China's 2000 Mile Solar Panel Highway

[Paul Weaver]

Actually rooftops in general should be solar farms

As a whole putting solar on stilts above a flat carpark is far cheaper per square metre than on top of a building - especially one two stories or more. No need for scaffolding, no complex roof issues, no load bearing issues.

Just put up 3 metre high posts that you would to keep cars cool anyway, and drop the panels on the top. Large car parks mean 100,000 square metres of solar panels far more efficency on the DC->AC conversion back to the grid compared with 1000 lots of 100 square metre roofs.

Now for new buildings sure, build in solar, but more importantly build in battery storage. 50kWh of storage is really cheap compared to the cost of a house and have benefits to the individual house as well as the grid as a whole.

I just wish 2-Axis Sun-Tracking Solar Panel Rigs mounted on top of a pole were cheaper.

I really liked what James Cameron did with the Solar Power Setup that was designed to look like a Sun Flower for his wife's college.

I wish that was commercially available to anybody who wanted it.

Far more efficent in terms of monetary, resource and land to just build more panels down.

While we've got so much easy open space

The LA Dodgers car park alone has a solar power potential of 212 GWh per year, enough to meet the annual power requirements of about 35,000 LA homes.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Far more efficent in terms of monetary, resource and land to just build more panels down.

While we've got so much easy open space

The Solar Panels Power Generation Curve is far from being used to it's Maximum Potential on a "Per Panel" basis.

And not everybody wants to use their land that way.

I personally am a fan of poles with the Solar Rig mounted up high so the panels can cast a nice shadow.

I want my Power Generation Curve to be the "Maximum Area" of Power Generation Possible by tracking the position of the Sun and Re-Setting every night.

 

[publiusr]

I wonder if it might be cheaper to house over roads…not all at once, mind you.

You might not get much power on rainy days—but the road is dry—and you collect rainwater.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I wonder if it might be cheaper to house over roads…not all at once, mind you.

You might not get much power on rainy days—but the road is dry—and you collect rainwater.

Look at all the "Light Poles" that we have, now mount a small 2-Axis Tracking Array on top with 4-6x Panels of the higher quality.

Have a small battery near-by to help store energy and power it.

Now spread that amongst ALL Light-Poles out in our streets.

That's ALOT of free cheap power locally to help stabilize the Power Grid.

 

[Paul Weaver]

That's ALOT of free cheap power locally to help stabilize the Power Grid.

If you ignore the capital cost

A normal south facing panel will generate 2/3rds the power for 1/3rd the cost, at least in terms of Watts available as DC

However such small installations require a lot of microinverters which adds cost.

I wonder if it might be cheaper to house over roads…not all at once, mind you.

In general that would be great - not just solar too, but you could have paths, green area etc.

This however makes ground-level buildings now subterranean. I believe Seattle

Or are you talking about rural roads? Could work, but putting panels over parking lots is much easier to do. Get the low hanging fruit first.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

If you ignore the capital cost

A normal south facing panel will generate 2/3rds the power for 1/3rd the cost, at least in terms of Watts available as DC

However such small installations require a lot of microinverters which adds cost.

But my goal is to Min/Max the Photo Cells Power Generation along with Silicon Usage over time.
Minimize wasting the potential of each PhotoVoltaic Cell since they're made using Silicon Waffer Processes.
This why my RoI (Return on Investment) over time is superior since my Area of Power Generation will be "Greater Over Time".
The one time installation fee is trivial in pursuit of that goal since my RoI over time would be superior.
I also want to minimize foot-print on my land, ergo mounting it on a pole of some sort, raise it up reasonably high above the ground and have it track the sun.

I'm thinking long term, not short term.

I'm also only willing to invest in the best Solar Panels, ergo Sun Power with it's Maxeon line.
Currently the Maxeon 7 has 24.9% US Lab Tested Efficiency.
Real World tested comes out to 24.1%.
But higher copper back-fill to let it degrade slower and offer more Power Generation over time.
I'm also happier with the 40 year Warranty on their panels, that's something I'm willing to trust, since they're willing to gurantee their PV panel performance for that long.
SunPower Maxeon Panels are rated for > 40 year operational life.
Typical Chinesium Solar Panels are rated for only 25-30 year operational life.

I don't care about cheapo Chinesium panels with crappier copper connections (NOTE: They skimp out on the copper connections to save costs) & lower efficiency, especially since they will degrade over time with a small % of energy output loss every year with all panels.
I want my panels to start from the highest possible energy conversion efficiency and last the longest for the energy generation curve over time.
So I have my set of priorities that are different from yours.

Cheap Panels with lower efficiency & lower Power Generation Curve isn't it, especially with less on return over time and lower starting point in Efficiency that will degrade faster and be useless in a shorter amount of time.

This isn't even factoring the Environmental Cost of Recycling PV cells hasn't been factored in by humanity, much less most PV operators.

So we as a "Human Species" & PV owners/operators need to Min/Max our usage of Silicon since recycling PV cells is a expensive & toxic process.
It's also not cheap to buy panels and get your RoI on them.

BTW, it costs $10-40 to recycle each Solar Panel, so having less Panels is cheaper on the owner when it comes time to Recycle.
Same with not having to do Recycle it as often.

 

[maneth]

Story



I know this idea has been floating around for a while, building roads or even sidewalks out of solar panels. The question was "how to protect it from traffic?".

Transparent concrete? When did that become a "thing"? What's next, transparent aluminum?

Transparent aluminum does in fact exist, it's simply too expensive to manufacture commercially as yet. Some defense applications do exist.

Transparent Aluminium: See-Through Metal Is Now a Reality - 4D Products

We're taking a more in-depth look into the reality of see-through metal and answering all your transparent aluminium questions.

4dproducts.co.uk

 

[Santaman]

No, that isn't transparant aluminium, it is a ceramic, it is Aluminium Oxynitride it has nothing at all to do with a metal.
There are more transparant ceramics:

Transparent ceramics - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Christopher]

No, that isn't transparant aluminium, it is a ceramic, it is Aluminium Oxynitride it has nothing at all to do with a metal.

Exactly. Referring to alumina-based ceramics or glass as "transparent aluminum" is like calling water "liquid hydrogen," or referring to table salt as "crystallized chlorine." There is a profound difference between a pure element and a compound containing it.

What's even more stupid is that these "they just invented transparent aluminum from Star Trek!" clickbait articles have come out every few months for what must be decades now, yet nobody ever remembers all the other times the exact same "new invention" has been reported. Never mind that aluminum oxide is the stuff that rubies and sapphires are made of, as well as the emery in every cheap cardboard nail file. It has never been a new invention, and it should not be surprising that a material long known for its hardness and clarity is used to make hard, clear things.