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I've been living in the west my whole life and have traveled between Colorado to California through Nevada, Utah, Arizona, etc 7 or 8 times, so yes I've seen an
by jameslk 6y ago
I've been living in the west my whole life and have traveled between Colorado to California through Nevada, Utah, Arizona, etc 7 or 8 times, so yes I've seen an empty western road before. Tumbleweeds was tongue in cheek but there's plenty of dirt, trash and other flying debris that will get baked onto a glassy surface out southwest.
- coldtea 6y agoWell, even in the Sahara there's sand and sandstorms piling it on solar panels... There's no place that's 100% immune from all dirt/leaves/etc. Still shouldn't be much of a problem in practice...
- Nextgrid 6y agoI think the key difference is whether the panel is placed at ground level (as in a solar road) or raised (as in most large-scale solar installations where the panels are raised on mounts that can also move and track the sun). The latter is pretty much self-cleaning when it comes to dry debris because the wind would eventually blow them away onto the ground (where the former will collect them forever).
- iancmceachern 6y agoI agree on both. It (degree fouling of the solar panels) is a fact of things, but shouldn't impact things much pragmatically. I think that we can expect the same amount of accumulation of stuff as we currently get on these roads. Its not like we're out there street sweaping these rural highways, but they're also not covered in debris.
- ianai 6y ago3/4 of Nevada is owned by the federal government and is dry to the point no one wants to be there anyway. Including planets. From your list, you probably haven’t seen the part of the Southwest which I was referring to earlier. As others have said, too, maintenance is going to be a thing for any form of energy.