Why doesn't every house have solar installed?

[Waldorf]

@Endymio
just because it doesnt match peak demand for every location doesnt mean much.
yeah, lets just not do anything because we dont get it at 100%, just lol.

a friend with a large roof (equal to family home + roof of say carport) produces more power over a whole year than he uses, and thats in germany, and it includes a few rooms that have AC, a heated outdoor pool, and lots of lights on property/house, and a kid that "games" etc, that will use about 1-5kw every day by himself, plus daily charging his ecar, and anyone that visits.

without solar, this would (at least partially) come from plants using fossile/nuclear fuels.
so if using solar that reduces fossile fuel consumption and the produced emissions, inconvients a few ppl because they now pay 1 cent more for their power, so be it.

 

[Endymio]

@Endymio
just because it doesnt match peak demand for every location doesnt mean much.

It means that energy storage is required, which vastly increases costs ... costs which are hidden by net-metering. And net-metering only works at all when a small fraction of the population is doing it.

so if using solar that reduces fossile fuel consumption and the produced emissions, inconvients a few ppl because they now pay 1 cent more for their power, so be it.

One cent more? Germany's "green energy" push took it from the cheapest electricity in Europe to one of the most expensive ... triple what we pay here in the USA. Facts matter.

 

[mechtech]

"Why doesn't every house have solar installed"

Because when the sun is at 20 degrees above the horizon, and it's -20C, and the panels are buried under 3ft of snow they don't work, and that's when I need 10kw to work.

Probably work good in the summer, but that's about 3 months of the year here......................

 

[Shrek]

Would vertical cells stay clear in Winter?

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Would vertical cells stay clear in Winter?

In (Central) Canada I wouldn't bet on it. They would just cause a drift to build up unless they were at billboard altitude.

 

[Steevo]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778823004899#s0030

Maybe car parks are the best place for them.

 

[mechtech]

Would vertical cells stay clear in Winter?

We have some of these, and I'd guess the solar panel is about 60 degrees up from the horizontal (so more vertical than horizontal) and faces due south, and most of November, all of December and most of January it's black lol. But ya typically no snow on it.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378778823004899#s0030

Maybe car parks are the best place for them.

It's now French law that all open-air car parks over 80 spaces* be at least 50% covered with solar canopies.

• Those with 80-400 spaces have until 2028 to comply
• Those over 400 spaces have until 2026 to comply
• Disneyland Paris has already covered their 11,200 car park spaces, making them 36GWh/yr in free power for the park.

* - Obviously, this only applies to multi-story car parks with over 80 spaces on an open roof level.