MIT Solar Towers Beat Solar Panels By Up To 20x 159
An anonymous reader writes "A team of MIT researchers has come up with a very different approach to solar collectors: building cubes and towers that extend solar cells upward in three-dimensional configurations. The results from the structures they've tested show power output ranging from double to more than 20 times that of fixed flat panels with the same base area (abstract, full pre-print). The biggest boosts in power were seen in the situations where improvements are most needed: in locations far from the equator, in winter months and on cloudier days."
Prior art... (Score:4, Interesting)
But much harder to set up (Score:5, Interesting)
Most people use solar panels because they can be comfortably put on rooftops. If someone has enough room for these 3D structures they could just install a Sun tracking system that's even more efficient.
Re:Duh (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree about shadow effects. More comes into play though since more angles will be approximately normal to the panels more angles of light will still be in an effective region of the panel for collecting. In winter in the non-tropical regions the sun's maximum height can be pretty low in the sky giving you a very oblique angle to fixed panels against a roof (assuming a shallow slope on the roof). Making these suckers stick up means that the crossection exposed to the sun is larger even if the sun is lower in the sky.
That said two problems I see:
1) Roof top intallation will be weight. I have panels on my roof and they are about 100lb per sq yard. Stack twenty together and you'd be looking at 2000lb per sq yard. Not a good thing for the roof.
2) Ground based panels: you can put the panels on stands that can be adjusted, heck they can be motorized so they can track the sun through the day AND through the seasons. So why exactly would you by ~20X more panels (at about 200 a pop) when a $50 motor per panel (guessing), or an adjustable stand that someone goes out and tilts every month or so can have the same affect?
Re:Prior art... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:But much harder to set up (Score:2, Interesting)
A tracker means moving parts, though; this arrangement might be cheaper and more reliable.