4 ms·
Yes, tracking has got to be super-simple. Flowers do it; maybe one day we'll use them somehow. Flower power. But the efficiency difference is dramatic, especia
by hyperpallium 11y ago
Yes, tracking has got to be super-simple. Flowers do it; maybe one day we'll use them somehow. Flower power.
But the efficiency difference is dramatic, especially for monocrystalline. I got full power in the middle of winter near sunet (4pm) by tilting the panel almost vertically.
Consider the effect of solar ray incidence on Earth: it's why the tropics are hot and the poles are cold. It's the difference between summer and winter.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago> Yes, tracking has got to be super-simple. Flowers do it; maybe one day we'll use them somehow. Flower power. Flowers are not simple. They're insanely complex devices built entirely by and from nanomachines. We're barely beginning to understand what's going on. For instance, we found solar tracking to be a set of clever photochemical reactions that respond to particular wavelengths and disrupt the natural growth of the plant in such a way that it follows the sun. Mind you, that we know about those reactions does not mean that we actually understand them in perfect detail. Nature only looks simple. In fact, the levels of its complexity are so great that for the most of mankind's history we didn't even suspect what's going on.
- mapt 11y agoThe efficiency benefit is great, but the extra cost of a rotating frame in 2015, after years of panel price reductions, may end up being more money than just adding extra panels.