My solar PV thread

[Logic]

Some things to consider: (All theory on my side. No practical experience)
South East and South West facing solar (with all the right maths and considering clipping) gives you more power than pure South and gives you more power in the morning and evening when you want/need it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7xnY84Ch1E

He (an engineer) also has very good, well documented info in vertical solar and bifacial etc.


Another free source of energy is bio-methane = anaerobic digester = poo + bio-waste power.
Basically you let your poop and leftovers sit in an airtight container for a month, producing methane, before it auto goes into the sewage system as usual or waters and feeds plants.
It's pretty easy and seems maintenance free if designed properly.

Most adopters are using the gas to cook but some are simply running a pipe to the intake of a genset and saving some fuel.

There are various systems on the market. Some better than others.
Well worth researching. Especially if you have any livestock.

I've actually considered a er... fart collector system in the seats of cars!
"We're all having chilly beans for breakfast! We gotta make it all the way to Denver!"

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by Logic

Some things to consider: (All theory on my side. No practical experience)
South East and South West facing solar (with all the right maths and considering clipping) gives you more power than pure South and gives you more power in the morning and evening when you want/need it:

He (an engineer) also has very good, well documented info in vertical solar and bifacial etc.


Another free source of energy is bio-methane = anaerobic digester = poo + bio-waste power.
Basically you let your poop and leftovers sit in an airtight container for a month, producing methane, before it auto goes into the sewage system as usual or waters and feeds plants.
It's pretty easy and seems maintenance free if designed properly.

Most adopters are using the gas to cook but some are simply running a pipe to the intake of a genset and saving some fuel.

There are various systems on the market. Some better than others.
Well worth researching. Especially if you have any livestock.

I've actually considered a er... fart collector system in the seats of cars!
"We're all having chilly beans for breakfast! We gotta make it all the way to Denver!"

I think it would be panel dependant. Monos produce about 75% of name plate power just pointing them south. If a panel is pointed say south east it will hit peak power say 80% then later in the day it will make half power. I'm not convinced monos will work this way.
Polys definitely could. You can point a poly panel straight up and stilll get 60 to 70% o rated power maybe more.

[oil pan 4]

Running my cheap panels for a full month they made 47 to 48kwh each for August. The Samsung panels made 52 to 53kwh so they make a little less.
For $80 each no complaints.
Each panel has made about 2.2Mwh in 4 years and 3 months. They made about $175 worth of electricity each before they got smashed.

[Logic]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I think it would be panel dependant. Monos produce about 75% of name plate power just pointing them south. If a panel is pointed say south east it will hit peak power say 80% then later in the day it will make half power. I'm not convinced monos will work this way.
Polys definitely could. You can point a poly panel straight up and stilll get 60 to 70% o rated power maybe more.

Thx for pointing out the 2 different types oil pan. I have zero experience with PV but like that this guy is an engineer who's on point and thorough in his testing, but I have no idea what panels he was using. Probably Polys.

His system clips a lot around mid day, by design, so he experimented to see what East and West would do, then went on to 20 degrees (IIRC) east and west of pure north.
His conclusion near the end of the video shows the graphs he got where he got 2% more total power, but more importantly; a useful increase in the morning and evening when he needed/wanted it.

The free software he uses to work it all out at his latitude is also mentioned somewhere in the video.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by Logic

Thx for pointing out the 2 different types oil pan. I have zero experience with PV but like that this guy is an engineer who's on point and thorough in his testing, but I have no idea what panels he was using. Probably Polys.

His system clips a lot around mid day, by design, so he experimented to see what East and West would do, then went on to 20 degrees (IIRC) east and west of pure north.
His conclusion near the end of the video shows the graphs he got where he got 2% more total power, but more importantly; a useful increase in the morning and evening when he needed/wanted it.

The free software he uses to work it all out at his latitude is also mentioned somewhere in the video.

I'm running a test for winter to tilt some of the panels around 20 degrees more to the south today.
The panel is sitting loosely on the roof so I can't leave it that way for very long.

[freebeard]

He (an engineer) also has very good, well documented info in vertical solar and bifacial etc.

The only reference to bifacial was a big TBD.

It occurs to me that bifacials arrayed as N-S fencing would experience a dip at high noon. Just when the inverter starts clipping.

[oil pan 4]

Looking at my enpase app the panel I selected to tilt a bit more towards the south was one of the top producing panels by a few percent and it's still a top producing panels by a few percent. If there was an improvement it was only 2%.
So over 4 years that's like $4 worth of power.
The latest generation of panels or at least what was made in 2020 doesn't seem as position sensitive as what I remember for mono panels made around 2010.
I'll let the test run till the sun gets low, but doubtful there will be much if any difference.

[Logic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

The only reference to bifacial was a big TBD.

It occurs to me that bifacials arrayed as N-S fencing would experience a dip at high noon. Just when the inverter starts clipping.

You mean east-west?

With my zero experience I have no idea yet how well a the back side of a biracial does.
But ye; vertical bifacial panels seem to be 'a thing' on YouTube because they can be used as fences and crops planted between and such.
They should stay a whole lot cleaner too.

Also interesting is just how much cooling a panel increases efficiency/production and lifespan.

[freebeard]

You mean east-west?

A fence that run North to South and faces East and West [obviously].

[Logic]

Originally Posted by freebeard

A fence that run North to South and faces East and West [obviously].

..Ah! Me being a dumbass! Soz.