Photovoltaics and snow: An update from two winters of measurements in the SIERRA

Townsend, T.; Powers, Loren

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2011.6186627

Cited by 42 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, the rural CMX has the largest number of delayed and canceled flights in the U.S. due primarily to weather conditions [62]. In addition, the region it is located in is the upper peninsula of Michigan, which records some of the largest snow events in the U.S. [63], and snow has an impact for annual PV output [64][65][66][67][68]. Thus, in such cases the adverse (snow losses [63][64][65][66][67][68]) and positive effects of weather (i.e., surface albedo [69]) effects need to be taken into consideration in simulation and designs.…”

Section: Airport Type and Surface Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

General Design Procedures for Airport-Based Solar Photovoltaic Systems

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A source of large surface areas for solar photovoltaic (PV) farms that has been largely overlooked in the 13,000 United States of America (U.S.) airports. This paper hopes to enable PV deployments in most airports by providing an approach to overcome the three primary challenges identified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA): (1) reflectivity and glare; (2) radar interference; and (3) physical penetration of airspace. First, these challenges and precautions that must be adhered to for safe PV projects deployment at airports are reviewed and summarized. Since one of the core concerns for PV and airport symbiosis is solar panel reflectivity, and because this data is largely estimated, a controlled experiment is conducted to determine worst-case values of front panel surface reflectivity and compare them to theoretical calculations. Then a general approach to implement solar PV systems in an airport is outlined and this approach is applied to a case study airport. The available land was found to be over 570 acres, which would generate more than 39,000% of the actual annual power demand of the existing airport. The results are discussed while considering the scaling potential of airport-based PV systems throughout the U.S.

show abstract

Section: Airport Type and Surface Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

General Design Procedures for Airport-Based Solar Photovoltaic Systems

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In addition to the difficulty of obtaining suitable meteorological data for each PV installation site, the yield estimates which do not contain any information related to snowfall and which are based on only a few meteorological data are higher than expected. In order to increase the accuracy of regional estimations, information about meteorological measurement and snowfall was handled together with the system design and the effects of snowfall were tried to be modelled [7,8]. One of these models [8] has been recently adapted for an existing simulation program developed for renewable energy projects [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of snowfall and icing on the sustainability of the power output of agrid-connected photovoltaic system in Konya, Turkey

Anadol¹,

Erhan²

2019

Turk J Elec Eng & Comp Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When the module surface is covered with various factors such as snow and icing which prevent the solar irradiance from reaching the photovoltaic cells, the power production of the system and its performance decrease. The purpose of this study is to determine the energy production losses of a grid-connected photovoltaic plant due to snowfall and icing. The effect of snowfall and icing has been examined on a photovoltaic system consisting of a hybrid inverter with two separate maximum power point tracking inputs and 36 monocrystalline modules, which are mounted on the supporting system horizontally in the south direction and at a constant tilt angle of 30 • . The plant area is located in a priority and snowy region (Konya,Turkey) where large-scale photovoltaic system installations are carried out. In order to evaluate the effect of snowfall, the minute resolution data of the hybrid inverter which provides connection to the grid is used. The change over time of the power generated by the two arrays of the plant was examined comparatively. For comparison, one of the arrays was continuously cleared. The recorded data was used to determine the expected energy output of the array covered with snow. Besides, the solar irradiance and ambient temperature data obtained from the meteorological station were used to accurately identify and evaluate the effects of snowfall with digital images recorded in the site area.The results showed that surface clearing of modules had a significant positive effect on the power output of the system. In the array entirely covered with snow, the daily energy loss exceeds 93%. In months of heavy snowfall, the monthly energy loss is 18% depending on time of being covered with snow of the modules. When the production data of 2017 and 2018 is evaluated, it is seen that the total energy loss of the plant varies between 1% and 2%.

show abstract

“…Although Panels are not physically damaged by the severe winter conditions, snow accumulation or ice could lead to decrease in energy output as long as panels are covered by precipitation. Published studies show that depending on orientation of PV modules and meteorological factors, the snow losses from a PV system can be as high as 20% for a low profile system to 0.3-2.7% for a highly exposed 28 degree roof mounted system [3], [4]. Therefore, solar panels should be cleared as soon as possible.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Low Cost Method of Snow Detection on Solar Panels and Sending Alerts

Meghdadi

Iqbal

2015

JOCET

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-Photovoltaic systems are often installed in climates with considerable amount of snowfall and freezing rain in winter. It has been observed that the snow accumulation on a solar panel affects its performance and decreases the energy output. Snow on solar panels should be cleared as soon as possible to generate the maximum power. A low cost method of snow detection on solar panels found on field tests is proposed in this paper. The designed system is based on a low cost open-source Arduino Uno microcontroller that measures voltage and current output of a solar panel, and output of a LDR representing the irradiance. Arduino is also connected to a WIFI network and can send messages over the internet. Based on the sensors data, an algorithm is designed to accurately detect snow on solar panels and notify the owner via twitter about the current status. The designed low cost and very low power system has been tested in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada (47°34'28.9"N 52°44'07.8"W) for three months of winter 2014. This paper presents details of the designed low cost alert system, algorithm and its performance results.Index Terms-Snow detection, Arduino application, melting performance, solar energy, renewable energy. I. INTRODUCTIONSolar panels are often installed in areas that receive some snow fall during winter months. In lower temperatures solar panels produced more output power due to reduced internal losses. Roughly 74% of PVs are installed in countries that experience some amount of snowfall [1], [2]. Energy reduction from a snow covered module can occur in three ways; a) diffusion of short wave through snow, b) Albedo reflection to the exposed rear of a module, and c) conduction from parts of PV not covered with snow. Although Panels are not physically damaged by the severe winter conditions, snow accumulation or ice could lead to decrease in energy output as long as panels are covered by precipitation. Published studies show that depending on orientation of PV modules and meteorological factors, the snow losses from a PV system can be as high as 20% for a low profile system to 0.3-2.7% for a highly exposed 28 degree roof mounted system [3], [4]. Therefore, solar panels should be cleared as soon as possible. Snow removal can be done in several ways. For instance, increasing tilt angle using a stepper motor not only would lead to slide the gathered snow, but also steeper tilt angles cause less snow to accumulate and therefore less power loss due to snowfall [2]. Furthermore, it was observed that snow shedding might occur due to sunlight or rise of temperature. Snow shedding takes place in form of either melt on the modules (see Fig. 1(a)) or sheet sliding (see Fig. 1(b)) as some incident radiation would penetrate the layer of snow and melt the snow-module layer to produce a water layer leading to snow sliding. II. PREVIOUS STUDIES AND WORKSThere are some studies on effects of snowfall on PV systems.In 1979 at Natural Bridges National Monument a simple linear empirical correlation to determine expected P...

show abstract

Photovoltaics and snow: An update from two winters of measurements in the SIERRA

Cited by 42 publications

References 1 publication

General Design Procedures for Airport-Based Solar Photovoltaic Systems

General Design Procedures for Airport-Based Solar Photovoltaic Systems

The effect of snowfall and icing on the sustainability of the power output of agrid-connected photovoltaic system in Konya, Turkey

A Low Cost Method of Snow Detection on Solar Panels and Sending Alerts

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About