April Snow Showers Slow Down Solar Production
SolarChargedDriving.com
Snow season is winding down here on Colorado’s Front Range, but thatdoesn’t mean we’re completely done with snow, or that it’s not stillaffecting our home solar production.
Our snow season has been full of surprises and the two inches of snow which fell on April 3 into April 4 were no exception.
As the snow tapered off on the evening of April 3, I thought abouthosing the two inches of snow off our 5.59 kW, 26-panel, two-stringsystem.
Then, I thought, “Nah, tomorrow is supposed to be clear and sunny with temperatures in the 50s – it’ll melt quickly on its own.”
Mistake.
April sun still not enough?
It took five hoursfor the snow to melt off our system to the point where it was producingmeaningful amounts of electricity. This on clear, blue-sky April – yes,April! – Colorado day.
Had I been able to spray most of the snow off the system with ourhose Sunday night – a safe assumption, I think, we would have producedabout 15 kWh more of electricity than we actually did because I thoughtApril sun conditions would melt the snow more quickly than they did.
Our 15 kWh of lost production now goes onto the “lost to snow” table below.
As you can see from the table, which chronicles one Denver area solar homeowner’s experience with snow, one can indeed lose significantamounts of solar production to snow cover.
Of course, how much you lose is dependent on a fairly large number of factors, with roof pitch, post snowfall weather conditions, and,finally, whether you have a central-inverter based system or not,probably the most significant of these.
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Sweeping the snow off solar – An ongoing tally of kWh gained & lost |
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Snowfall date(s) |
Snowfall Amount |
Date and time of snow sweeping (lower of 2 13-panel strings of 5.59 kW system only) |
Estimated kWh gained from sweeping (gain may have been across multiple dates) |
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Dec. 30-31, 2010 |
2 ½ inches |
Jan. 1, 2011 |
7.3 kWh |
|
Jan. 9-10, 2011 |
6 inches |
Jan. 10, 2011, 8:30 a.m. |
33 kWh |
|
Jan 19, 2011 |
1 inch |
Jan. 20, 8:15 a.m. |
6 kWh |
|
Jan. 31, 2011 |
2 inches |
Feb. 1, 9 a.m. (roof too icy; failed to sweep much snow off) |
0 kWh (failed snow clearing attempt due to icy roof conditions) |
|
Feb. 5-6, 2011 |
5 inches |
Feb. 6, 9 a.m. (from ladder with 23′ Mr. Longarm) |
13 kWh |
|
Feb. 7-8, 2011 |
6 inches |
Feb. 9, 8 a.m. (from ladder with 23′ Mr. Longarm) |
29 kWh (12 kWh of additional productionmissed on 1st day due to slivers of snow left on on few panels –minuses of central inverter system) |
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March 6-8, 2011 |
1 inch |
March 8, 8 a.m. (from ladder with 23′ Mr. Longarm) |
0 kWh (waited too long to sweep snow away and it turned to ice, which was unsweepable) |
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March 18, 2011 |
1/2 inch |
March 18, 8 a.m. (from ladder with water hose) |
3 kWh |
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April 3, 2011 |
2 inches |
Did not sweep or hose, thought April sun would melt snow immediately (it didn’t) |
0 kWh |
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Running total kWh saved as a result of sweeping snow off 13-panel garage roof string |
91 kWh |
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Running total kWh lost as a result of not sweeping snow off 13-panel upper roof string |
108 kWh |
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Running total of additional kWh lost as a result of limitations of central inverter system |
20 kWh |
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Running total of estimated kWh that couldhave been produced with immediate, 100-percent post-storm clearing of snow from entire 5.59 kW system |
235 kWh |
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Original Article on SolarChargedDriving.Com
Christof Demont-Heinrich is founder, creator andeditor of SolarChargedDriving.Com, which he launched in September 2009.SolarChargedDriving.Com is a unique site devoted to covering andpromoting the synergy between solar energy and EVs (electric vehicles)and PHEVs (plug in hybrid electric vehicles). In addition to offeringreaders a mix of how-to information, news feature and newswire coverage, and news analysis, SolarChargedDriving.Com is an interactive community: Readers can create their own blogs, post pictures and video, createtheir own photo and video galleries, and meet other solar-chargeddrivers online. A journalism professor at the University of Denver (DU), Demont-Heinrich is a lifelong environmentalist who loves to bird, hike, camp, and bike. Articles l Homepage