Europeans are making the most of cheap solar panels – by creating green garden fences
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/48481513
Solar fences are gaining ground in Europe, as households continue to invest in renewables amid the war on Iran.
Annoying that the picture in the thumbnail shows as a video, but it cannot be played. Instead it plays another video?
I like the concept, if you can install it yourself it's a huge saving compared to having a company do it, for us installation of our solar panels by an independent company was €4.600,- which is a pretty steep price IMO, and a significant part of the whole investment of getting solar panels.
But demand is simply so high that they can almost charge what they want. And despite the high price there was over a month waiting time.
Yeah, it is a bit crazy and even if you are doing it yourself, the mounting often costs more than the panels these days, especially for roof mounts.
You still need an electrician, no?
Yes, but that's peanuts in comparison, like maybe 10% of the cost of having the panels installed on a roof.
Why has the linked video at the top nothing to do with the article?
Shitty webdesign. The arrows left and right cycle through videos and you probably accidentially pushed one of them before trying to watch the actually related video.
Nah, something wrong with the video embed on some browsers. I just tapped the middle play button on the fence video and it stated showing one about hidden solar panels at historical sites.
I believe the amount you get from placing them vertical is negligible.
No, it's not negligible. But, over the year it's about 25 % to 50 % less than if optimal tilted and directed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-GqZ2Z90aM
Just to note something that was not mentionned in the video: if we talk about an area that gets snow, vertical ones can be the best choice because they do not hold any snow during winter.
Vertically mounted bifacials have better cooling so higher efficiency, harvest light from both sides and provide more during low winter sun and no snow cover on the panels/reflected light from the snow.
It depends on a lot of factors. It's less, but definitely not negligible. Especially if you have a fence running north/south with bifacial panels, you will generate most of your power in the morning and the evening when demand is highest. If you have some kind of net metering, the extra power in the evening could outpace panels in a normal configuration from a monetary perspective.
Many typical configurations also suffer from decreased efficiency due to heat, which is the worst around noon on a clear day. Vertical panels get the least direct light around then.
It's also better for dirt and snow like others have mentioned.
I'll hunt for an article with some actual numbers.
Edit: this paper does side by side comparisons with vertical monofacial, and traditional angled, but the objective was different (i.e., they were looking for peak energy production, not peak value of the energy), so they installed facing south. The difference between monofacial and bifacial is more important here because 1 row of panels will reflect some light at the back of the panels in front of it. As a fence, thats not a factor.
The TL;DR, is that the vertical panels actually produced more energy, which surprised me.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-68018-1
Get ready to replace these a couple times a year if public-facing.
A bit of graffitty should be ok, and solarpanels are surprisingly sturdy against physical attacks. But honestly, in a typical residential neighbourhood you will be probably fine.
Shading degrades solar module performance, but I was thinking about thrown stones and sctatching with a hard metal bit which immediately destroys the prestressed glass pane only designed to withstand 30 mm hail.
And I live in a very nice neighborhood. Elsewhere, these things would be destroyed weekly.
Most of these fence panels are bi-facial, i.e they have panels on both sides. They catch light reflected from the ground/snow/etc. They cost a bit more than single pane panels, but not a lot more. Like 15-20%.
You dont get nearly double the power, but they tend to work a bit better then single panels facing the sun because solar panel efficeny degrades with heat. When the sun is at its strongest, traditional roof mount panels take a significant efficiency hit. Because bifacial panels are generally positioned more flexibly, they have much better cooling that compensates for their bad angle.
Have no idea what you mean about vandalism. I see solar panels all around in various neighborhoods in a big city and they are never damaged. You will likely never have an issue, and even then the individual panels aren't that expensive to replace. A wood fence would likely cost more to cover the same surface area of one 7ft x4 ft panel.
Again, you build a public-sidewalk-facing solar module fence, and see how it fares. You're way mismodeling the incentive and motivation of the human primate to fuck with things just because they're there and within reach.
I don't know what kind of failed state you live in (Haiti?), but I am near 100% certain that they would be fine in any residential neighbourbood that I previously lived in and that includes places in 3rd world countries. There would be probably a higher risk of them being stolen than intentionally damaged.