Solar panels are now more commonly used in building construction than before. Arrays of PV panels can be used as walls or roofs as well as provide power for the building. Good as this product may be, the adoption of building integrated solar panels is still in its infancy.
Compared to building materials, solar panels are expensive. This makes the entire building project very costly.
Homebuilders are usually very reluctant to suggest this idea to client unless they ask. They are afraid clients will go elsewhere. Homeowners are pretty ignorant about building integrated photovoltaics as well.
This doesn’t improve solar panel adoption rates at all. Thus solar panels are not commonly integrated into building structures.
Even though the energy yield of PV panels is not as high as separately-installed PV panels, their aesthetics are superior. Each building integrated PV panel’s energy output depends on its orientation, location, daily weather and season.
During summer, your PV panels can yield as much as 5 times the amount of electricity produced in winter. For example, your solar panels may be able to generate 500 watt-hours of energy in summer. However it only produces 100 watt-hours of energy in winter. Therefore preparation must be made for such trends.
A solar professional will be able to do a site analysis and let you know the energy output of the solar panels on your building through the seasons.
If you need to increase your energy production but are unable to due to space constraint, you can consider using solar trackers. These devices find out where the sun is and tilts the PV panels towards it.
Some manufacturers claim that solar trackers can almost double the power output of a solar array. However this is achieved only with increased cost and complexity.
You, the consumer, must make sure that your solar tracker purchase makes sense financially. And since mechanical parts are involved, there may be regular maintenance required. You must also be prepared to roll up your sleeves or get someone to do this.
As with all types of solar panels systems, a form of energy storage is required. If you’re using building integrated solar panels to serve as an off-grid power resource, then deep-cycle rechargeable batteries are a must.
Otherwise the lifespan of your batteries (which are not cheap) can be compromised. If you have a grid-tied (or intertie) PV system, shallow-cycle batteries may be acceptable although using deep-cycle batteries is still preferable.
Photovoltaic is still a relatively new technology. When they were just commercialized, solar panels were so expensive only NASA (and other large corporations) could afford them. But scientists have made significant efforts to lower its cost and increase its efficiency.
In the near future, we may see high quality solar panels that are as cheap as $1 per watt. When this is realized, building integrated solar panels will be a common sight.
Tags: Adoption Rates, Aesthetics, Arrays, Building Construction, Building Integrated Photovoltaics, Building Material, Building Materials, Building Structures, Complexity, Energy Output, Energy Production, Homebuilders, Infancy, Pv Panels, Roofs, Solar Array, Solar Panel, Solar Panels, Space Constraint, Watt Hours, Weather | 
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Comments (0) With the help of a Solar Pathfinder, you can quickly identify the best location to install your solar panel. Experts agree that solar panels ought to experience unobstructed sunshine from 9am to 3pm (at least) so they can produce reasonable amounts of electricity. This can be achieved by making sure the spot you choose experience little or no shading during this crucial period.
A Solar Pathfinder
The Solar Pathfinder is a standard shade analysis tool. You can use it to find out exactly where the shadows will be at particular times of the day or year. The data is in graphical form, so you can make sense of it at one glance.
Another popular tool is the Solmetric Suneye. This instrument is rather user friendly, but is much more expensive than the Solar Pathfinder. This will set you back by at least $1,500…yet there is a cheaper option.
Why Do We Need To Use A Solar Pathfinder?
A proper instrument like a Solar Pathfinder can save you lots of time and guesswork. Moreover it is reasonably easy to use and is affordable.
If we do not have any instrument to predict shadow positions, we’ll have to sit up from dawn to dusk to observe how they move. This is a waste of time! Moreover, these positions shift (slightly) through different seasons because of how the earth rotates around the sun.
But why do we care so much about the extent of shading? You may not realize this, but the effect of shading is devastating to solar energy production. Even if your solar panel is slightly covered under a shadow, the power output can drop drastically.
Consider this…if you shade only one solar cell out of the entire solar panel, your energy production is likely to drop by a third. If you shade a row of photovoltaic cells, your electricity output reduces by about 90%. This means your solar panels have virtually stopped working!
Therefore when installing your solar panels, shading is your first and most important concern.
But is it worthwhile to use a solar pathfinder? Perhaps we should ask ourselves if we could determine shadow positions without the use of a scientific instrument… In fact, the additional electricity you’ll be able to generate quickly covers the cost of the Solar Pathfinder. This is especially true for larger systems.
After all, you’ve invested money and effort on your solar cells, batteries and inverters… Are you going to sacrifice a potentially significant part of its energy output just to save a few bucks? I hope not!
In case you are thinking of installing solar panels without a Solar Pathfinder, drop the idea as soon as possible. Because guesswork will eventually cost you dearly! You may be concerned about the cost…or you may be worried about the complexity of the instrument. The fact is this instrument only costs $249 and you’ll probably take only 15 minutes to learn how to use it.
Whatever it is, if you’re without a Solar Pathfinder, I’m confident of this — you cannot even begin your installation… Without this instrument, you’ll be lost!
To use a Solar Pathfinder, you simply have to bring it to the spot you feel is most suitable for installation. Then you’ll need to level the instrument and point it to the right direction with the help of an in-built compass. The plastic dome will show you a paranomic view of the entire area together with the regions affected by shading over different times of the day or year.
To record your readings, you can use a wax pencil (or grease pen) to outline the shadow or simply use your digital camera to take a snap shot. (I prefer the second approach – it’s instantaneous!)
The effects of shading are exceedingly damaging to solar energy production. Therefore you need to eliminate the guesswork — which can end up costing you a lot — and adopt a scientific approach to install your solar panels. Among all known techniques, the easiest and cheapest way is to use a Solar Pathfinder.
Tags: 9am, Analysis Tool, Dawn To Dusk, Different Seasons, Electricity, Energy Production, Extent, Glance, Guesswork, Panel Experts, Pathfinder, Photovoltaic Cells, Proper Instrument, Solar Cell, Solar Energy, Solar Panel, Solar Panels, Solar Pathfinder, Solar Shading, Sunshine, Waste Of Time |
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John Greenspan (me) An electrical engineering graduate who failed royally at his first DIY solar panel project. Feeling astonished at his own disability to complete such a simple project, he went ahead to get a simple instruction manual and followed it to the tee... Success! This first project ushered him into the world of DIY solar panels.