Question answered about solar panels in snowy areas

[XemaSab]

I don't remember what thread it was, but the question was asked about how well solar panels perform in snowy areas.

I asked my boss, and he said they get really hot so the snow would melt.

:D

[Demeter]

1. That and the Angle of Installation

cause the panels to shed the snow all by themselves

[wellstone dem]

2. fyi I have a friend who uses solar for almost all her

electricity who lives in the northern idaho mountains. She has a backup generator but all her appliances are designed to limit their drain on the electricity. She does pretty well, using the generator only during rainy periods and shortest days of winter. I never asked her about the snow, but it doesn't seem to have been aproblem.

[leftupnorth]

3. The snow on the ground also

helps the solar panel collect more sunlight, as snow reflects sunlight very well. This makes solar panels in northern climates more feasible than some had previously thought.

[spag68]

4. Solar panels

Not noted in the discussions the fact that todays solar panels are much better then those of even 5 years ago. Information about solar and other energy alternatives are available. These technology's are getting so much better, that it will soon be every homeowners best choice, no matter where you live.

[jpak]

5. In Maine, ground level arrays are popular...

http://www.mainesolar.com/Showroom.htm

You just brush the snow off with a broom.

For roof mounted systems, some people have extended handle brushes to clear their modules.

Other people just wait for the sun and wind to clear their array - with grid tied systems this is not a problem.

These folks do well in the winter up there - you can contact them too...

http://www.solarhouse.com

[FREEWILL56]

6. They do get warmer in winter

because of their darker color, but this isn't always enough. The angle that optimizes them toward the sun in the winter does happen to be a steeper angle helping to prevent it from building up too far. In some places you will find the snow builds faster than it could naturally get rid of it, so many do have to make provision to remove it. Many use the extended broom idea as staying on terra firma is a good idea when you have snow and ice around.
Now, in addition to the solar panels getting more light through the reflections off of the snow, the colder temperatures do allow for more power to be produced as it is a misnomer that you need it to be in a hot area to work. They are actually less efficient in high heat areas, but usually those areas receive more sunlight that more than tends to make up for its lower operating efficiency. Just so that we are talking about the same thing here I am referring to panels that are known as solar electric panels and the official terminology is photovoltaic. (pv for short) A solar panel is usually in reference to a panel that collects heat and not in the generation of electricity. Some have attempted to combine these, but the higher heat didn't sit well with the solar cells in generating the electricity and the higher the heat the worse it was for the cells. In keeping the heat limited on the cells meant little heat to be collected for heating the air or a liquid such as water.
How do I know? Simply, I am into this stuff and have some pvs(photovoltaics). I had also offered assistance and advice to John Kerry if he had so desired it from me when he ran in '04 on the subject.

[Kolesar]

7. We in the snowbelt are advised not to install the "thin film shingle-type"

...of photovoltaics. PVs can be either crystalline or a thin-film-deposition product. Thin film is created by layering material on a substrate instead of doping a crystal. The film can be layered onto a flexible rubber-like material so that it serves as the roofing material.

Where I live, snow sticks to all but the steepest roofs. A 45 degree pitch won't be steep enough to shed the snow.

The crystalline ones are silicone parts that are layed up into a glassed panel. The panel is mounted in a frame and can be set at a steep angle to catch the low winter sun and shed the snow and ice.

There are no panels that inherently create "a lot of heat" to clear themselves. The DU poster that said that the dark color does help with defrosting is correct, though.

[FREEWILL56]

8. Thin Film

I use thin film, but not the shingle type. I have 128w of stc rated pvs. I don't believe you to be more than about 130 miles away from me as a guess from seeing you mentioning Cleveland. I am in Pittsburgh. As many in snowy areas know, you can have a vertical pole with snow sticking to it. You just can't always get away from it. It will eventually melt away, but you could lose valuable power until then. We normally don't see snowfalls that are really severe with some exceptional areas like Mt. Washington, (i think it's either Vermont or New Hampshire)Buffalo, New York and of course many areas in the rockies. Because it's not severe, it is rare for me to wish to clean off the pvs of snow. When i think it could be too heavy for the pvs or the roof to take that extra weight, I certainly go out and clean it because I don't want the weight of the snow to damage anything. When you aren't tied to utility power(grid), you should have backup power available like a generator.
Now my question to you is why not thin film shingles?