A Cloudy Day...

[grahampuba]

A cloudy day.
That is the kink in the supply chain of solar energy and apparently the deal breaker for many peoples consideration of solar power.

I would infer then, that they have more faith in the supply chain of fossil fuels to be there for them on demand.

Exploration - acquisition - drilling - tanker - pipeline - refinery - distribution - market. And of course that could be sliced and diced a little depending on where the oil is coming from and I'm not even bringing to bear the myriad of market forces and economic conditions. Natural Gas resembles this chain closely, but if we want to talk about coal or nuclear we should add in mining and all of its inherent processes in lieu of drilling perhaps.
I guess the faith is there due to close to 100 years of delivery with relatively few hiccups, but we've seen a few instances, most recently in Japan as to how a supply chain can be crippled and previously in the late 70' with the oil crisis, but I've never heard of a saying that goes "As sure as the tanker will dock"

[shraby]

1. If a cloudy day is detremental to solar power, why then can

people get sunburned on a cloudy day? Believe me, it happens a lot.

[robdogbucky]

2. How well do solar panels work in cloudy conditions?

How well do solar panels work in cloudy conditions?

A cloudy day provides sufficient diffuse light by which the panel will produce electricity. Optimum electrical production occurs with bright and sunny weather conditions. Under a light overcast, the modules might produce about half as much as under full sun, ranging down to as little as five to ten percent under a dark overcast day. In remote, off-grid applications, a PV system is connected to a battery storage system as a backup power source. In grid-connected applications, the PV system works in parallel with the utility power grid. So, if electrical needs exceed the solar power output, the local utility makes up for the shortfall. Conversely, when the PV system generates more energy than the building requires, the excess power is exported to the utility grid, reversing the electrical meter!

How well do solar panels work in the winter?

Solar panels work on light not heat. With shorter daylight hours in winter, solar panels produce proportionately less power. If the modules become covered with snow, they stop producing power, but snow generally melts quickly when the sun strikes the modules; if you brush the snow off, they resume operation immediately.

http://www.solarhome.org/solarpanelsfaqs.html#faq8

And:

http://www.greenlivinganswers.com/archives/179

[csziggy]

3. Both times I have been without power for more than a few hours

Were after hurricanes. Although the sky was cloudy during the storms, the time afterward was sunny and solar panels would have been great for those times. In fact the friend of a friend had power after the last storm when none of her neighbors did because she had put in solar panels. One of her neighbors had a generator which ran for a wile, but then it was out of fuel and he could not get any because he could not get out the road due to downed trees.

[HockeyMom]

4. Why don't they use solar power in FLORIDA?

I cannot remember the last all cloudy/rainy day. It must have been months and months ago. I can understand the problem in the North, but certainly not here.

[onethatcares]

5. well, it's because it would

cut into the profits of Progress Energy and disturb the energy link between them and the floriduh state legislature.

They just decided that solar would be bad for the company so it's better they don't allow citizens to produce their own and sell leftovers

back to the power company.

Hell, why would anyone want to keep Duke energy and their water carriers from making a better profit or paying the ceo more and more while cutting

the blue collar corp.

[ddeclue]

6. An empty gas tank.. the fly in your petrol powered ointment..

Umm. DUH ever hear of a thing called a STORAGE BATTERY?

Your argument is ridiculously simplistic and pretends like there is no such thing as a storage battery.

The obvious answer to your "dilemma" is to size your solar array appropriately to account for the climate in your region and for night time of course. If your average usage is 2kW then sizing your array for 6kW would easily account for "cloudy days" and nighttime.

:eyes:

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[grahampuba]

7. umm..

not sure you got the gist of my point there. no need to get snarky..

the saying i was referring to was, "as sure as the sun will rise"

aside from the occasional cloud, the sun will be there, always. period.
the tankers, the pipelines, all that is necessary to get fuel to the enduser is contingent on thousands of variables,.

but, and now, just citing what I hear from people when i advocate for solar power.. "what about cloudy days" seems to ignore all these other factors inherent in our power scenario.

kind of one of those things for the argument arsenal. if you will.

and 6kW.. sheesh, not exactly running lean there.

the install we did runs this house fine with a 1.3kW on a passive tracker..
http://mnrenewables.org/node/633

[ddeclue]

9. Maybe you ought to re-read your post...

It certainly sounded like you were advocating fossil fuel and attacking solar to me..

2kW average use may be a bit high but then that depends on where you live and how big and how old your house is. My house is 2300 sq ft, built in 1959 and in Florida... 2kW average load in the summer time is not unusual with air conditioning, refrigerator, washer dryer etc. Of course you could reduce electrical use with solar water heater in addition to p-v solar electric.

[spanone]

8. ...?