Solar Panel Roundtable - DTNS Special

https://www.aurorasolar.com/blog/shading-losses-for-pv-systems-and-techniques-to-mitigate-them/ "Shading a solar cell is similar to introducing a clog in a pipe of water. The clog in the pipe restricts the flow of water through the entire pipe. Similarly, when a solar cell is shaded, the current through the entire string is reduced." This is significant because every cell in the cell string has to operate at the current set by the shaded cell. This prevents the unshaded cells from operating at maximum power.

It was good that how high temperatures reduce the output of panels was mentioned. Another factor is that partial shading of panels can reduce the output of an entire array, sort of like a 'weakest link' situation.

When I moved into a townhouse in 2016, I immediately started looking into rooftop solar panels. After a few inquiries and inspections, it was determined that my roof didn't face the correct direction for decent sun exposure, and also wasn't large enough to hold enough panels to produce much power anyway. I was disappointed, but kept looking for a way to offset my power usage. I then discovered Arcadia Power, which offered to offset 50% of my power usage with wind power for free, or 100% for a small fee. I signed up for that, and then discovered they had a solar program where you could lease panels in other commercial solar projects and receive solar credits to offset a small amount of your energy bill. So I signed up to lease 10 panels for 10 years, and then another 5 a year or so later. The thing I like about this is that the wind and solar credits follow me wherever I move, and are not tied to that townhome's address, so now that I'm living in a regular house I'm still getting these wind and solar credits. I'm now working to get my own roof solar system, but my energy for now is still wind-generated through Arcadia, with a decent amount of money back during the sunny months from those leased panels.

Silverdude

done

Roger Chang

Could you post links to the sites mentioned? I tried to look for them. Just want to be sure I’m getting to the right ones.

How about a multi-state regional or national smart grid, with the SW states as energy producers?