Everybody assumes that Florida, Arizona, and New Mexico are the ideal location for solar panels. Why not, with all the sunlight they get 24/7/365? Unfortunately, that’s not exactly the case.
Saudi Arabia has been struggling to go solar for many years. Their solar panels are 10-20% less efficient because of high ambient temperatures, dust, and humidity. Mitigating these effects is expensive enough that solar electricity is not feasible in such a climate (the American southwest, either) without a significant increase in efficiency.
Solar panels are actually one great, big semiconductor. And semiconductors love the cold: computer data centers keep their equipment at 60 F at all times. From 60 F on down, solar panels get about 1% more efficient for each 1 C drop in temperature. So, panels at 0 F are almost 50% more efficient than at 60 F. (Ergo the idea location for data centers is up north in the winter.)
What this means is that the ideal location for solar panels has lots of sunshine but also cold: the mountainous southwest. The only problem is keeping snow off the panels in the winter if the black color isn’t sufficient to melt a layer so the snow sluffs off.
Another issue with large arrays of solar panels is keeping the glass surface clean. I live 200 miles north of the Atlanta metro area, and we get so much pollution blown this way that people have to scrub the black muck off their roof and siding every couple of years. (Atlanta air pollution has long since killed off all the hickory trees.) A large solar panel installation hereabouts (hint: within 200-500 miles of any major U.S. city, which pretty much includes the whole U.S. except the Rocky Mountain west) would have to be scrubbed down at least once a year. High humidity is also a problem; salt spray if you’re near the ocean (anywhere in Florida); pollen dust in the springtime, etcetera.
Check out the following average air pollution map of the US. The only large areas where solar panels can avoid all that pollution are the green areas out west ~ and they all have issues with blowing dust and sand (especially with the drought going on) and, lately, the fallout from the almost constant wildfires (Coloroda doesn’t have wildfire seasons anymore but wildfire years.)
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Excerpted from Going Green, available as an eBook at this list of eBook retailers online.
