Solar power said viable in snowy regions
HOUGHTON, Mich., Oct 25, 2012 -- UPI
While solar cells and snowy climate might not seem a good
mix, U.S. and Canadian researchers said solar power is still a
good investment even in snowy locales.
Although a layer of snow can cause a solar-cell blackout for
a period, not many regions experience heavy snow for more than a
few months, they said, and even in midwinter panels don't
usually stay snow-covered for long.
"Sometimes snow actually helps solar cells," Michigan
Technical University researcher Joshua Pearce said, referring to
the albedo effect, when sunlight reflects off snow.
It can make a panel generate more electricity in the same way
that it gives skiers sunburn on sunny winter days, he said.
Pearce worked with researchers from St. Lawrence College and
Queen's University, in Kingston, Ontario, and industry partners
to study the effect of snow on the Open Solar Outdoors Test
Field, a fully grid-connected test system that monitors the
output of more than 100 photovoltaic modules and correlates
their performance to meteorological readings.
They created a computer model to predict how much electricity
production would decline with various amounts of snow cover on
solar modules mounted at different angles from flat to steeply
pitched, a Michigan Tech release said.
"In most cases power losses are minimal, even in snowy
Canada," Pearce said, noting the model matched data from a
number of Ontario's commercial solar farms.
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