Solar power is the world ’s fast develop source of energy , but obvious problems remain . New researchsuggests , if right located , it could play a surprisingly large role in powering countries far from the equator during the wintertime .
Solar is now unremarkably the sleazy way to generate electricity during daylight hour . It ’s also progressively practical to store energy for night time use . Winter , however , remains more of a challenge . It ’s one matter to store electricity for 12 or even 16 hours , quite another to contain onto it for months of dark .
fit in toDr Annelen Kahlof the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne , however , that may not be necessary , at least in home with in high spirits mountains . Kahl and colleague have modeled the use of solar panels in Switzerland . InProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , they argue if panels are placed right we can “ tilt a significant amount of electrical energy coevals from the summer to the winter months . ”
The closed book is to put the panels at high altitude and angle them closer to perpendicular than is commonly done .
There ’s an obvious grounds to put solar farms up mountains . The less atmosphere , particularly murkiness , between the panel and the Sun , the more luminosity it hoard . However , it ’s also cheap to collect energy closer to where it will be need , so dialog box normally get set up low-down down slopes – often on the ceiling of exist buildings .
That may make sense when only a small constituent of our electrical energy comes from sunlight , but Kahl argues that as we move towards fully renewable grids , timing becomes as important as measure of exponent . Using orbiter data from thousands of placement across Switzerland , the author show the differences between summer and winter sunlight wince with elevation . Once you get above 2,500 meters ( 8,200 foot ) there ’s more sunlight during wintertime than at lowly elevation during summertime – enough to keep the lights on .
Solar dialog box need to be angle to entrance the Sun , which is lower in the sky in wintertime . Using a extortionate angle means less electricity over the course of the year , but more in winter when a solar - dependent grid will need it most . This is particularly important for countries like Switzerland , where need for electricity is high in winter . Steeply angled panels also do n’t take in snow , and sunlight reflected off surrounding snowfield can increase yields by 10 percent .
Kahl ’s calculation are of little use for nations that are both far from the equator and close to sea degree , but they show the places that call for either fossil fuel or atomic exponent are uncommon than advocates for those generator exact .
Meanwhile , PV Magazine reportsone growth is set out to prove solar alone can power homes all year around even in the most unexpected place – Sweden .
The municipal housing ship’s company for Vårgårda , Sweden , is building six buildings , arrest 172 apartments between them , that will not be connected to the electricity grid . Instead , they will produce all their own magnate from solar venire . Rather than battery , atomic number 1 will be used to store surplus energy from the summer . When burn in wintertime the hydrogen will supply both heat and electricity .
One building is already in utilization . It ’s unlikely the atomic number 1 entrepot will prove cost - efficacious compare to connecting Sweden ’s power grid , which has some of the low-spirited C emission in the earth anyway , but the buildings serve as a presentation of what is potential .
