we met a group of young entrepreneurs who had designed and manufactured UV-resistant birdhouses using PETG. Their creativity, problem-solving mindset, and commitment to sustainability left a lasting impression on us.

After learning more about their project, we purchased several birdhouses and brought them back to California. This week, we mounted one on our demonstration vertical solar array at our office.

While the array showcases the potential of vertical bifacial solar, the birdhouse serves as a simple reminder of something equally important: clean energy infrastructure and nature can coexist.

Thoughtful solar development isn't just about generating electricity. It's about creating spaces that support biodiversity, strengthen communities, and encourage a more integrated approach to land use.

If you're ever visiting our office, take a look at the vertical solar display. You may spot one of our newest feathered residents settling into its new home.

Innovation comes in all sizes. 🐦☀️

05/30/2026

"We couldn't be happier."

What started with attending classes at Bodhi Hot Yoga grew into a friendship—and now, a groundbreaking project.

We're proud to help bring the first urban vertical solar installation in the U.S. to a business that has been making a positive impact in its community for years.

Projects like this remind us that clean energy isn't just about generating power. It's about supporting local businesses, strengthening communities, and creating a more sustainable future together.

Agrivoltaics is having a moment — and the conversation is finally catching up to the data.This week, multiple major outl...
05/29/2026

Agrivoltaics is having a moment — and the conversation is finally catching up to the data.

This week, multiple major outlets (WBUR, The Daily Yonder, and more) are covering a question that's been central to our work from day one: Can agriculture and solar truly share the land?

The answer is yes — but how you install matters enormously.

A new industry analysis published in pv magazine pushes back on claims that agrivoltaics is cost-prohibitive, making the case that vertical and tracker-based agrivoltaic systems can outperform conventional solar on both revenues and land use.

The key insight: the higher-cost figures critics cite apply only to elevated canopy systems used in specialized applications like orchards — not to lower-footprint vertical configurations.

That's exactly what Sunzaun was built to solve.

Our vertical bifacial panels function as a solar fence — no racking system consuming row space, no canopy blocking machinery. Farmers keep their fields. They keep their equipment access. They gain a new energy asset running along the perimeter.

Meanwhile, research out of Denmark confirms what our Colorado State University test site is already showing: grass and clover achieve comparable yields when grown alongside vertical solar panels versus open-field conditions — and vertical panels act as wind shelters while shifting electricity production to morning and afternoon hours when grid demand is higher.

Even without strong federal support for renewables right now, innovation in agrivoltaics isn't stopping — it's just moving at the farm level, driven by farmers and developers experimenting on their own.

We're proud to be part of that experimentation. If you're a farmer, developer, or researcher looking at dual-use land solutions, let's talk.

👉 [sunzaun.com]

This Memorial Day, we pause to honor those who gave everything so we could build a better future.At Sunzaun, the work of...
05/25/2026

This Memorial Day, we pause to honor those who gave everything so we could build a better future.

At Sunzaun, the work of harnessing the sun's energy feels especially meaningful today. The servicemen and women we remember fought to protect the world we live in — and every clean energy system we install is our commitment to protecting it for generations to come.

To all who served, and to the families who carry their memory — thank you.

What do you do when you run an all-electric wellness studio, your electricity bill has tripled, and you can't put panels...
05/21/2026

What do you do when you run an all-electric wellness studio, your electricity bill has tripled, and you can't put panels on the roof?

You call us. And together, you build something new.

Bodhi Hot Yoga & Fitness in San Rafael, CA now hosts what we believe is the first vertical bifacial solar installation in an urban commercial environment in the United States — and Solar Power World just covered the story.

Co-owners Beau Keeve and Katie Egan built Bodhi around community and wellness. Their business is all-electric — infrared heating, humidity systems — and energy costs had become a serious burden. Their monthly bill had grown from a few hundred dollars to over $2,000.

With no viable rooftop and a parking lot they couldn't afford to lose, we proposed a different approach: 16 bifacial panels installed vertically along the parking perimeter, functioning as a modern fence — and a power plant.

Built in ~10 days. Zero spaces lost. Projected savings: $5,000–$10,000/year.

"We're in this community for the longevity, and to see it prosper and grow. Sunzaun helped put us on the map." — Katie Egan, Co-owner

We'll be monitoring and publishing 12 months of performance data — bifacial gain, seasonal output, and real savings — to help the industry understand what's possible in urban settings.

This is proof of concept. The data will tell the rest of the story.

📖 Read the full feature in Solar Power World: [link in comments]

05/20/2026

Vertical solar is one of the best dual-use solutions in agrivoltaics — panels that generate energy without shading out the crops beneath them.

But the technology is only part of the equation. The single biggest variable in any agri-PV project is the policy environment.

Right now, three states are taking very different approaches:

- Colorado — grants and research first, zoning reform later
- California — executive fast-tracking, but farmland preservation law is still in the way
- Massachusetts — the most developer-friendly framework in the country, with real financial incentives baked into SMART 3.0

If you're a farmer, developer, or landowner trying to navigate this: which state's approach do you think actually works?

Drop your state below — we're curious where people are seeing momentum (and where they're hitting walls).

05/18/2026

If your agrivoltaic system makes it hard to run a harvester, the design failed.

Not partially failed. Not "needs optimization." Failed.
I talk to farmers regularly. And the stories I hear aren't about energy yields or feed-in tariffs. They're about the solar installer who never asked what equipment they run. About row spacing that doesn't match the width of their combine. About having to switch to smaller, less efficient machinery — or hand-harvest — because nobody thought about turning radius.

This is the gap nobody in our industry wants to talk about.
Research shows field efficiency in agrivoltaic systems can drop to as low as 45% when implement working width and available operating space are poorly matched. Nearly half your productive capacity gone — not from bad weather, not from crop disease, but from a design decision made by someone who never set foot on a working farm. ScienceDirect

For most row crops, clearance of 2.5 to 5 meters is required to let tractors and harvesters pass underneath — and row spacing needs to match existing implement widths, typically 6 or 12 meter intervals. These aren't exotic requirements. They're basic. And they're still being ignored on projects that get called "agrivoltaic." PVcase
Here's the thing: the first question in any agri-PV design conversation shouldn't be "what's the optimal tilt angle?" It should be "what do you harvest, and what do you harvest it with?"

That's why vertical systems like ours exist. The panels run along field boundaries. The footprint is minimal. The farmer doesn't have to change a single thing about how they work their land. A wood fence doesn't pay you back anything. A vertical solar fence does — without asking the farm to work around it. Solar Power World
Agrivoltaics only earns its name when both the "agri" and the "voltaic" actually work. A solar installation that disrupts farming isn't dual-use. It's just a solar farm with a marketing problem.

Design starts with the farmer. Every time.

Agri-PV doesn't need more incentives — it needs better product design.Everyone in this industry keeps lobbying for bigge...
05/14/2026

Agri-PV doesn't need more incentives — it needs better product design.

Everyone in this industry keeps lobbying for bigger subsidies, better feed-in tariffs, more IRA credits. And yes, policy matters. But I think we're hiding a design problem behind an incentives argument.
Here's what I see on the ground:

The most common reason agri-PV projects stall isn't funding. It's a mismatch between solar design and agricultural reality. Panel spacing that blocks equipment. Heights that disrupt livestock. Racking that treats the farm as a constraint instead of the entire point. The result? Late-stage redesigns, frustrated landowners, and projects that never close.

We've watched traditional ground-mount logic get dropped onto farmland and called "agrivoltaics." It isn't.

Real agri-PV starts with the farm. What crops? What machinery? What's the row width of a harvester? How much shade is beneficial — and for which varieties? You design the energy system around those answers, not the other way around.

That's exactly what drove the design of the Sunzaun vertical system. Bifacial panels oriented east-west. Minimal ground footprint. Terrain-following capability for vineyards and rolling fields. The fence is the infrastructure — it doesn't compete with it. A wood fence doesn't pay you back. This one does.

Yes, the CapEx is higher than a standard ground-mount. But when the system fits the farm, farmers say yes — without needing a subsidy to tip the scale.

The IRA created real momentum. States like Massachusetts, Oregon, and Colorado are building on it. France and Germany have serious frameworks. But policy alone won't get us to scale if the products being deployed require farmers to change how they farm.
The unlock isn't more incentives. It's better engineering built around how agriculture actually works.

What's your take — is product design the bottleneck, or are we still fundamentally limited by economics?

Address

384 Bel Marin Keys Boulevard , Suite 230
Novato, CA
94949

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Monday 8am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8am - 4:30pm
Friday 8am - 4:30pm

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+14157070305

Website

https://linktr.ee/Sunzaun

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