Considering it wasn't built to support solar panels, maybe that's all the mount/dish can support?
Of course, the issue is fitting rectangular panels into a circle.
Since, apparently, solar panels are cheap now - perhaps they could overlap panels to cover all of the circle.
Overlapping doesn‘t work due to the fact that individual small cells of a bigger panel - when shaded - greatly diminish the output of the entire solar panel.
And yet they left the focal point and its support poles there. No I agree with the people calling bullshit/publicity stunt. This array irritates me.
Yeah when I read the title I thought they were covering the old dish with mirrors and putting a collector at the focal point. This is much less interesting :(
Right!?
I presume they point the dish at the sun, so the shadow is in a fixed position. However the video shows during installation so not pointing at sun - but shadows that you see don't appear significant
Solar cells in shade act as diodes. They block the flow of electricity. It’s why we are doing inverters per panel now.
Thanks - I didn't realise shade losses could be so significant. I did find panels designed to avoid shade losses due to a single cell in a string being shaded but such panels appear to be uncommon or expensive.
What really bothers me most about this problem is that it makes you have to choose between solar panels and trees, and that’s a shitty bargain. Trees are good, and they lower your AC bill.
It's leaving the feedhorn in I find the most baffling. Now you have a giant shadow generator right in the middle of your setup. Why?
The dish is meant to be actively pointed at the sun. What shadow?