The 127 kW rooftop array OneWorld Solar built at Headquarter Honda in Clermont is a straightforward example of solar for car dealerships in Florida. It is also a good place to be specific about what an array on a dealership does and what it does not do, because this is a sector where the load profile splits neatly into the part solar reaches and the part it does not.
Dealerships are among the better commercial candidates we work with. OneWorld Solar has built more than 1 MW across the Woody Folsom Chevrolet, Ford and Chrysler Dodge stores in Georgia, and the pattern repeats: a large, predictable daytime load under a simple roof.
The dealership load profile
Three things drive a dealership's daytime consumption. The showroom is a glass building in the Florida sun, so cooling it is a substantial and continuous load during exactly the hours an array produces. The service department runs compressors, lifts, ventilation and equipment through the working day. The parts and back-office areas add a steady baseline.
Then there is the part solar does not address. Lot lighting runs after dark. Those kilowatt-hours are bought from the utility regardless of how large the array is, unless storage is added and sized for it. A proposal that shows an array wiping out a dealership bill that includes heavy night-time lighting is not describing how solar works.
What we built
127 kW
Roof mount array
On the dealership building in Clermont.
Daytime load match
Showroom cooling and service bays
Production aligns with consumption.
Florida wind zone
Attachment design governed by wind
Closer spacing, more attachment points.
The array was designed around the roof and around the wind. Florida sites are engineered to high design wind speeds, and on a roof mount that resolves into attachment spacing, rail spans and the capacity of the structure underneath. That cost shows up in labor and hardware rather than in the module count, which is why comparing dealership quotes purely on price per watt across states is misleading.
Manufacturer image programs are a design input
Franchised dealerships operate under facility image programs that govern how the building looks, particularly the customer-facing elevation. A flat-roof array set back from the parapet is rarely an issue, but raise it with the manufacturer before the drawings are stamped. Approval late in a project is a redesign, not a formality.
The results
OneWorld Solar has not published production or bill-savings figures for this installation. The scope described above is what the company confirms; anything beyond it should come from OneWorld Solar directly.
What we will state is the scope and the reasoning: a 127 kW roof mount on a dealership whose consumption is concentrated in the hours the array produces, engineered for a Florida wind zone, with the night-time lot lighting left honestly outside the scope of what generation alone can fix.
Next steps for dealer principals
- The sector case, including our Woody Folsom work, is set out in solar for car dealerships.
- For the numbers behind the decision, read solar payback period for car dealerships.
- State-specific permitting and utility context is in commercial solar installation in Florida.
- Net cost depends heavily on the 30% commercial solar tax credit, and if the after-dark load is the problem, the answer is commercial battery storage installation rather than more panels.