This Invention Could Supercharge Solar Panels

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00:00 - Intro
01:00 - Why the angle matters
03:19 - How tilt impacts production
04:20 - Solar tracking systems
07:10 - CPV
09:30 - AGILE

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[paulrpg]

I worked on a similar tech in my research lab around 8 years ago. The main benefit of a low concentrator PV is increased efficiency at suboptimal angles. The numbers were often muddy - you can get twice the energy per square meter of PV panel, sure, but when you ultimately use less PV panel (as a lot of room is taken up by the concentrator) then its a moot point. The biggest limiting factor is that the greatest degradation factor for PV panels is their operating temperature - when you concentrate, they will get hotter causing them to degrade faster.

Our research was specifically looking at ways to extract thermal energy from a domestic scale solar concentrator. This was to (1) cool the panels (2) extract some thermal energy for hot water tank pre-heating and (3) prolong the life of the panel. It was ultimately not deemed cost effective. You could double or triple the life of the panel but you have massively increased your installation cost, so it would likely be cheaper to replace the panels every 10-15 years.

[jhonatancock]

Every lab technology always promises "reduced cost, easy manufacturing" until they have to manufacture the thing and discover the cost is higher and is harder to manufacture at scale.

[kitteecatt]

something i find incredibly interesting is how this system could be a part of a design which integrate these and the negative space that they provide in between the solar cells for very small, very high efficiency thermal conduits that whisk away the concrentrated heat from the reflective materials and mini cells, being further connected to a home heat pump system

[niv]

I mechanised my panels using linear motors and a raspberry pi and I noticed quite an improvement tracking the sun. Beefing up the whole installation over the next few months - very therapeutic seeing the Kw/h being home grown vs the rip off energy companies that are shafting us in the UK & EU currently. Also I don't use a sensor, mine is math based using longitude, latitude and date - credit to the egg heads that wrote the original Python code I plagerised - I wish I was that clever!

[karlmahlmann]

I could see why this improvement would be very applicable to solar-powered yachts, where most of the panels are, necessarily, pointing straight up. Your videos are always excellent.

[mgutkowski]

Agile clearly also has a larger front area than that of the cells beneath, so aren't we back where we started? Unless the focusing lens thingy costs less than the equivalent change on area in solar cells, it's self defeating.

Another issue with a field of tracking panels is that they must be spaced apart in order to prevent them shading each other. So you reduce the total area of panels at the same time as increasing their output. A classic trade-off

[bobgreene]

Outstanding clarity and very relevant to those looking at the rapidly-evolving solar market.
Your drone sequence showing the solar panels of your house is every effective. You demonstrate solar can offer advantages, despite unfavorable factors.

[mungewell]

One thing that you didn't mention is Winter! Maybe not for your location, but for my system in Canada a steep panel angle, low temps and snow on the ground can actually boost the panels output significantly - doesn't make up for the shorter days though. I also don't use a tracker, as the location is actually very windy. The risk of wind damage is a grave concern.

[onlymise]

Hi Mr Ferrell . Mark here from Dublin Ireland Your channel is the 1st and only one I have ever subscribed to .... I install PV's for a living, On average (10/12 )hrs a day ... The knowledge and honesty is truly refreshing . I genuinely look forward to the videos you produce, they are a joy after a long days work .... please keep up the good work & thank you

[numhold]

The first thought that came to my mind when I saw the rendering was: „Man, that stuff looks heavy!“
When solar panels get mounted on old roofs that were originally built without PV in mind, weight becomes a deciding factor. Do you have any data on the actual weight of these lenses?

[k.sullivan]

This was a good and interesting video Matt. Myself and others have thought about this idea in the past. My thoughts were equivalent to a magnifying glass over the solar panel. I remember that the problem many DYI people who were trying to get better performance out of their panels was overheating the panels and ruining them in a short time. Surely this new process that is being experimented with has taken that challenge into consideration. It would be interesting to know about how they are dealing with that overheating issue. Thanks for the video Matt.

[Lantalia]

The real win would be combining concentration and frequency separation, so you can have a patch of PV optimized for each frequency band, and outright reflect anything below the lowest useful frequency to reduce heat buildup

[kitersrefuge]

Your presentations are so comprehensive, and so data rich and so fast in delivery, my brain blows a fuse at regular speed after about 5 minutes. I have to revert to playback at 0.75 or 0.5...need something in between those settings for optimal, you!

[juliemelville]

DANG - your viewership is smart! I get so much education out of the comments, with many flyovers. As a grad student in business sustainability transformation I may not know the way a prism grabs more light, nor the 5 layer part, but I enjoy soaking up as much as I can. I’ll be guiding businesses or cooperatives in ways to do just this sort of thing. Thank you and thanks to Brilliant. Love the courses.

[vermeerasia]

AGILE is a classic idea used on sailing vessels in the form of deck prisms. It's amazing how much sunlight is brought belowdecks from a a few square inches of flat glass on deck level. It makes perfect sense that prismatic techniques could be applied to solar panels.

[asbestosrecuperation]

Recently I was looking into solar power and wondered why automated tilting mechanisms are used more for solar panels.
Its good to actually see the installation / efficiency / maintenance costs. Apparently its cheaper just to buy more panels.

[hatac]

In Australia we have a percentage of the solar arrays facing east and west for another reason. While its less optimal at noon it helps meet the dawn and dusk spikes, providing more power at those times than the noon optimized units do. The demand curves in most countries do not peak at noon.

[KRWoodworks]

I worked for Mobil Tyco Solar Energy in the 70s. We were building PV concentrators back then albeit a different design. They were linear with extruded fresnel lenses to focus the light.

[KevinCoop]

The first Solar job I designed the electrical system for was CPV. Dual axis trackers and to point exactly at the sun. You are correct, efficiency is extremely important going forward! Shading is a big solar system killer.

[EsotericArctos]

This is an interesting development in PV technology. I look forward to seeing where this can go, but in conjunction with Solar Panels, we need stability, such as battery or some kind of storage as once the sun is gone, the power is gone. I see that where I live (Victoria, Australia) In the middle of the day on a really sunny day the wholesale price of electricty can sometimes be negative (as in get paid to use power) because so much solar is being generated, but once the sun is gone, the reliance on fossil fuel comes back, with the more expensive price.
We really need to look at storage and solar as being a compulsory pair.