Solar Energy Doesn't Work In The Cold

[ItsjustMe]

[Blue_true]

1. I really like the Swedish and Norwegian designs.

They are set up in a way that minimizes potential wind damage to the installation.

[Hamlette]

17. I thought the angle of the solar panel has something to do with the angle of the sun

and the time of day to get the most out of the sun.

Maybe I've just been talking to too many solar salespeople.

[womanofthehills]

40. Some people get trackers so your panels can follow the sun

I just adjust mine twice a yr.

[Blue_true]

56. If you notice carefully, the design has solar panels on both sides of a "V"

structure. Then they repeat that shape over and over to form long lines, which repeat horizontally to make a massive structure. At the top of the “V” they have a sturdy structure that allows a person to walk on it, my guess is that inside that walking panel are lines taking generated current to storage or to AC conversion.

The “V” structure follows the Sun for every minute the Sun is on it, with highest current generation between 10:00am-2:00pm. The design eliminates the need for synced motors to move the panels as the Earth rotates through the “day” part of it’s 24 out spin. Really brilliant design.

[Throck]

2. Actually the cells are more efficient at colder temperatures.

The problem is the lower solar run hours.

At higher temps the cells break down.

I've always thought a combination of solar and wind at the same geographic location would provide for local self sufficiency. Good for islands and remote villages.

[Klaralven]

5. They work better in the cold, so long as they aren't covered by snow or ice.

[OAITW r.2.0]

7. I am in the market for a solar panel snow rake.

Don't want to use my snowrake on these panels. Brush or squeegee type?

[Klaralven]

8. I think the general advice is to let it melt or blow off

The panels are dark, so once a little sunlight gets through, they melt like a blacktop driveway.

The meltwater helps clean them of dust.

[OAITW r.2.0]

10. Right now, I have 3-4" of frozen snow on the panels. Temps are below freezing, so very low output.

Thing is, I can easily clean the panels (16 on my garage), with a step ladder and roof type rake. Gotta find the right tool, though.

[Klaralven]

12. How to Clean Snow off Solar Panels?

Believe it or not, the best and easiest way to get snow off a rooftop solar array is to do nothing. Zip. Zero. In the words of Tony Soprano: “Forget about it.”

https://www.recsolar.com/blogs/tis-the-season-for-snow-and-solar-panels-what-to-do/

You can find many other similar recommendations.

[OAITW r.2.0]

14. Interesting...

In my office, I look out and see the panels on my garage....need to research. Thanks.

[Throck]

29. You'd.be surprised how much light penetrates 4" of snow.

The panels produce less but still produce.

Jump in your car with 4" of snow on it. It's not completely dark.

[garybeck]

25. google it. my clients have used the squeegie type.

If it's not too far out of reach and easy to do, go for it, it's free energy.

[dv421]

42. I use a microfiber window cleaner that has a squeege on the other side

I have if on a 20 foot window washing expandable pole. I only use the microfiber side to get to the panel glass.
Takes about 20-30 minutes to get enough off to allow the panes to heat up enough to melt the rest. I have 22 panels.

[garybeck]

59. Excellent! Nt

[Dustlawyer]

47. They work in freakin space and on Mars!

Just not when a cold front has thick clouds blocking most of the sunlight. Republicans really need to take science 101 at a minimum.

[coti]

13. Right- you actually get more power when it's colder nt

[diverdownjt]

41. Yes exactly...

When the panels really heat up they become less efficient.

[RockRaven]

3. Also Mars....

[flying rabbit]

4. Imagine that.

Science!

[Klaralven]

6. Or in the cold of Earth orbit

Telstar 1, 1962

The energy used by it was produced by 3,600 solar cells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar_1

[OAITW r.2.0]

9. Cool. Carter tried to get us to renewable energy tech in the mid-70's, but way too much $

to be made keeping oil the dominant energy force. Remember, we spend more than a few $100MM taxdollars making sure Aramco product gets to market. Thanks USN!

[AdamGG]

22. Jimmy Carter put solar panels on the roof of the White House, only to have them removed by Reagan

https://images.app.goo.gl/w1aZofqW7hNSpZhK9

[OAITW r.2.0]

23. Worse than that, the Dept of Energy got booted out of the Cabinet.

No longer a national priority for Reagan/Bush.....though fortunes were made for well connected oil interests.

[EarnestPutz]

34. Can't tell you when the last time that I heard about "Telstar" What was the name of the big....

.....silver balloon satellite that was just a big reflector, not a signal repeater?

[yonder]

36. Was it Echo?

[EarnestPutz]

45. Yep, just googled it and that's the name. Echo I and Echo II in the early sixties. I remember.....

.....that they were really bright and large as they passed over at night.

[erronis]

54. Don't forget that fantastic instrumental "Telstar" by the Tornados (1962)

I was 14/15 then. Amazing music.

[lagomorph777]

37. Also Jupiter. The Juno mission is 5x farther from the Sun than Earth is.

(and it's solar powered)

[George II]

11. They probably want to send a satellite to the sun. When told it's too hot, "go at night"!!

[TryLogic]

26. Good one!

[Blue Owl]

15. Source: the Marjorie Taylor Greene Institute of Energy Resources

[wnylib]

30. I saw a video of her on Twitter

telling people that windmills are not eco friendly because, she said, they freeze up and have to be defrosted by sending up helicopters.

[Grokenstein]

32. (facepalms hard enough to shatter bone)

I see she's internalized Dim Don's refusal to differentiate between "windmill" and "wind turbine."
Has she screeched and gibbered about cancer or piles of dead eagles yet?

[wnylib]

39. Don't know what other garbage she is spewing.

I only saw that one tweet when looking at a Twitter link that someone on DU posted for something else.

[Yavin4]

16. Solar and Wind energy work there bc their populations are homogenous, White people. No minorities.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm using the conservative argument as to why Single Payer health care and free college works in Nordic nations and why they wouldn't work here in the USA.

My bad.

[burrowowl]

18. Repukes are greedy idiots

[tclambert]

19. I'm sure they'll blame it on Antifa next.

Surely it couldn't be that their emphasis on free market privatization has led to neglect of their infrastructure.

Still, when disastrous weather comes to Texas, they suddenly become anti-secession and pro-socialism.

[thenelm1]

20. Of course it doesn't work when your skull is too thick to absorb sunlight. n/t

[rickyhall]

21. Antifa made snow, right?

[Grokenstein]

33. Only when snow is bad!

[garybeck]

24. solar panels produce more power in colder temperatures

believe me i know, i've been designing and installing solar systems for over 30 years. you can also look on the spec sheet of any solar panel and it will show the output vs temperature graph.

[NNadir]

27. Well, it doesn't work well when covered with snow.

I have to laugh when I see this future electronic waste here in New Jersey for the last several weeks, covered under a layer of snow.

I'm not, by the way, a Republican. I'm just someone who studies energy and the environment intensely and who deeply resents the fantasy that this junk is "green."

It isn't.

It's proved useless, absolutely useless, at addressing climate change, at an expense of trillions of dollars and at an environmental impact that will fall not on the people who worship this crap and who are dumping responsibility for cleaning it up on future generations.

[womanofthehills]

43. It's working out really well for me and my neighbors in NM

Besides spinning my house meter backwards,I have an independent panel and solar pump to pump up water from my well so I have no elec or water fees to water my gardens, fill my water holding tank and my pond. NM is planning to be 100@% green energy by 2145. It’s been 0 degrees here and I can see wind turbines in the distance spinning. Snow on my water pump panel and it’s still pumping water - less but it’s super fresh water from 160 ft

[Karma13612]

61. 2045 possibly??

That’s darn good!

And your set up sounds sweet!!!

[KY_EnviroGuy]

28. Let's hear them explain how thousands of satellites work at minus 450deg-F.

I suppose we'll hear that all those enormous solar cell panels are fake and just for show and the satellites all run off D-cells?

[sinkingfeeling]

31. And I just looked out my window at the spinning wind turbines here

in Illinois. Been below zero with 8 inches of snow for more than two weeks.

[IronLionZion]

35. Near the poles they'll have seasons with more sunlight

GOP complains about snow and ice covering the panels. As if it can't be cleared off or have deicing measures built in.

[packman]

38. And what about this ??

[texasfiddler]

44. My solar panels are kicking ass right now in Texas.

Every time we are connected back onto the grid during the rolling outages we push more electricity onto the grid than we consume. We have the heater on and washing machine going and it is cloudy. Right now we are consuming about 2.5kW of solar and pushing out about 3 kW to the utility and it is cloudy. If it were sunny we would be pushing out about 10 kW. The cold makes the panels super efficient.

[BobTheSubgenius]

50. Are you paid for your net contribution to the grid?

[texasfiddler]

60. Not as much as I'd like.

The interconnect agreement only gives me about $.03/kWh out of the $.10/kWh electricity cost. The legal term is avoided cost. But it is basically the cost of the fuel for the power generation to the utility. Eventually my excess solar will be going into an electric vehicle that will be parked in my garage 3-4 days a week so that will become less of an issue.

[NickB79]

53. Do you have a battery bank for when the grid drops?

Or are you dark like everyone else for periods of time?

[texasfiddler]

62. I have two separate systems

I have a fuel based generator for outages and my solar is for reduction of my electric bill and CO2 footprint only. I will eventually buy an electric car and use the excess solar to fill my vehicle. I believe in the near future AC coupled inverter/chargers will become available so that electric cars can be used so that on-grid solar systems are available for off-grid operation. For right now, my separated system works both financially and functionally.

[Hangdog Slim]

46. Uh? Mars?

Solar power has been working beautifully for our little rovers on Mars with an average temperature of about -80. Not to mention Hubble space telescope in orbit and little Voyager and Voyager 2 now outside of our solar system still communicating thanks to solar (still!) Power. My God, these people

[ga_girl]

48. Nope on Voyager(s)

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) - ie nuclear decay

[BobTheSubgenius]

49. On a Faux Noise business report I saw a few years ago,

they were interviewing an "expert" on alternative energies, because Germany had just passed the 50% threshold of green energy compared to their overall energy supply.

One of the network's stooged asked why it is that solar could work in Germany, but not in the US. Is it because the US is so much bigger?

Apparently, no one present had a handle on the concept of scalability, so the "expert" said that that was part of it, but the big reason was the Germany gets so much more sunshine than does the US!!!

With the smallest amount of fact-checking, I was able to find out that there are two areas in the US that get hours of sunshine per year as low as Germany - Alaska, which is hardly a surprise, and the PNW, which is pretty wet, but still gets more hours of sunshine.

So either they are really badly informed, or are purposely giving out bad information via a business report, an area where accuracy and truth are a large part of the stock in trade.

[usaf-vet]

51. So! it doesn't work in Idiotland. Anyone surprised?

[AllaN01Bear]

52. so do wind turbines if they have the right transmission oils .

a friend has solar pannels and they work in heavy frost and a very light dusting of snow . i have a friend who has personal experiance.

[treestar]

55. Right wingers not getting even the basics of science

and going on their own shallow knowledge for $100, Alex.

[cpamomfromtexas]

57. It's working at my house

I feel like a rockstar right now. The millionaires close by had no power but this little widow did!

[twodogsbarking]

58. You rock

star.