Parallel not Series! Huh? How can they do that? Yes, balancing those panels can be a pain and you don’t know when one panel is out of whack or out of the sun but how else can you do it? This new DC-to-DC converter technology allows any number of panels to be connected to a high-voltage bus via parallel wiring. It should be out by next month. Hummm, is it a coincidence that Nanosolar also has a huge announcement? Probably but put them together and you have two new breakthroughs at once! That’s how markets are born.


http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=IK22U4QMXL4DBQE1GHPCK HWATMY32JVN?articleID=219500689&pgno=1

In most cases I expect the improvement to be MUCH closer to 5% than 30%!
Probably more like 1%.

If panels are on a 20 degree pitch or more occasional rain is enough to keep them clean. Even a 5 degree pitch is enough depending on the mounting system. Otherwise yes you might lose 5% or 10% for dirty panels. But this will only help in the cases where only a few panels are dirty - not a normal case.

If you have shading during peak production times then you have located the panels in the wrong place!

If you have shading during early morning or late afternoon (off peak production) the amount of energy to be gained is not likely more than some fraction of 15%.

The other rare case is a narrow moving shadow (e.g. from a utility pole) during peak production. That could significantly impact production.

So to gain 30% you have to have a system installed where some panels won't self clean but most will, and there is shading significant shading in off-peak production hours. Or a utility pole in front of your equator facing array. Still remember that you will not be able to gain back all that was lost due to shading or dirt, only avoid the impact of affected panels on the other panels linked in a series string.

In most cases I expect the improvement to be MUCH closer to 5% than 30%!
Probably more like 1%.

If panels are on a 20 degree pitch or more occasional rain is enough to keep them clean. Even a 5 degree pitch is enough depending on the mounting system. Otherwise yes you might lose 5% or 10% for dirty panels. But this will only help in the cases where only a few panels are dirty - not a normal case.

If you have shading during peak production times then you have located the panels in the wrong place!

If you have shading during early morning or late afternoon (off peak production) the amount of energy to be gained is not likely more than some fraction of 15%.

The other rare case is a narrow moving shadow (e.g. from a utility pole) during peak production. That could significantly impact production.

So to gain 30% you have to have a system installed where some panels won't self clean but most will, and there is shading significant shading in off-peak production hours. Or a utility pole in front of your equator facing array. Still remember that you will not be able to gain back all that was lost due to shading or dirt, only avoid the impact of affected panels on the other panels linked in a series string.






I'm sorry, what are you talking about? I'm just re-posting what the article said. How do you get your new numbers? I don't see any references or calculations.

Also, have you ever followed a solar installation? You get drop-out if a panel or wire goes bad and you don't pick that up. That can cause losses for a long time before it is fixed. also you have, as you mentioned, clouds rolling over causing uneven power. Additionally, the panels could be in non-ideal conditions on top of building and such. Not every installation is tree or building free. That's the reality of solar and if this technology can cost effectively allow more flexibility then great.

Thus, it seems to me like the situation is analogous to the Volt. Some people that drive in a very optimized pattern will get well over 250 mpg while others, that do a lot of highway driving might have a hard time getting 50 mpg.

So, until we have some real-world test data we won't know how this new system works. Good news is that the product should be introduced soon.

Sounds like a similar workaround that micro grid tie inverters allow. Both should make a solar installation much simpler. And less susceptible to installation error and/or non optimal installation location; because lets face it. I'd say the majority of people don't have the perfect place for large arrays of panels that will never see shade, but many people have a place if a little shading but won't see a significantly hinder performance with something like this.

small, efficient and cheap DC-DC converters are all over the place.. about time someone proposed a parallel architecture.. there should be an automatic way to monitor panel performance.