124. Why Bifacial Single-Axis Solar Panels Rule the Day / France Shops to Keep Their Doors Closed

The Clean Energy Show

James wonders why it's cost-effective to install bifacial single axis solar panels on utility solar farms in Canada. The builders of the Weyburn, Saskatchewan solar farm get back to us on why.

GM offers live EV advice online.

France orders air conditioned shops to keep their doors closed when the air conditioning is on.

Major airlines have all backed a plan to capture carbon from the air.

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Letter from NaturalForces renewable energy company on our questions about how bifacial and single axis tracking pays off in Canada:

There are a few factors at play here and obviously these figures are rough;

• • Fixed tilt versus single axis tracker for Pesakastew we got approximately 14% bump in production
  • Bifacial versus monofacial modules gave us approx. 4% increase in production

A key consideration in this is the ground cover ration – i.e. how closely you stack your modules together (row to row) the more they are spread out the less shading there is from one row to another and the more effective the bifacial generation is.

The level of generation in Weyburn during the winter is very low roughly 3 or 4% per month of total annual production November through Jan relative to 12 – 14% per month May to August.

The tracker is a mechanical system which works well in other cold environments including the US on more recent projects the tilt function can be used to shed snow.

The extra cost of the tracker needs to be considered with the foundation requirements but you’re looking roughly at a 30% increase in costs for a tracker relative to a fixed tilt system.

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