PV above clouds

[billi]

Well ,
i probably have thought about this , but now it seems to get real to install PV high up in the Alps above the clouds and with white snow as a mirror , above 2000 m Sea level
Its supposed to be Switzerland's biggest PV install ...( well they have not much yet anyway )

The Gondosolar project will be built with 4,500 bifacial modules on a 10-hectare surface and will be able to generate around 23.3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

The project is expected to require an investment of CHF42 million ($45.5 million) and, due to the project design, to produce around twice as much electricity per square meter as a comparable facility on the Swiss plateau, the company said. “In addition, 55% of its electricity is produced in winter and Gondosolar produces four times as much winter electricity per area as a PV installation in the lowlands,” it further explained.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/02/10/ ... wiss-alps/

Sounds a kind-off mad to me , and will be a surprise to get easy through the planning process ....

But on the other-hand , the Swiss -Alps in relation , Swiss ski slopes, cover an area of about 22 500 ha

Billi

[Moxi]

The cost is very reasonable compared to some other energy systems too, I do wonder about snow and ice build up on the panels supports and cables but I’m sure they will have tried a small test site. Nice and cold too so good efficiency in theory.

Moxi

[billi]

Well i think those bi-facial Panels will be installed upright (vertical ,.... think i read that somewhere )
Would not make sense to have a snow problem in winter

Wonder what that means in detail

Each solar element consists of 8 PV
modules.

guess " to curve" around a mountain , on should avoid endless strings ....

https://www.alpiq.com/fileadmin/user_up ... 207_en.pdf

[Moxi]

Yeah I’m not sure vertical will be much help in winter with winds the snow will still build up and stick to chilled metal supports etc but let’s see how they get on

Moxi

[Mr Gus]

When walking in the alps in May / June the daily meteo is always checked for remaining snow clusters across pathways, which bearing in mind that by
mid April any ice clusters will have long gone & heat will melt any early morning last snow flurries I cannot see ice as too much of a problem bearing in mind how much solar is up there, albeit in a shorter season the power will be intense

I'm walking in 29c in the shade when alongside a glacier wooded path, its changing up there! ..don't forget.

When i'm at 1800 -2000 metres there are minor snow clumps across the path (icey, but navigable in the cheapest of x-trainer boots) so i'd chance there is 5+ good months of solar no sweat, hoar frost free 99% of the time.

It's not like Sunshine villages still iced up signage in late march thru april (in exposed areas) that's for sure.

The video below is from the cafe just beyond Les Bossons lift jump off (2 man chair) @1425 metres & gives you an example of what you see if you sit there on a typical summers day through to high heat end of may onward)

https://youtu.be/DgfegU0A_l8

This is nothing compared to what was coming off the glacier the summer day in 2020 (july 2nd week) !? there when it spat out some 1960's air crash papers, ..the jewel case was found not long previously by a local climber.

It was like king kong throwing SUV's off the top of a mountain, they were big at a distance, the ice loss was very big that day.

[billi]

That Graph Shows a PV Test field near Davos , Switzerland about 2500 m above sea Level with befacial Panels , Green are the bars .... in the Alps ,.....

[billi]

Same study ....