Solar panels — 80% of which are made in China — are so cheap that they’re now being used to line garden fences in Germany and the Netherlands, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Vertically installed solar panels are actually not a bad idea in some places so the headline is a bit misleading.
They link out to this which imo is the real story
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2024/01/16/solar-fences-stand-out-in-australian-market-simulation/
TLDR solar fences work pretty well
They can actually be more efficient. They can reflect heat remaining cooler and not be essentially thermally throttled. You can also put them in a denser array
??? so fucking shut down the coal plants then
China is building more coal plants but might burn less coal
Coal will take on the role of ‘peaker plants
https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/china-coal-plants
Wait for a year or two. Then the west will have nothing on China.
Interesting article well worth the read thanks.
You’re welcome.
You convinced me ti post it as as standalone post. Lemmy can do with more content so I figured why not.
bifacial vertical solar panels (BVPV) – Have we been doing Solar all wrong all along? / Piped / Invidious
Erecting vertical solar panels as fencing is an optimal configuration which can reduce support structures, reduce or eliminate cleaning of the photovoltaics, and provides a dual use in terms of fencing in northern and southern borders of plots of land. You can increase structural stability by arranging the panels in a zig-zag pattern much like the wavy single-brick walls used in Britain which adds strength in the in-plane direction. At the junctions, install vertical fenceposts or rigid stakes and the install is dead easy. This configuration is not suited for equatorial regions but northern or southern latitudes only see a 20-30% drop in efficiency at the extreme solar elevations, making this actually a very good solution for those areas of the globe.
Sounds like a good way to get some free energy.
