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Clean your solar panels!
- Thread starter Electricfan
- Start date
Can anyone help me understand the best way to install solar panels on a carport? I want to build avoid making a roof to attach it to so I can just attach it to the steel on a carport, but I have a couple of concerns:
1) How much gap is there between panels? Is there a way to seal the gap so leaves don't get stuck between panels? I don't have trees nearby but wind seems to find a way... I'm amazed by how wasps and tiny insects love nooks and crannies.... I'm pretty sure any gap means gunk
2) Is it possible to not build a a metal roof on the carport and still use tesla solar panels? I'm hoping to design a floating array of solar panel with the slanted edge and everything. No roof or fire set back.... just infinity edge panels.... could it be done without sucking hard?
1) How much gap is there between panels? Is there a way to seal the gap so leaves don't get stuck between panels? I don't have trees nearby but wind seems to find a way... I'm amazed by how wasps and tiny insects love nooks and crannies.... I'm pretty sure any gap means gunk
2) Is it possible to not build a a metal roof on the carport and still use tesla solar panels? I'm hoping to design a floating array of solar panel with the slanted edge and everything. No roof or fire set back.... just infinity edge panels.... could it be done without sucking hard?
What you want to do is possible. However, if you are getting it permitted you have to actually engineer it sufficiently to satisfy the building department. That requires structural and wind load calcs.
Really enjoying the original “clean your panels” thread and the current “power wall not getting all I generate” conversation. I shall remark on both.
My solar panel system is 6 years old. They were installed in the midst of a nasty decade long drought, Santa Barbara CA. I mopped/sqeegeed them about 3 times a year because I could measure about a 3% improvement. For me, that meant a little over a kWh per day... about 400 per year or about 15 days of house power.
We always produce more than we consume over a year. I am not understanding the earlier PG&E posts about how “credits” are bigger when you discharge to the network during peak hours. I am with SC&E, still on a “tiered” plan and I get about 3 cents a kWh for net generation, reconciled once a year. No time of use (TOU) implications. It means that the 400 kWh annual improvement mentioned above is worth about $12 to us (we always over generate by much more than that). Put another way, one year of savings from cleaning would not not even pay for the bucket, mop and squeegee.
However, my routine cleaning savings calc may be off by a factor of 3 to 6 compared to never cleaning. Not cleaning compounds the loss. I waited several months longer this year and recorded a 6% improvement. The air is dustier than it appears here. I remain a fan of periodic cleaning. Who knows what other problems have been avoided because I do.
We are about to get two powerwalls (PWs) because both PG&E and SCE declared their intent to have “public safety power outages” when the fire threat is high. We are to prepare for power outages of 2-5 days.
I have an engineering background and I still find the PW management system a blur of confusion. And yes, as noted by others, I am frustrated by the apparent inability to control if and when powerwall discharges to the grid. I asked the sales guy about this and got an unintelligible response. The designer was even more vague. Does anyone have a succinct and clear understanding of this issue?
Second, it sure does appear that a PW system is going to mean a net 5-10% reduction of my excess power finding its way to the network. The presence of PWs in my system appears to be an like having an additional power consumption device on my side of the grid. I have not seen that mentioned in this thread. Anyone have a feel for how much their home power consumption increased due to the presence of 1 or 2 PWs?
Still, PW appears to be the best choice we have for whole house generation. Doing nothing and just tolerate the outages is a very close and substantially cheaper second choice.
Thanks for reading this far!
My solar panel system is 6 years old. They were installed in the midst of a nasty decade long drought, Santa Barbara CA. I mopped/sqeegeed them about 3 times a year because I could measure about a 3% improvement. For me, that meant a little over a kWh per day... about 400 per year or about 15 days of house power.
We always produce more than we consume over a year. I am not understanding the earlier PG&E posts about how “credits” are bigger when you discharge to the network during peak hours. I am with SC&E, still on a “tiered” plan and I get about 3 cents a kWh for net generation, reconciled once a year. No time of use (TOU) implications. It means that the 400 kWh annual improvement mentioned above is worth about $12 to us (we always over generate by much more than that). Put another way, one year of savings from cleaning would not not even pay for the bucket, mop and squeegee.
However, my routine cleaning savings calc may be off by a factor of 3 to 6 compared to never cleaning. Not cleaning compounds the loss. I waited several months longer this year and recorded a 6% improvement. The air is dustier than it appears here. I remain a fan of periodic cleaning. Who knows what other problems have been avoided because I do.
We are about to get two powerwalls (PWs) because both PG&E and SCE declared their intent to have “public safety power outages” when the fire threat is high. We are to prepare for power outages of 2-5 days.
I have an engineering background and I still find the PW management system a blur of confusion. And yes, as noted by others, I am frustrated by the apparent inability to control if and when powerwall discharges to the grid. I asked the sales guy about this and got an unintelligible response. The designer was even more vague. Does anyone have a succinct and clear understanding of this issue?
Second, it sure does appear that a PW system is going to mean a net 5-10% reduction of my excess power finding its way to the network. The presence of PWs in my system appears to be an like having an additional power consumption device on my side of the grid. I have not seen that mentioned in this thread. Anyone have a feel for how much their home power consumption increased due to the presence of 1 or 2 PWs?
Still, PW appears to be the best choice we have for whole house generation. Doing nothing and just tolerate the outages is a very close and substantially cheaper second choice.
Thanks for reading this far!
The Powerwalls never really export to the grid. You might see a few Watts trickle to the grid over the course of a month but it's not really a measurable amount.
I guess I should add a disclaimer that nothing gets exported to the grid regularly. There is an option in some areas where you can sign up to allow your utility company to draw power from your Powerwalls. If you sign up for this, then they could draw power at certain times. This is an opt-in option so by default, you wouldn't be sending any power from your Powerwalls back to the grid.
Merrill
Merrill
I clean my panels 3 times a year, makes me feel good. I use a DI system and a fiberglass pole and brush. Hate looking at the dust on the panels.
I clean my panels periodically as well--and have not been able to measure a change in electricity generation.
I am scheduled to have 2 Powerwalls put in this November by a company called Swell Energy. They put in Tesla Powerwalls but still qualify for the SGIP rebate so they are less expensive than having Tesla install them.
They are also scheduled to put in Demand Response system in the future--if I chose to do it. What happens is that when SCE has a high demand they can remove my system from the grid and I will get my electricity from the Powerwall--on the solar panels--until SCEs high electricity demand is over. They pay me a small fee for the option of doing that. But they save money by not having to build another power generating plant.
I am in Santa Barbara as well. Have we met? Send me a private message if you chose.
Ciao!
Timothy
Sorry I don't have any illumination for you. Just wanted to say I'm glad somebody else is confused. But I will also say that I'm pleased that my powerwalls almost do what I want. My only complaint is that for reasons I wish I could be privy to they start discharging before I want them to in the morning. I don't want my powerwalls to discharge at all between 8pm and 5am because my electricity is free during that time. But they frequently, though not always, start discharging at 3am or 4am. Makes me mad, as that is extremely expensive power I have paid for, and its just being thrown out the window by my powerwall. But other than that, they're great!
