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I installed a 16.5kWp ground-mount array a month ago. I live in the US Northeast, in a mountainous location that means we get late sunrises and early sunsets. N

by raddan 9mo ago

I installed a 16.5kWp ground-mount array a month ago. I live in the US Northeast, in a mountainous location that means we get late sunrises and early sunsets. Nevertheless, based on my one month of data, it looks like we can generate all the power we need for our household on a sunny winter day, excluding electric vehicles. Even on overcast days, we can sometimes offset a significant portion of our usage. My locale does not have time-of-use rates, so there’s no point trying to do arbitrage for electricity prices. So right now I just have our battery configured for backup. My hope is that during the summer months I can reconfigure the system to use the battery to reduce grid reliance instead. The expiring tax credits were what forced my hand. I’m the kind of person who likes to install things himself, and I probably would have gone that route for solar too, because the materials costs (sans battery) aren’t even half of the total cost.

torginus 9mo ago
Here in Europe, we got more than a month's worth of foggy, cloudy weather (something that looks like will keep being a thing), which is something I became painfully aware of as an owner of a solar setup. No amount of battery banks can tide over such a long stretch. By the way, let me ask you - considering your location, you must be getting a lot of snow, how do you deal with it, is it a problem? Panels are quite hard to reach on the roof.
- yomismoaqui 9mo ago
  Where in Europe? Between Spain and Denmark there is a lot of variance in temperature, sun and rain... Talking about the weather "in Europe" is like talking about the shoe size a family of 10 wears.
- raddan 9mo ago
  I do indeed get a lot of snow. In January and February it snows roughly once every two days, although usually in small amounts. Fortunately I have a ground mount. The bottom row is roughly at waist height. I can (and have been) sweeping the panels off with a large push broom. Because my array is so large, I can only reach the bottom half of the array. But this usually is enough. When the panel starts to generate power, it also tends to heat up; the snow on the top half then often slides off on its own. I might invest in a longer broom. It is not uncommon for people here to own “snow rakes” to remove large snow loads from their roofs. These usually have a rubberized “rake” with a very long aluminum handle. Or the novelty of this might wear off and I’ll just let the panel do its own thing. It is pitched rather steeply (close to 45°) and based on my observations of my neighbors, panels tend to shed the snow on their own eventually.
  - nine_k 9mo ago
    Maybe you can even forward-bias your panel, and make it generate some heat off the battery power. (It may even glow a tiny bit.)
  - nnf 9mo ago
    I've got a similarly sized ground-mount array, and I push the snow off with a triple-telescoping aluminum pole with a large squeegee on the end. An actual snow rake might be better, like the one you describe, but my setup gets it done. It takes some effort, but it's worth it to be able to collect the solar energy that would otherwise just reflect off the snow for days.

by raddan 9mo ago

torginus 9mo ago

Here in Europe, we got more than a month's worth of foggy, cloudy weather (something that looks like will keep being a thing), which is something I became painfully aware of as an owner of a solar setup. No amount of battery banks can tide over such a long stretch. By the way, let me ask you - considering your location, you must be getting a lot of snow, how do you deal with it, is it a problem? Panels are quite hard to reach on the roof.

yomismoaqui 9mo ago
Where in Europe? Between Spain and Denmark there is a lot of variance in temperature, sun and rain... Talking about the weather "in Europe" is like talking about the shoe size a family of 10 wears.
raddan 9mo ago
I do indeed get a lot of snow. In January and February it snows roughly once every two days, although usually in small amounts. Fortunately I have a ground mount. The bottom row is roughly at waist height. I can (and have been) sweeping the panels off with a large push broom. Because my array is so large, I can only reach the bottom half of the array. But this usually is enough. When the panel starts to generate power, it also tends to heat up; the snow on the top half then often slides off on its own. I might invest in a longer broom. It is not uncommon for people here to own “snow rakes” to remove large snow loads from their roofs. These usually have a rubberized “rake” with a very long aluminum handle. Or the novelty of this might wear off and I’ll just let the panel do its own thing. It is pitched rather steeply (close to 45°) and based on my observations of my neighbors, panels tend to shed the snow on their own eventually.
- nine_k 9mo ago
  Maybe you can even forward-bias your panel, and make it generate some heat off the battery power. (It may even glow a tiny bit.)
- nnf 9mo ago
  I've got a similarly sized ground-mount array, and I push the snow off with a triple-telescoping aluminum pole with a large squeegee on the end. An actual snow rake might be better, like the one you describe, but my setup gets it done. It takes some effort, but it's worth it to be able to collect the solar energy that would otherwise just reflect off the snow for days.