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A floating solar plant using vertical panels is flipping the usual solar curve [View all]
https://www.vozpopuli.com/indux/en/a-floating-solar-plant-using-vertical-panels-is-flipping-the-usual-solar-curve-by-producing-more-power-in-the-morning-and-late-afternoon-the-hours-when-homes-and-factories-actually-spike-demand/5308/
A floating solar plant using vertical panels is flipping the usual solar curve by producing more power in the morning and late afternoon, the hours when homes and factories actually spike demand
Solar power has a timing problem. It often floods the grid around noon, then fades right when families start cooking dinner, washers hum, and factories are still running.
In Bavaria, SINN Power is testing a surprisingly simple answer. Stand the panels upright, float them on water, and let them catch the lower sun at the edges of the day. The company inaugurated what it calls the world’s first vertically floating photovoltaic plant at the Jais gravel pit in Germany’s Starnberg district, a 1.87-megawatt system with 2,600 solar modules.
Why vertical changes the clock
Most conventional solar panels in the Northern Hemisphere are tilted toward the south. That setup maximizes midday sunlight, but by the EU’s own science advisers, it can also create a midday power surge that is less useful when demand rises earlier or later.
SKipp flips that pattern. The modules face east and west, so one side works harder in the morning and the other in the late afternoon, while the bifacial design can use light from both sides.
Details
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4317
You can download a PDF there.
Questions and comments:
It appears that the cells are indeed "bifacial" ... one on each side, like having an east and west set of panels.
Wind is allowed to flex things. Apparently, water helps in this respect, compared to a ground mount.
Also, it looks like the water surface is not used as a reflector, to bounce some light into the panels.
Need to read the report.
OOOPS 17.5 MB
Shoulld be no problem except for phone users' data and memory.
In Bavaria, SINN Power is testing a surprisingly simple answer. Stand the panels upright, float them on water, and let them catch the lower sun at the edges of the day. The company inaugurated what it calls the world’s first vertically floating photovoltaic plant at the Jais gravel pit in Germany’s Starnberg district, a 1.87-megawatt system with 2,600 solar modules.
Why vertical changes the clock
Most conventional solar panels in the Northern Hemisphere are tilted toward the south. That setup maximizes midday sunlight, but by the EU’s own science advisers, it can also create a midday power surge that is less useful when demand rises earlier or later.
SKipp flips that pattern. The modules face east and west, so one side works harder in the morning and the other in the late afternoon, while the bifacial design can use light from both sides.
Details
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4317
You can download a PDF there.
Questions and comments:
It appears that the cells are indeed "bifacial" ... one on each side, like having an east and west set of panels.
Wind is allowed to flex things. Apparently, water helps in this respect, compared to a ground mount.
Also, it looks like the water surface is not used as a reflector, to bounce some light into the panels.
Need to read the report.
OOOPS 17.5 MB
Shoulld be no problem except for phone users' data and memory.
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read