Solar Panels in hot climate produce less than solar panels in a colder climate, what on a cloudy day with some clouds is a solar panel affected by that?
We had 2 days that was perfect for showing this. The first day was a complete overcast until 8:30 and then not a cloud for hours. Two days later was the sun in the sky from morning without a cloud covering it. As the graph below shows is the output from the solar panel initially a lot higher based on the lower temperature, but within 30 minutes is the effect of the colder panels gone.
At 8:39 is the output from the colder panels 1360 Watt and the warmer panels 1073 Watt, over 26% higher output. But even after an hour is the output 3% higher on the day starting overcast this can very well be from a lower ambient temperature or more cooling from the wind. Accounting for this difference is the colder panel still producing over 25% more energy right after the sun come out from the cloud cover.
So looking at this can we keep the solar panels colder?
One way is to improve air circulation as we have done by raising the panels ~6 inches above the roof. Tilting panels is also providing more cooling by the wind. If Solar Panels are clued to the roof that is common for flexible panels is the increased temperature potentially reducing the output a lot.
Looking at this another is helping on partly cloudy days too. Every time the sun is behind a cloud is the solar panels getting colder when coming out from the cloud cover can the benefit be increased production for 10-20 minutes until the panels reach the same temperature as if a cloud had not allowed cooling.
how ironic 🙂
they need sunlight, so they get warm, output goes down
i noticed the same, that the heat brings output down. thats why i raised my panels as well, had them flush before, not good.