Researchers shed light on higher energy yields in vertical PV systems

It&#x27;s not mysterious, it&#x27;s that thermal convection is much stronger when the panels are vertical, and production is strongly correlated with lower temperature.<p>Angled mounts tend to have obnoxious cross-members that block the airflow that should otherwise be sliding up the back of the panel, particularly on roofs where there&#x27;s basically a bed of hot air trapped underneath with no good way to escape. That boosts the panel temperatures even further than you&#x27;d assume given simply lower convection based on their angle alone. Vertical mounts cannot have framing in these places, so they don&#x27;t.

Wow, I was just talking to my dad about this. He runs a startup that builds PV-embedded vertical masonry[1], and they have been getting significantly higher-than-expected yield on their installations. Though in their case they were mostly theorizing ground reflections<p>[1]: (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.solablock.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.solablock.com&#x2F;</a>, looking for investors!)

Interesting, definitely a surprising result. I did wonder when I saw a thumbnail of a video discussing this on YouTube (but I didn’t have time to watch it) - I thought “Surely that only works for bifacial panels” so makes sense that the article confirms that that’s what they were testing.<p>The other factor is that (compared to where I live in Australia at least, but also all of the US too) the Netherlands is quite far from the equator, so I expect there would be a crossover point a bit closer to the equator where you start to get less efficiency than standard angled horizontal panels?<p>Although perhaps with some reflectors on either side it might still work with a vertical bifacial panel (in areas closer to the equator), maintaining the cooling advantage?

If, like me, you don’t know what PV stands for: A photovoltaic (PV) cell, commonly called a solar cell, is a nonmechanical device that converts sunlight directly into electricity.

Summary (roughly, I skipped some things): while tilted panels produce more voltage, their efficiency drops due to heat absorption. Two sided vertical panels allow for better cooling, and on average produce more power, roughly 2%ish, albeit more expensive to produce.

IIRC, there was a boy that did a similar experiment and was lambasted for measuring voltage instead of power:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zdnet.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;why-13-year-olds-solar-power-breakthrough-wont-work&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zdnet.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;why-13-year-olds-solar-power-b...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20160308193750&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wsj.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;SB10001424052970203550304577138511287470508" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20160308193750&#x2F;http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.wsj.co...</a>

I imagine installation costs are also substantially lower since the panels rest on a much simpler structure. Cleaning the panels should also be easier in this configuration. I wouldn&#x27;t be surprised if these findings lead to vertical solar systems becoming a popular option, especially in places as far from the equator as Denmark.

Here in Australia, News Corp (owned by the same Murdoch family who is also behind Fox News) is currently running a campaign against agricultural solar. A key “argument” being that installing solar panels on fields makes it impossible to grow crops there.

This seems like something that should have been verified in lab&#x2F;field decades ago, before billions in mass solar roll out. I&#x27;m assuming it is and large scale solar infra are optimized according to site conditions?

The moneyshot is<p>&gt; “For a standard system, we observed that under high irradiance conditions, the increase due to the light is offset by the decrease due to the higher operating temperature,” Van Aken stressed. “However, for the vertical system, we observed that the operating temperature is not increasing so much and the voltage increase and decrease are more or less balancing.”<p>Facing the bright sun increases temperature enough to offset the gains in voltage (since temperature increases presumably increase resistance if my EE101 classes hold in this era). Not facing the sun? Less heat -&gt; more total power throughput.

Spoiler: vertical panels can rid themselves of excess heat more efficiently, thus operating temperatures are lower and, hence, output better. Vertical panels will also be more susceptible to damage from high winds but less susceptible to precipitation of water and dust, so my guess would be that the fixed slant orientation for PV panels in temperate latitudes will stay with us irrespective. I&#x27;m starting to think about having water pipes running along the backsides of the panels to cool them and obtain warm or hot water...

So probably adding active cooling (e.g. fan) to existing installations would help even more.

Curious why they don&#x27;t seem to be stacking them up or making them taller? Wind? Shade?<p>If they were on a pole allowing the wind to turn them, could you get both wind and solar power at the same time?