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Feb
18

Q&A: Do photovoltaic solar panels produce more energy in hot and humid areas ?

Question by Soroush: Do photovoltaic solar panels produce more energy in hot and humid areas ?
Hi, I’m trying to buy some solar panels and I’ve heard that they produce much more energy in hot and humid areas (our area obviously!). What I’ve heard is about 4 or 5 times the nominal watt. So, is it true ?
If you know more please add some detail.

Thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by some-yank
The relationship is correlated directly to watts per cm^2 of exposure without regard to humidity. More sun = more energy. It also stands to reason that hot areas receive more solar radiation annually than cold climates, thus higher output.

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7 comments

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  1. Adrian says:

    NO!! HOT solar cells are LESS efficient than cool solar cells. It is the number of photons hitting the cells that produce the energy, and photons are not directly related to heat. (well..not any more than light is directly relate to heat…)
    So if you can find somewhere in full sun, but where the panels can stay cool, you will produce maximum output for the number/surface area of cells that you have.

  2. Sandi Scholz says:

    Yeah they do..

  3. GABY says:

    Hotter areas, yes. Humid areas not so good because normally humid areas means a lot of cloudy days and rain, which is bad for solar systems.

    My brother has done some work at a new multimillion dollar solar facility in Florida. Its output has been way below all the predictions because when even a relatively small cloud goes over, the output goes to zero.

    Reliability has been the primary reason for both Solar and Wind energy not yet being cost-effective withour taxpayers subsidizing it. It is just not able to provide the reliable 24/7 energy we need, so even when you build it, we must also maintain our conventional grid and power plants.

  4. roderick_young says:

    I think someone may have been confused and been talking about solar water heating panels, which can give a lot more in a hot area, simply because the air temperature is already warm, and the average sun-hours per day is higher. My brother’s house in Hawaii can get away with a smaller panel for his water heater than would be needed in (say) Michigan.

    Solar electric panels are more efficient at colder temperatures. But even at cold, there isn’t even a 2x output compared to the hottest day.

  5. J. says:

    Photovoltaics in cold snowy areas actually see more output when it is cold and snow on the ground.

    If you are trying to optimize power output for your cells in other areas consider adding heliostats, reflectors, fresnel lenses, and a tracking system to keep panels at optium position to the sun.

    The type of panels you use will also have an effect on the voltage produced, The amorphic panels tend to produce more energy than monolithic crystal technology, such as panels you can get from “Powerfilm;” http://www.powerfilmsolar,com which are more efficient and will produce energy on cluudy days. Which is another consideration even in semi-arrid areas of the US or elsewhere.

  6. Annebelle says:

    Hot and humd areas usually have more sunlight than other areas, but anywhere a panel is, they have to absorb the sunsrays. So any where you put it make sure is is following the sun.!

    Photovoltaics (PV) is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels comprising a number of cells containing a photovoltaic material. Materials presently used for photovoltaics include monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium selenide/sulfide.[1] Due to the growing demand for renewable energy sources, the manufacture of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has advanced considerably in recent years.[2][3][4]

    As of 2010, solar photovoltaics generates electricity in more than 100 countries and, while yet comprising a tiny fraction of the 4800 GW total global power-generating capacity from all sources, is the fastest growing power-generation technology in the world. Between 2004 and 2009, grid-connected PV capacity increased at an annual average rate of 60 percent, to some 21 GW.[5] Such installations may be ground-mounted (and sometimes integrated with farming and grazing)[6] or built into the roof or walls of a building, known as Building Integrated Photovoltaics or BIPV for short.[7] Off-grid PV accounts for an additional 3–4 GW.[5]

    Driven by advances in technology and increases in manufacturing scale and sophistication, the cost of photovoltaics has declined steadily since the first solar cells were manufactured.[8] Net metering and financial incentives, such as preferential feed-in tariffs for solar-generated electricity, have supported solar PV installations in many countries.
    Photovoltaics are best known as a method for generating electric power by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun into electricity. The photovoltaic effect refers to photons of light knocking electrons into a higher state of energy to create electricity. The term photovoltaic denotes the unbiased operating mode of a photodiode in which current through the device is entirely due to the transduced light energy. Virtually all photovoltaic devices are some type of photodiode.

    Solar cells produce direct current electricity from sun light, which can be used to power equipment or to recharge a battery. The first practical application of photovoltaics was to power orbiting satellites and other spacecraft, but today the majority of photovoltaic modules are used for grid connected power generation. In this case an inverter is required to convert the DC to AC. There is a smaller market for off-grid power for remote dwellings, boats, recreational vehicles, electric cars, roadside emergency telephones, remote sensing, and cathodic protection of pipelines.
    Temperature
    Generally, temperatures above room temperature reduce the performance of photovoltaics.[63]

    [edit] Optimum Orientation of Solar Panels
    For best performance, terrestrial PV systems aim to maximize the time they face the sun. Solar trackers aim to achieve this by moving PV panels to follow the sun. The increase can be by as much as 20% in winter and by as much as 50% in summer. Static mounted systems can be optimized by analysis of the Sun path. Panels are often set to latitude tilt, an angle equal to the latitude, but performance can be improved by adjusting the angle for summer or winter.

    [edit] Advantages
    The 89 petawatts of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface is plentiful – almost 6,000 times more than the 15 terawatts equivalent of average power consumed by humans.[64] Additionally, solar electric generation has the highest power density (global mean of 170 W/m²) among renewable energies.[64]

  7. Rob Greaves says:

    No this is not true, PV panels actually perform best in a cool climate and output diminishes with increase in temperature. If you take a look at panel datasheets you can see this under temperature coefficients which describes the % loss of power for incease in temperature.

    http://www.schottsolar.com/global/products/photovoltaics/schott-poly-225/

    Hope this helps

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