Have we been doing Solar wrong all along?

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[antonio_fosnjar]

One other huge benefit I see is for big farms, when it snowing you won't have to clear the snow and even dust would stick less on a vertical setup and you can much easier clear grass and can even technically farm it and sell it for livestock.

[marsovac]

The reason why vertical panels are cool is not only the lower amount of heat they get but also the amount of convective cooling they get. Vertical panels facilitate the natural flow of heat upwards, while horizontal ones impede it. I.e. the amount of convection per surface area is higher on vertical panels, so they cool better.

[qinarizonaful]

One observation I have made is that installing solar panels on roofs over habited rooms made a huge difference in less heat pumped into the building and not only created electricity, but reduced room temps by 15 degrees! That means a HUGE savings in cooling that room! I live in a desert, sooo.. I am going to vertically mount some of my panels on south and west walls with stand off from the wall to allow convection to take away the heat and not transfer it into my walls... double improvement with reduced load on my cooling system AND cooler walls while I collect energy!!! 👍👍👍 Any cooling I don't have to do is a huge savings!! Yes, I'm kinda screwed in winter, cuz my walls won't get sun, but my cost is 8 months of cooling, not 4 months of heating. Now to gather data before the install!

[flymypg]

This video neatly addresses a key dilemma: I have an asphalt shingle roof that has maybe another decade of life left to it, and I don't really want to put solar on it only to remove it when it comes time to replace the roof. I'm also replacing all my privacy fencing, and I realize I have two long runs that go almost perfectly north-south, making them ideal for rows of vertical solar panels. Meaning that even if I need to purchase several extra panels to meet my total energy needs, the savings on labor and fence materials should more than pay for it.

Even better, this makes my solar installation a DIY process, as there will be no need for any roof-top work. On top of that, I expect to have less maintenance due to less deposition of our insidious San Diego dust that keeps blowing in. Win-win!

Thanks!

[scottkolaya]

It's hard to believe that the TNO study didn't have regular horizontal panels right next to the vertical ones. That makes it super hard to get a apples to apples real world comparison. Knowing the huge variance in solar radiance by location, I'd have a hard time giving this study the credit it would otherwise deserve. Thanks for having all the references in the show notes. Individual panels vary more than the 2-3%, but the fact they even produce close to the horizontal is impressive. Edit: after researching, they don't produce close to horizontal, just 2-3% more than they thought vertical ones would, due to additional cooling from having them mounted that way.

[jamieharland]

My point is !! Any solar panel working to charge a phone or a battery is better than taking from the grid !! There are lots of people doing these videos, but when I come across your one, I always watch them as you’re very interesting very smart, very intelligent, not boring at all !! Cheers from Port Hedland Western Australia !! I am fully off grid !! 😎

[louislesch]

You didn’t even mention the reduction in hail damage, bird droppings, dust, snow. Also this seems like a great place for tiny prism glass. I don’t know what it’s called exactly.

[ivankovac]

This is a great example of accidental biomimicry. Some species of termites build flat east west facing mounds to prevent overheating and to capture the early and late sunshine for the thermoregulation of their mounds.

[domenicozagari]

Vertical panel are safer against hail .

[michaelbranan]

My dad worked installing chain-link fences. I grew up going to work with him and he showed me that when you leave the 6 foot 30 pound iron digger bar lying on the ground in the sun , when you go to pick it up you can’t touch it it’s too hot however if you leave it leaning against something or stabbed into the ground at a 90° angle it’s fine it’s just warm. I never really thought about this phenomenon till now perhaps the surface is getting the same amount of light but less heat when it’s vertical.idk

[binqnjq]

I discovered this years ago when I adjust my panels a set of my panels to a 72 degree orientation for more power over winter.
When summer came along I got lazy and didnt readjust them to 32 degrees for summer with the rest of my sets. I found my voltages were producing SLIGHTLY less current, but voltages during peak heat was about 10V more. I was getting an extra 200W from that set as a result. I ended up leaving the panels where there were at. They got less dust collection and when snow hit I melted off much faster

[codebeat]

I have mount my solar panels vertically and is working great. A real benefit is that dirt, tree leaves and snow cannot cover the panels. The first time I notice this was at the time I built a veranda outside and cutting many pieces of wood. The wood cutting dust was everywhere, on any horizontal surface, except on the panels.

[douglasyoung]

I love the idea of vertical bifacial solar as fences, railings, sound and privacy barriers, and shade structures. This has so much potential!

[Pakkotehdataapska]

In the paper "Thermal model in digital twin of vertical PV system helps to explain unexpected yield gains", it says
"The adjusted value for Uc leads to a 2.5% higher annual energy yield and higher performance ratio, partially offsetting the energy loss due to the less than optimal configuration.".

Not that the vertical angle is better than the optimal angle as the video kind of implies. The production of the optimal angle is far greater than the 2.5% gained from extra cooling.

For agrivoltaics this is still kinda interesting and good information.

[aaronmohl]

I've been off-grid solar at home for more than a decade in Canada. In winter when the suns angle is barely above the horizon the "optimal" panel tilt is already close to vertical. I've been running my panels vertical for the last few years while there is snow on the ground and see better output. I've been attributing these increased outputs to the combination of reflection off of the snow on the ground and the lack of accumulation of snow/frost on the face of the panels. With the ambient temp below freezing the cooling is probably having an effect as well. On a -30C sunny day the array exceeds it's rated output significantly.

[Andrew-jmtp]

I live in northern Montana and I put up vertical panels 2 years ago. They have been performing very well in the snow. They never collect snow and ice so I don't have to clean them.

[SinisterSlay]

Real big win of this is snow immunity.
Second big win is those of us scared of heights and can't get on our roofs will find these easy to clean as just fence panels.

[prosamis]

Engineer here (mechanical, focus on renewable energy)

I really like how this configuration overlaps with demand because the biggest problem with solar energy will remain to be storage. Added efficiency helps, and this sure adds different opportunities in installment methods and plans, but I feel like the core issues are still unaddressed

Vertically stacking them like a tower sounds like a nightmare to deal with when different levels of shading are taken into account which tends to have catastrophic effects on output, but the idea of having panels integrated in plots of land doing other things seems very effective. I see the potential here (despite shading issues)

[superman]

In college, we created a photovoltaic panel with water flowing behind it to cool the panel. It created hot water and an increase in the output of the panel. I’m not sure why this isn’t being used more now but it’s a similar concept. A cooler panel equals more electricity.

[thamiordragonheart]

so, after some reading, I think these only generate more power than traditional PV installations once you get pretty far north, like the nordic countries, Canada, and Russia, because then the sun stays close to the horizon most of the time, and rises and sets much farther north.
On the other hand, these are really good for reducing the need for grid storage (and gas peaker plants) because the double peak in the morning and evening is complementary with regular monofacial PV to flatten out the overall solar power generation curve. With how cheap solar is, that alone seems like a great reason to use vertical bifacial PV in more places, especially on houses and in residential areas where power usage at noon is very low anyway.