Compelling analysis. But if hail damage is the primary concern, tracking seems like an X/Y solution. What about eg anti hail netting that can be rolled out when the weather forecast predicts hail? It seems to me like a middle ground might be automated deployment of hail protection, which by definition has lower aero loading than what amounts to a big semiconductor sail.
The future of solar doesn't track the sun
21–30 of 154 posts
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#22Compelling analysis. But if hail damage is the primary concern, tracking seems like an X/Y solution. What about eg anti hail netting that can be rolled out when the weather forecast predicts hail? It seems to me like a middle ground might be automated deployment of hail protection, which by definition has lower aero loading than what amounts to a big semiconductor sail.
anti-hail netting? you must not be from somewhere that receives a lot of hail. hail punches through solid coverings at the right size. if it's not the right size, then it's not that damaging.
netting? ha! thanks for the funny visual so early in the morning.
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article seems to be mostly about grid scale solar. Of course an increasing amount is private or domestic solar installed on e.g. building roofs or wherever there is space. When cost drops low enough, any surface with any exposure to sunlight is in scope for installing solar on if it can yield more energy than the cost of installing solar on it. It stops being about what is the most efficient and starts being abou…
Grid scale solar benefits from bifacial cells in a vertical orientation just as much as home scale solar - it dramatically improves winter production and extends the production of the spring/fall day a few hours earlier and a few hours later.
Not only does it increase overall production, currently one of our biggest challenanges is transport and distribution, and having some of that power in the of-hours instead has more benefits than power total alone.
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#24When panels are cheap what about vertical mounting? Less susceptible to hail and snow. And maybe placed north-south, to maximize production in morning and evening when it's needed most.
North South is exactly opposite of what you need, the sun is never north
what if you're in the southern hemisphere?
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
North South is exactly opposite of what you need, the sun is never north
what if you're in the southern hemisphere?
Then, you’re a statistical outlier that can be ignored in the analysis :-)
(Only about 12% of all humans live in the southern hemisphere)
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#26I really like that how it's possible to put bifacial panels vertically along north-south direction to get solar power off peak. It should reduce cost of installation (it's basically multiple rows of fences), snow removal and cleaning. Washing down panels from dust could probably be automated too and if you build them up a bit higher you could have a meadow underneath or even a field of something. Hail should also be probably less of a concern. You need more land of course but it's still awesome.
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#27Looking at the graphs, the tracking arrays may have the added benefit of generating power in the mornings and evenings. If everyone builds non-tracking arrays, power during peak will become almost worthless if solar is a big part of overall generation capacity, so the economics might change even with panels being cheap. Of course, just building 2x as many permanently tilted panels might also work. Edit: the article a…
Yeah - you can’t talk about renewable energy generation without also considering when it is generated.
Then future price of energy will be incredibly time dependent. Finding a way to generate at a different time than everyone else - whether by east/west panels or time shifting with batteries or building a different kind of renewable generation is where all the big profits will be.
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#28Compelling analysis. But if hail damage is the primary concern, tracking seems like an X/Y solution. What about eg anti hail netting that can be rolled out when the weather forecast predicts hail? It seems to me like a middle ground might be automated deployment of hail protection, which by definition has lower aero loading than what amounts to a big semiconductor sail.
anti-hail netting? you must not be from somewhere that receives a lot of hail. hail punches through solid coverings at the right size. if it's not the right size, then it's not that damaging. netting? ha! thanks for the funny visual so early in the morning.
Sorry, I don't get the joke. Nets can be pretty strong. Is it because there's a lot of hail at sizes big enough to do damage but too small for a net to catch without deep shadows?
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#29Compelling analysis. But if hail damage is the primary concern, tracking seems like an X/Y solution. What about eg anti hail netting that can be rolled out when the weather forecast predicts hail? It seems to me like a middle ground might be automated deployment of hail protection, which by definition has lower aero loading than what amounts to a big semiconductor sail.
anti-hail netting? you must not be from somewhere that receives a lot of hail. hail punches through solid coverings at the right size. if it's not the right size, then it's not that damaging. netting? ha! thanks for the funny visual so early in the morning.
I think a hail net would be feasible for some cases. Golf balls break solid coverings too (and windows, car roofs, etc), but we have nets for them.
You want high tensile strength and some level of flexibility/elasticity to absorb the hailstone energy over a greater-than-zero distance. Or to shatter the hailstone well above the solar panel.
Probably too light-blocking to leave up continuously, and maybe awkward and failure-prone to deploy automatically.
So insurance is probably more cost-effective for most installations.
Re: The future of solar doesn't track the sun
#30Looking at the graphs, the tracking arrays may have the added benefit of generating power in the mornings and evenings. If everyone builds non-tracking arrays, power during peak will become almost worthless if solar is a big part of overall generation capacity, so the economics might change even with panels being cheap. Of course, just building 2x as many permanently tilted panels might also work. Edit: the article a…
Power during those lull periods will get expensive, and that’s likely to result in some farms with permanently tilted panels that prioritize those periods over peak overall production.
Space is cheaper than maintenance and breakdowns in many cases.