Cold Weather Solar Power

How solar panels work without sun.

Cold weather solar power.

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. Solar or pv cells work by converting sunlight directly into electricity. 1 cold weather prevents solar panels from heating up. 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.

Let s review how cold weather can contribute towards the performance of solar panels. The only thing solar panels require is sunlight. With cold weather blasting in early this year images of snowdrifts and downed power lines are in the news. 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.

Here s what you need to know about how solar panels work and how weather may affect them. 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. Plus the more energy efficient a home is the fewer solar panels may be needed. Solar panels supply dependable electricity to homes in cold climates extreme weather and outages.