MOUNTAIN VIEW — Google is betting that dragonscale solar panels on its canopy campuses in Mountain View could bolster the tech titan’s efforts to generate green energy.

The search giant has been installing the solar panels, whose moniker derives from how the scales of a dragon might look, on its two new Mountain View campuses that both have an eye-catching design.

Mountain View-based Google believes the dragonscale components could trigger a solar revolution extending the amount of time that the panels can capture energy from the sun.

The dragonscale panel projects in Mountain View are being headed up by Asim Tahir, district and renewable energy lead for Google.

The two Mountain View office complexes with canopy roofs and dragonscale solar panels are the Charleston East campus at the corner of North Shoreline Boulevard and Charleston Road and the Bay View campus at the corner of Lomax Lane and Wright Avenue on the grounds of the NASA Ames Research Center.

“The challenge we all have with solar energy is to align the times when carbon-free energy is available to use with the time when we need it,” Tahir said.

Conventional solar arrays are flat and typically can capture the sun from only one direction.

Google’s two new campuses in Mountain View feature panels that can capture sunlight from multiple angles — which also adds to the number of hours a day when they can corral the sun’s energy.

“Unlike a flat roof, which generates peak power at the same time of the day, our dragonscale solar skin will generate power during an extended amount of daylight hours,” Google stated in a blog post.

Plus, the distinctive canopy roofs on both complexes further enhance the ability of the buildings to capture solar rays.

“The design makes it possible for the buildings to be not only more energy efficient but to also adjust when they need energy and when they use energy,” Tahir said.

When both campuses are operational, renewable sources will provide a big chunk of the buildings’ electricity requirements.

“Charleston East and Bay View will have about 7 megawatts of installed renewable power, generating roughly 40% of their energy needs,” Google stated in the blog post.

Another big difference between the Google panels at the two campuses and conventional arrays: Google integrated the dragonscale components into the design of the buildings from the start rather than simply attach the solar panels onto the structure after the exteriors were complete.

The search giant intends to expand solar installations to more buildings, although dragonscale-style components might be absent from future constructs.

Google’s Bay View campus features an additional major energy component that could make the complex completely carbon-free.

Along with the dragonscale solar panels, the Bay View campus would the rooftop energy components in harmony with geothermal piles beneath the office complex to create an energy arrangement that would cool the vast structure in hot weather and heat it during cold weather.

The campus would use solar panels reminiscent of a dragon’s scales on its canopy rooftop in harmony with geothermal piles beneath the office complex to create an energy arrangement that would cool the vast structure in hot weather and heat it during cold weather.

“We can unlock geothermal power in a broad range of new places,” Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google owner Alphabet, said during a keynote presentation in May.

One of these applications is occurring at the Bay View campus.

“It’s happening right here in Mountain View,” Pichai said. “We are building our new campus to the highest sustainable standards.”

Ultimately, the two new campuses could help push Google closer to its goal of operating in a completely carbon-free fashion by 2030.

“We don’t want to waste any resources,” Tahir said. “We want to recover energy and not waste energy.”

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