Solar Panels Efficiency In Winter

A blue sky winter s day can see some amazing levels of power produced on an hourly basis compared with summer.

Solar panels efficiency in winter. But you can still generate a surprising amount of electricity in the winter partly because of the power temperature coefficient effect mentioned above. That means if you live in a place where you get a lot of sunny winter days you might generate a lot of solar electricity. Solar panels are tested at 25 degrees celsius and for every temperature above that the panel s output efficiency is reduced. So winter solar power is not an oxymoron.

Winter solar power is still viable cooler weather is the friend of solar as panels become more efficient in turning the sun s rays into electricity. When the temperature drops your panels gain efficiency. As long as the daylight is on the solar panels that can generate electricity and maintain the same efficiency in the winter if their maintenance is done properly. So what are the figures.

While this might seem counterintuitive remember that only visible light. The truth is that your solar panel will produce less energy from direct sunlight but the change in efficiency is very small and a lot of the efficiency loss is made up by other advantages from winter conditions. As the temperature around the solar panels i e. Even on cloudy days solar panels can still receive the optimum energy they need.

Of course our oregon and washington cloudy skies produce far less solar power than sunny skies but when the sun does peek through the panels work better than they do during the summer. Couple that with the fact that winter days are shorter and unfortunately you can guarantee that the panels will not be as effective in winter. Contrary to popular belief colder weather is actually better for solar panels efficiency than warmer weather this is a slight benefit from the winter months. Depending on the type of solar panels you ve installed in your home you may actually have more issues cooling down your solar panels in the summer than you will with energy output in the winter.

The ambient temperature decreases such as during winter time solar panels become more efficient energy producers. In this regard the colder winter weather can carry some advantage over summer. Even when solar panels are completely covered by snow they can still generate electricity. While cold temperatures help solar panels convert energy more efficiently shorter days will have an impact on your energy output since solar panels can only work when there s sunlight in the sky.

Affects of decreasing performance during winter.