6 ms·

Is reducing the amount of light that these panels receive likely to increase their effective lifetime? Or: Does total energy absorbed dictate decay of solar pan

• dr_orpheus 4y ago
  The amount of light does decay the solar panels. But it is not the only thing causing degradation. I believe the other large item for degradation is thermal. Operation at higher temperature induces degradation faster and there is some degradation from thermal cycling. So if the covering also keeps it cooler and at a steadier temperature then it is probably good. But the covering might also cause some greenhouse effect that causes it to operate hotter. So...maybe?
• scythe 4y ago
  Light-induced degradation of silicon-based solar cells generally saturates above 0.1 suns [1] for the predominant mechanism of boron-oxygen defect formation; thermal degradation is also a factor [2] and likely to be unaffected by this geometry. But ERoEI for solar cells can be high, even in Europe [3] so, considering the roof replacement as a necessary cost regardless, these may still work out favorably, but at this juncture, only for special applications. 1: https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.69.024107 https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.69.02... 2: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032122001460 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136403212... 3: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261919317222 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030626191...