During December of 2010, it was a little discouraging, but a thin coating of snow still has some transparency to sunlight and continues to generate a small amount - the worst days are ones with very heavy dark grey cloud, which can produce less than a sunny winter day with snow!
We now have a complete year's records. I was not taking meter readings daily at first but have been doing so for the last 8 or 9 months. Over the year from 07 October 10 to 07 October 11 we generated 1,710.3 kWh. We see it as a very good financial investment as well as helping to reduce CO2 emissions. The PV has also helped our electricity bill to reduce.
I am a mechanical services design engineer and work for Nottinghamshire County Council. We install quite a lot of PV on new school buildings. Also, if all goes to plan, the new extension to West Bridgford Library will have about 100m2 on its roof."
I see...snow may decrease the solar energy produced by these panels, but not significantly. However, the durability of such during harsh weather conditions is in question.
ReplyDeleteThe panels are surfaced with glass and a hydrophobic coating, and an aluminium frame, so do not really have a problem of durability with weather. At the time of year pictured, the solar radiation is already so small that a few days of snow are not a problem, compared with your annual figure.
DeletePV or Photovoltaic panels, to be exact, are known to work more efficiently when installed on a green roof rather than on a conventional surface. That means making use of green roof and solar production technology works well since it provides dual benefits in energy saving and energy production.
ReplyDeleteBrendan Gertner