Cold Climates and Solar Panels: Everything That You Need to Know
Solar panels are an effective way to keep yourself off the grid, reduce your carbon footprint, and your power consumption in Golden, CO. However, as many property owners fear, solar panels aren’t as effective during winter because of sunlight.
Even with reduced effectiveness, solar panels are still excellent to have during winter because that’s when demand is low and supply is high. Plus, you can easily have outstanding solar panel installation teams install your roof by the next summer.
Learn more about cold climates and solar panels here.
A Bigger Scope of Energy Collection
Solar panels work all year round with a large sunlight level during spring, summer, and fall. Sunlight is the strongest during summer, even with its occasional rains. Spring brings adequate temperatures that gradually improve the hardware involved because the solar panel’s semiconductors work best at low-temperature settings.
The Effect of Orientation
The orientation of a solar panel affects the amount of sunlight that is reflected versus absorbed by the solar panel. A solar panel facing the sun will absorb more light than a solar panel facing away from the sun, which means that the efficiency of a solar panel can be determined by its orientation.
Energy Storage’s Role In The Future
Solar energy storage technologies can’t keep up with the technology’s capability to generate electricity. However, new projects have started to show potential, which gives the future a better way to store enough solar energy to last throughout the dwindling winter supply.
Forbes has an excellent solution about solar panel performance during winter and what we can do about it. Read more about it below.
A widespread misconception is that solar panels are hardly effective during winter (for those in the northern hemisphere). Although solar panels' energy results are at their pinnacle when presented to direct sunlight and UV beams, the impact of hot weather should not be confused with reducing energy generation from solar panels during colder seasons.
It’s no secret that the measure of sunshine on a given day throughout the winter may be more limited than during the summertime. But when the sun is shining on a solar panel, the panel will then generate electricity, no matter the temperature outside.
The more significant thing to keep in mind is the measure of sun that the panel will be exposed to throughout the year rather than on a given day.
When adding solar to any building or construction site, building owners should also consider the effect of shading from dust or snow on solar panels. Recent studies have revealed that different solar panel orientations can benefit the electrical system as a whole and vertical orientation can significantly reduce shading due to gravity being on its side versus the traditional horizontal installing methods.
Orientation And Position Of Solar Panels
The orientation of the solar panels is the most significant aspect in terms of solar energy generation due to the power being maximized at a vertical orientation (facing south if you are in the northern hemisphere). This placement ensures that the system will produce the maximum amount of energy as the sun arrays directly hit the panels and allow for a significant generation of electricity.
For many early adopters, it is becoming popular to include solar cells into the building envelope, where it acts as a source of energy and supports the building with traditional materials. Buildings can then use unused space with solar materials like cladding. (Continue reading here to learn more)
If you have yet to find a reliable solar panel installation team in Golden CO, you can always count on us at Roper Roofing and Solar. Contact us today to learn more about everything we can do for you.
