“We like to say [we turn] sunshine to cocktail,” Liz Rhoades, head of whiskey development at WhistlePig, told Adweek. “It generates enough energy for 500,000 Maple Old Fashioneds—with our PiggyBack Rye, of course.”

While many solar arrays are positioned in a way that isn’t ideal for a billboard, the slant of the panels and hills around the distillery means that WhistlePig’s rooftop display is easily visible to anyone driving by. While it isn’t open to the public for tours, Rhoades said the branded panels make great content. They also make it easy to spot for anyone visiting the brewery for a media event or private tasting.

Targeting satellites

So far, there aren’t more than a few examples of brands using SolarSkin in place of billboards, which might not be too surprising given the investment required for solar panel installation.

Still, as solar tech continues to get cheaper and the demand for clean energy increases, it’s likely to become more appealing.

In one example, Comcast installed a branded array of solar panels in the middle of a retention pond outside of Universal’s Orlando theme parks in Florida. Because the logo only covered a small portion of the panels, the array generates almost as much as uncovered panels. At Kia Motors’ California headquarters, Sistine Solar installed added the automaker’s logo to rooftop panels.

While rooftop panels aren’t visible from the street, they do show up on Google Maps in satellite view.

“It’s a branding opportunity,” Anthony Occidentale, former chief technology officer and current strategic advisor at Sistine Solar, said. “You can design it like WhistlePig, on a slanted roof, which is really great. But from satellite imagery, you can see the branding [on a traditional rooftop array], which is pretty cool.”