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My 44kW vertical and bifacial set in Finland plus now 15kW roof mounted too.

Last winter I tested out a damaged panel (damaged during shipping and replaced for free by supplier/trucking firm) - That panel works fine and just has cracked glass, so I have it mounted vertical on a wall to limit any gravity load on the cracked glass. I attached a bench source to that one panels' PV leads and played with voltage input, keeping below the VOC limit.
My bench source is only 5Amp so that is all I had to work with. Seemed to work, but wasn't fast. Now imagine a guy in Finland with say 64kW of PV trying to warm up some BIG panels in the icy wind...not sure how well it would work, and what power it would take to do it. Say 100 panels with 5A each = 500Amp DC supply x VOC of 60Volts 30kW required? Do one string at a time I guess.

If you test out warming the PV hope you post the results (good or bad) for all of us to see and learn from.
 
Just backfeed the whole series string with rated panel current (maybe up to Isc) and voltage slightly above Voc. Finding high voltage ~50 kW source to backfeed the 44kW array may be problematic.
 
It seems vertical production is up by 10~15% with white plastics. Yesterday got ~10,5kW peak production for an hour or so from one 11,1kWp string which is unheard this time of year. Daily production was 281kWh, while best so far (since late July when 15,4kWp roof panels were added) has been 339kWh in beginning of August. ~1,5 months should make much bigger difference and yesterday there was also fog ruining something like 20kWh production in the morning.

I think I can safely say that artificial snow gets thumbs up from me.
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It seems vertical production is up by 10~15% with white plastics. Yesterday got ~10,5kW peak production for an hour or so from one 11,1kWp string which is unheard this time of year. Daily production was 281kWh, while best so far (since late July when 15,4kWp roof panels were added) has been 339kWh in beginning of August. ~1,5 months should make much bigger difference and yesterday there was also fog ruining something like 20kWh production in the morning.

I think I can safely say that artificial snow gets thumbs up from me.
giphy.gif
My local (northern Wyoming) solar guy tells me that folks around here are having great luck with white rock/gravel for the same purpose.
 
My local (northern Wyoming) solar guy tells me that folks around here are having great luck with white rock/gravel for the same purpose.
I have seen studies showing +20% with white surroundings and bifacial panels, so I'm not that surprised of my findings. Biggest problem has been cost as white rock/gravel is really expensive here. I just got lucky and got almost 20 rolls of glossy white plastic for free and it took only two rolls to make current setup. Don't know how long lasting it will be, but it's free which is always nice.
 
Why stop there? What’s that white paint they use to paint white lines on football pitches? Get the whole field done :LOL: And how about wrapping those bricks and vertical wood posts in self adhesive mirror foil?

Before you know it you’ll be making so much you will burn out your cables :ROFLMAO:
 
Why stop there? What’s that white paint they use to paint white lines on football pitches? Get the whole field done :LOL: And how about wrapping those bricks and vertical wood posts in self adhesive mirror foil?

Before you know it you’ll be making so much you will burn out your cables :ROFLMAO:
Just wait a month or so and it will all be white...🥶
 
I have seen studies showing +20% with white surroundings and bifacial panels, so I'm not that surprised of my findings. Biggest problem has been cost as white rock/gravel is really expensive here. I just got lucky and got almost 20 rolls of glossy white plastic for free and it took only two rolls to make current setup. Don't know how long lasting it will be, but it's free which is always nice.
This is my reminder to myself to chat with my rancher neighbor that owns a rock quarry.

I really appreciate this thread, I’m hoping to try vertical bifacials in Wyoming this winter.
 
Changed old heat circulating pump to Grundfos Magna3. Old one was using constant 250W (half year, every year), new is using 37W at the moment (as it is in AutoAdapt-mode and outside temperature is +5C) and maybe 80-120W when it gets really cold. With 120W it should be twice as powerful than old one. Old one took ~1,1MWh/y and new one should be around 1/3 of that.

These Magna3s seem to go for ~1500e new, but this is used from auction and I think I paid 110e shipping included. Really quiet, but massive in size.
20240928_183343.jpg
 
Changed old heat circulating pump to Grundfos Magna3. Old one was using constant 250W (half year, every year), new is using 37W at the moment (as it is in AutoAdapt-mode and outside temperature is +5C) and maybe 80-120W when it gets really cold. With 120W it should be twice as powerful than old one. Old one took ~1,1MWh/y and new one should be around 1/3 of that.

These Magna3s seem to go for ~1500e new, but this is used from auction and I think I paid 110e shipping included. Really quiet, but massive in size.
View attachment 247042
That's an awesome deal..
Magna's are really expensive
 
Nicely done.

Any rocks should do. Spray thinned cheap high gloss latex on them. Refresh every few seasons as needed.

Heck, just spray the ground. Why not?
 

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