this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2025
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

It's interesting. I've been considering fencing options to act as windbreaks as we get really wicked winds here. It would be neat if that were an option. Durability is definitely something I'm curious about. We also get to the upper 30s in summer and probably 40 by the time I retire, so I wonder what efficiency looks like at those temps.

[–] Warl0k3 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

These seem fragile and very inefficient...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Vertical solar panels have been shown to be surprisingly efficient.

https://www.solarwa.org/vertical_bifacial_solar_panels

The plants also have a cooling effect on the panels, which further increases efficiency.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

They have made the fences tall, which creates an impression of fragility, but we don't see how deep the posts run into ground. :)

I have a solar fence in operation for 1 year. My version is 1 panel width tall - about 1.2 meters tall, and I built it extremely cheap - 5 cm rectangular wooden posts with a metal screw tip running 30 cm into ground. Assembly using household screws and luck. During storms, it does change position, but I haven't noticed disassembly.

During hail, it would survive events that would smash my other panels, because a vertical surface exposes less target area and offers more oblique angles of collision to hailstones.

As for efficiency, my vertical array is the most efficient array I have during winter. It's never covered by snow and catches low sunshine better. In summer, it is the coolest (but not most efficient) array that I have, because it creates verticial convection and gives away heat more efficiently. But it differs from theirs because it's an east-west array (they seem to have used a north-south geometry to catch morning and evening sunshine).

As for what they said of their results:

The panels generated much less electricity than a standard tilted array, but it was produced in mornings and evenings. “It matches better when there is high electricity demand in the system,” says Victoria.