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Date Posted: 21:37:20 02/16/12 Thu
Author: David Leonhardt
Author Host/IP: xplr-54-143-168-69.xplornet.com / 69.168.143.54
Subject: Solar Panel Snow Clearing

I am writing this ar-ar-a-a-ar-r-ar-ticle in the c-c-c-cold of the great Canadian winter. “Great” as in “The Great White North”, not “great” as in ”wonderful”.

And a funny thing happens in winter up here in Canada. Snow. OK, so snow is not really funny. It’s actually a bit fun, like for sliding or making snow angels. But mostly it’s a pain in the nether regions.

And in the nether regions of our property are two arrays of solar panels.

Now just for the record, snow is not supposed to be a pain in anything solar. That is because there is a system to deal with snow on solar panels – a little tray at the bottom of one of the panels, much like a weigh-scale. When the snow builds up too much on the tray, it triggers the Deger arm to retract and pull down the bottom of the solar array, which makes the top pivot upwards. In this nearly vertical position, the snow slides off the panels, to the ground, and all is clear.

At least, that’s what the brochure says.

Real life never seems to conform to brochures. My experience with snow on the solar panels reminds me why the Eskimos have several (is it dozens?) of different words for snow. There are different types of snow, and some are stickier than others. Some are heavier than others. Some are multilayerd. Some are under a crust, and others cover up a layer of ice. Some are thick. Some are thin.

And they all love our solar panels.

The light, fluffy kind doesn’t cling much to the upright panels. And when the sun comes out and hits the black, heat-absorbing panels, the few flakes that hang on just melt away.

But I was faced with two-inch-thick snow covering a layer of ice. And they clung to the panels. Even so, the sun shone through. Yes, through two inches of snow and a layer of ice, our solar power generation system was generating solar power. Mother Nature couldn’t shut it down.

But Mother Nature could deal it a whopping blow. Our panels were generating only a fraction of the power they normally would.

No problem. You’ve read the brochure. You know that as soon as the sun comes out, it will melt the snow and ice and clear the panels to soak up all that glorious solar radiation. Yes, but that could take a while. The snow is white, and until some of it melts, there is no black surface to help with the melting.

That is why we call on Mr. Broom. Mr. Broom helps us sweep the snow off the panels. Well, off the lower ones, at least. Standing on my tip-toes, I can clear about half the panels of snow with the broom. I am short. A taller man could clear more. Or a man with a longer broom. Or a taller man with a longer broom. On a ladder, if there is a way to balance a ladder in the snow – without accidentally damaging the panels.

But the job is not yet done. There is still ice on the panels. The good news is two-fold.

First, the ice lets in more solar radiation, so the panels can generate much more power than with the snow over them. Second, the ice is transparent, so the sun’s rays are falling on the black of the panels rather than the white of the snow – and heating up much faster to melt the ice.

And if you are impatient there is always the ice scraper you use on your windshield – but be careful.

As for me, I know what I’ll be asking Santa for next year – a longer broom.

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