With cold weather blasting in early this year images of snowdrifts and downed power lines are in the news.
Cold weather solar power.
Finally in a truly resilient home batteries can store solar power even if winter weather may have gotten the best of you.
The only thing solar panels require is sunlight.
Here s what you need to know about how solar panels work and how weather may affect them.
In both cases pv production is lower due to the reduced number of sun hours and the loads in the house are often higher due to active heating.
In fact solar panels seem to perform even better in colder climates.
How solar panels work without sun.
With the recent pineapple express storm pounding california with more rain and more extreme weather than usual homeowners might be left wondering about the effect of weather on solar panels.
As for the impact of ambler s cold snowy climate on solar panel output researchers are beginning to accumulate evidence that solar panels can function more efficiently in cold weather.
The cold weather problem is compounded with deep cycle batteries used for solar storage because cold weather usually coincides with storms or the shorter days of winter.
Solar panels supply dependable electricity to homes in cold climates extreme weather and outages.
Plus the more energy efficient a home is the fewer solar panels may be needed.
If you are in charge of remote field operations scenarios like this cause concern about the reliability of your assets especially when access to the sites is blocked by the storm s aftermath how reliable is solar power in sub zero temperatu.