My 44kW vertical and bifacial set in Finland.

[shadowmaker]

New to the forum, new to the solar energy.

Have 63 Bluesun bifacial 700W N-type shingled panels, 22 old electric poles, shit load of underground cable, 51 x 6m 40x40x3mm marine grade aluminium, 2 Bluesun 15kW on-grid inverters, 2 Deye 15/12kW hybrid inverters, 30kW lead acid battery and 4 x 5kW LiFePo4 batteries. Have also 2kW wind turbine for the fun of it. Almost everything is around 50% off compared to shop prices around here and one of the main objectives is trying to keep costs down.

Maybe a set like this is nothing new to the forum, but I doubt no one has installed panels this way (and maybe never will...). Main focus will be avoiding any shadows on either side of the panel - on contrary to my nickname "shadowmaker".

Got first set of three panels ready for glueing tomorrow. Now I only need to build 20 sets more of these...

Have been working 85-110 hours/week since last late February, so this isn't going to be ready within next week. Actually, after 8 hours playing with first set, I need to go to work now.

 

[400bird]

Welcome to the forum.
Looks like a great start!

Got first set of three panels ready for glueing tomorrow. Now I only need to build 20 sets more of these...

Glueing? Maybe a mistranslation and you are welding the frames?

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Tervetuloa!
Always nice to have more people from Finland here.

 

[meetyg]

Aren't you worried about winds taking down you panels?

I saw an add for those 700w bifacials and they are huge!

I would think that they would act as a pretty big wind-sail, mounted vertically.

Just for reference (some local guy selling one of those...):

 

[shadowmaker]

Glueing? Maybe a mistranslation and you are welding the frames?

Not a mistranslation. I am using UV-protected windshield glue with primer. This is cheap for me and I know how strong it can be. I plan to use few U-clamps also for security, but mainly it will stay together with glue. Hopefully. I'm welding the frames because I want this to be as rigid as possible. I'm using aluminium MIG welder, so it's not going to look pretty, but it is super fast to do. I do have a TIG welder, but my panels are 200m down the field, so no one is going to look those up close.

Tervetuloa!
Always nice to have more people from Finland here.

Kiitoksia.
I bet the current energy prices here will lead to more forum members.

Aren't you worried about winds taking down you panels?

Of course I am. I have insured them, but my home made installation may be a problem there... Panels are 2,4m x 1,3m, so they are really big and heavy (40kg/pc). Those old electric poles are burried 2m in the ground, so I know they won't give. For the rest I have to wait and see.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Kiitoksia.
I bet the current energy prices here will lead to more forum members.

I've seen some very positive changes in that regard, going back almost a year now. Before that, people were very skeptical about solar in Finland, and installations were not common. Over that year, it seems installations have skyrocketed, like this one on a meat smokehouse in Malax (close to Vaasa):

Köttrökeriet i Malax hittade sätt att handskas med höga elkostnader – fabrikens tak är nu fullt av solpaneler

Ska stå för en femtedel av den årliga elförbrukningen.

svenska.yle.fi

 

[shadowmaker]

Now I have four units ready for installation, so only seventeen to go... These aren't going to be 100% vertical as those 4 "arms" on each unit have different angles up/down. This means they are going to be 5-10 degree shy from fully vertical installation. Vertical enough that snow can't accumulate, 700W frontside tilted slightly back to harvest more sun during noon, when the sun is high (at least in summer time), but still catching evening sun on the 500W backside (picture below shows backsides only). Each 4m x 2,8m unit is 2,1/1,5kW (frontside/backside) and weights 150kg. Panels are glued to the frame, because I don't want any shadows on either side of them. Threw some water beneath panels to aid glue to cure faster (moisture dependent curing).

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

I'm really interested to see how that glue is going to hold up. Can you share the exact type you're using?

 

[OzSolar]

Very interesting. What are your thoughts about managing thermal expansion on your installation??

How to deal with thermal expansion and contraction of rooftop solar systems

Article by Jeremy Taylor, product system engineer, SunModo It’s easy to think about solar systems getting hot—their potential is realized when the sun

www.solarpowerworldonline.com

 

[galstaf]

Now I have four units ready for installation, so only seventeen to go... These aren't going to be 100% vertical as those 4 "arms" on each unit have different angles up/down. This means they are going to be 5-10 degree shy from fully vertical installation. Vertical enough that snow can't accumulate, 700W frontside tilted slightly back to harvest more sun during noon, when the sun is high (at least in summer time), but still catching evening sun on the 500W backside (picture below shows backsides only). Each 4m x 2,8m unit is 2,1/1,5kW (frontside/backside) and weights 150kg. Panels are glued to the frame, because I don't want any shadows on either side of them. Threw some water beneath panels to aid glue to cure faster (moisture dependent curing).



View attachment 124220

Looking forward to seeing them installed and see how they do. I know it is getting cold up there right now!
I spent some time in Vaasa and the winter there is no joke.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Vaasa

About -14C there right now. They crossed -30C in the north today.

 

[shadowmaker]

I'm really interested to see how that glue is going to hold up. Can you share the exact type you're using?

It's Wurth windscreen adhesive Cargo. It's a heavy equipment windscreen glue and it has UV-protection unlike light vehicle windscreen glues. I use it with their Varioprimer and when dealing with bare aluminum I use a very light coat of ETCH primer underneath Varioprimer to prevent oxidation. Really don't know how good this is going to be in the long run. I do have a glass tile wall (2,5 x 3m) inside my house, in sauna department, that I glued this way over ten years ago as those tiles are cheap, but those structural things that holds them together are very expensive. The wall is like concrete. I do understand that this is a very different case with the solar panels, but IF the primer stays attached to those aluminum sides (frame side 6060 aluminum, panel side anodized aluminum) the glue is going to be just fine.

Very interesting. What are your thoughts about managing thermal expansion on your installation??

I don't think thermal expansion plays any big role here. It can be roughly 10mm from -40C to +60C. Those old electrical poles on the other hand can easily move 5cm to each other because of ground frost. I tried to minimize their movement by punching them all the way to 2m deep and putting some insulation about 0,5m deep around each pole.

But I can be wrong. Again.

Looking forward to seeing them installed and see how they do. I know it is getting cold up there right now!
I spent some time in Vaasa and the winter there is no joke.

Me too. It would have been nice to have one or two sets already installed in the field today because there's a blizzard going on with 20m/s winds. Panels could stay in one piece because of soft snow even my system fails completely...

 

[shadowmaker]

-15C and sunshine with no wind at all. Installation is quite easy with excavator, but some adjustment still needs to be done for the frame design. 8,4kW nominal installed so 19% done already. Only 17 sets to go...?

 

[400bird]

??
Seeing the close up scale like that last shot is just wow. This is quite the impressive install!

How much snow is on the ground?
Any concern about snow blocking the bottom row of calls on the bottom panel and tanking production?

 

[OzSolar]

don't think thermal expansion plays any big role here. It can be roughly 10mm from -40C to +60C. Those old electrical poles on the other hand can easily move 5cm to each other because of ground frost. I tried to minimize their movement by punching them all the way to 2m deep and putting some insulation about 0,5m deep around each pole.

Thanks for the explanation. Keep those pics coming!

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Seeing the close up scale like that last shot is just wow. This is quite the impressive install!

Yeah, the first time you deal with those size of panels, you go: what the F**k did I get myself into...

 

[houseofancients]

Yeah, the first time you deal with those size of panels, you go: what the F**k did I get myself into...

so i am not alone..

pretty much killed my back hooking up my 545w jinko's

 

[shadowmaker]

??
Seeing the close up scale like that last shot is just wow. This is quite the impressive install!

How much snow is on the ground?
Any concern about snow blocking the bottom row of calls on the bottom panel and tanking production?

There's 25cm of snow at the moment. In here it's kind of rare to have more than 1m of snow, but it happens maybe once in a decade. There's a 1m gap from the ground to panels, so it should be fine. Also these are shingled cell panels in horizontal orientation, so they have six about 20cm tall sections horizontally which are operating individually to each other. So with 120cm of snow there's only 1/6 loss and with 140cm 2/6 loss in production in the bottom panels only.

Snow isn't my concern, wind and ground frost moving those old electric poles on the other hand are. I will readjust those frames a little for the next batch, but still have to wait and see how they will hold up.

Yeah, the first time you deal with those size of panels, you go: what the F**k did I get myself into...

At first I was amazed how cheap these panels were despite having all the latest goodies on them: N-type, shingled, HJT, double glass bifacial, 22,8% efficiency and so on. I understand it now.

 

[silverlexg]

Epic install... thanks for sharing! Love the pics, please keep updates coming

 

[Solar Guppy]

I think your failure mode will be the poles, the ground heave force will rip the frames apart like paper ( think ice expansion sinks ships )

thumbs up for all the efforts, and would be very happy to be wrong about failures!