6 ms·
It may also be worth spraying them with water when they are too hot. As they get hotter the efficiency drops a little. It's only a few percent, and usually it h
by rjmunro 2mo ago
It may also be worth spraying them with water when they are too hot. As they get hotter the efficiency drops a little. It's only a few percent, and usually it happens at the time you need the efficiency the least because it's sunny, but if you can combine cleaning and cooling and get a few extra w out if it, why not.
- collabs 2mo agoYes, I meant I can get on board with automatically (periodically or based on some trigger or sensor) spraying the panels with water but I was hoping it isn't necessary to use Windex® or even dish soap on the panels themselves.
- Tade0 2mo agoSolar panels are increasingly being oriented east or west instead of south, as while it reduces overall yield, it maximises power when it's needed the most - during morning and evening peaks. I don't have numbers, but I suspect it alleviates issues with dust buildup and temperature.
- sluongng 2mo agoisn't that more of a storage issue, which a home battery would solve?
- collabs 2mo agoThe upcoming "balcony solar" legislations will allow up to a limit (iirc 1200W in Virginia) of solar to be directly be connected to the electricity outlets of a house to make our electricity costs lower without having to pay for a battery from what I understand.
- wongarsu 2mo agoA battery would solve it, but it can be cheaper to have additional panels oriented east and west than to add the equivalent battery capacity
- toast0 2mo agoStorage is one way to move time of supply to match time of demand. Offsetting the time of supply directly is simpler, although it probably doesn't offer a complete solution.
- cestith 2mo agoTracking systems are also becoming more popular. You spend a little more up front but get a lot more usable power.
- kaelwd 2mo agoPanels are so cheap now you're better off just installing twice as many without tracking.
- cestith 2mo agoIf you can do that within your space constraints you’re probably right.
- bradfa 2mo agoThe most interesting trackers to me, for DIY install in my yard, is a 2-axis tracker. Especially in summer, sunrise and sunset are quite a bit north of east and west, meaning a true south facing fixed set of panels wouldn't even see the sun yet. Sadly, my investigations a few years back indicated that a suitably strong and robust 2-axis tracker that would withstand our local winds and snow loads is significantly more expensive than just buying more panels and facing some of them east/south/west to accomplish the same thing. Doing this on an existing shed also avoids some local zoning rules vs a dedicated ground mounted system.
- rcxdude 2mo agoI get the impression they are getting less viable because the extra cost and maintenance outweighs just putting more panels down. There are some calculations that suggest even mounting them on angled frames might not be worth the cost, depending on how dirty they get when you just lie them flat on the ground. (This assumes that you have enough space, but for grid-scale solar this is not the limiting factor. The costs are roughly in order from most to least: the cost of the inverters and grid connection, the cost of installing the panels, the cost of the panels themselves, then the cost of the land to put them on)
- bruce511 2mo ago