Solar trees are intended to bring visibility to solar technology and to enhance the landscape and architecture they complement, usually in a commercial or public context. An objective of many solar tree installations is to promote awareness, understanding, and adoption of renewable energy. They are not typically used as a primary source of energy for a property—that role is accomplished by rooftop solar systems. Solar trees are complementary to rooftop solar systems, or other green building measures, symbolizing these larger investments and their environmental benefit.
Unique sculptural creations for a single sites began to appear in 1998 (e.g., the 7 kW tree in Gleisdorf, Austria) or earlier. A number of variants of solar trees have been conceived, not all of them realized in installations. Locations have included roadways, public areas in cities, schools and universities, office buildings, science museums, and more. Recently, designers and manufacturers have introduced solar trees as products, designed to deliver the benefits of solar trees in a repeatable way to more places. Examples include Ross Lovegrove's solar tree which incorporated seating, lighting, and circular groupings of photovoltaic cells, Envision Solar solar parking canopy specifically trademarked Solar Tree, and Spotlight Solar's line of architectural structures and most recently CSIR’s Solar Power Tree from India.