Time for 2026 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread, now with storage.
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@xenogon @flaki Wind generators are straight-up illegal on residential zoned land in our part of Austria*; there are mass-produced generators for a moderate price out there, but check local planning/zoning laws.
One interesting aspect of "balcony" solar is that it's usually vertical/near-vertically mounted, leading to lower seasonality. So far, we only have 2 vertical panels, but they achieve 1/3 of their peak monthly yield in Dec & Jan. @solar_chase's graph for roof solar is more like 1/8.I also have some vertical panels, and as you say they are much less seasonal, maybe lower output on average, but more in winter when it's most needed.
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I also have some vertical panels, and as you say they are much less seasonal, maybe lower output on average, but more in winter when it's most needed.
@xenogon @pmdj yeah both the official permitting and "NIMBY" neighbor consent aspects of residential wind are hell, sadly.
RE: vertical solar panels, yupp, absolutely. I'm just finishing a small pilot installation of an 8-panel (~1kWp) vertical bifacial "solar fence". As noted above and earlier¹ by me, on this latitude vertical panels stay clean/unobstructed, are better suited to capture the low-riding winter sun, bifaciality helps you capture more diffuse light on cloudy days & reflected light from snow cover (this is the only part that doesn't apply for a wall-type install) and with the abundance of cheap PV you can just "oversize" your installation to get you appreciable amounts of production year round (and be absolutely inundated in the summer
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@xenogon @pmdj yeah both the official permitting and "NIMBY" neighbor consent aspects of residential wind are hell, sadly.
RE: vertical solar panels, yupp, absolutely. I'm just finishing a small pilot installation of an 8-panel (~1kWp) vertical bifacial "solar fence". As noted above and earlier¹ by me, on this latitude vertical panels stay clean/unobstructed, are better suited to capture the low-riding winter sun, bifaciality helps you capture more diffuse light on cloudy days & reflected light from snow cover (this is the only part that doesn't apply for a wall-type install) and with the abundance of cheap PV you can just "oversize" your installation to get you appreciable amounts of production year round (and be absolutely inundated in the summer
)Yes to all that, except that you obviously have way more space than me, I couldn't do that here! Are yours pointing east/west?
I also have some horizontal panels on a flat roof which do very well in diffuse overcast, better than a single vertical by far. They do need washing way more though.
We don't have snow on the ground for long here usually, but that would certainly enhance vertical performance.
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Yes to all that, except that you obviously have way more space than me, I couldn't do that here! Are yours pointing east/west?
I also have some horizontal panels on a flat roof which do very well in diffuse overcast, better than a single vertical by far. They do need washing way more though.
We don't have snow on the ground for long here usually, but that would certainly enhance vertical performance.
@xenogon @pmdj that install from last year is East-West (which is inarguably more efficient than) turned into one long south-north strip For Reasons.
Ultimately I think a palette/10-12kWp of vertical bifacial PV (a roughly 40m run) facing directly south is the end game here. These panels were easily accessible (found them in a local builder's market) and the aluminum mounts were also the most accessible/cheapest secure DIY mounting mechanism lest building a rack or just throwing the panels on the ground, they served exceedingly well for that investment.
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25. Agrivoltaics: sure, you can put solar on anything. It may even help, eg in this blistering summer a bit of shade would have helped many European crops. But it’s looking for preferential support, because there are reasons farmers currently prefer open, machine-accessible fields.
@solar_chase If fields need to be open for machine harvesting but there's PV in the way isn't that hortivoltaics?
Does grazing (agrivoltaics) require machine access to the fields, other than irrigation? Publications I've read on agrivoltaics show a net benefit for farmers having their sheep share the paddock with PV (drip line grass growth, shade etc) so there's no need for any subsidies.
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37. Nonetheless, it will be very difficult to reach net zero emissions, and getting rid of the last 10% of fossil fuel will be the hardest. Gas turbine orders hit a record 67GW worldwide in 1H 2026 (paywall).
@solar_chase what will be the final 10%? Transportation?
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Time for 2026 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread, now with storage. If you like these, you might like edition 2 of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website til end-November 2026.
It's the book I should have read before trying to get a job in renewable energy. Reviewers say it is “to the point, important, and taught me a lot” and “surprisingly entertaining, don’t be put off by the title”.
https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/q0437#t=aboutBook
@solar_chase Brava Jenny, a fabulously positive update. Thank you!
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Time for 2026 updates to my annual “opinions about solar” thread, now with storage. If you like these, you might like edition 2 of my book, Solar Power Finance Without The Jargon. A 30% discount code WSQ0437 is valid on publisher website til end-November 2026.
It's the book I should have read before trying to get a job in renewable energy. Reviewers say it is “to the point, important, and taught me a lot” and “surprisingly entertaining, don’t be put off by the title”.
https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/q0437#t=aboutBook
@solar_chase I notice that you didn't mention nuclear this year. Have your opinions on that changed at all?
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4. This leads to negative feedback mechanisms: low wholesale power prices in sunny hours, which in forward-looking jurisdictions are passed on to consumers. For example, Australia’s Solar Sharer scheme obliges many utilities to offer a price plan with 3 hours of free power around midday.
@solar_chase here really is a good use case for smart devices, dishwasher that waits for the power to be free, or a fridge that freezes ballast ice, battery bank reducing peak costs. There is a limit though, you have to be careful about stressing the grid.
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... or by closing down all Chinese solar inverters from China...
Chinese Inverters can be remotely switched OFF.
In Germany, on larger installations that is a requirement for ALL.
It is also being suggested by the Industry Lobbyist gas and atom friend Katherina Reich that Balcony solar will have to meet the same demands.My assumption is that Chinese Engineers shook their heads and implimented a system that fitted demands but was not resilient.
Demands for an EU / National government backdoor that is
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13. Europeans shouldn't feel guilty about using electricity for airconditioning (or reversible heatpumps), it already mostly comes from the sun, especially if you pre-cool. This is good news for hot countries as well. Heat is deadly.
@solar_chase I really like that you included this. AC really needs to be treated like a basic human right given the temperature increases we're already responsible for; pointing out that we can power it mostly with renewables eases some of the resistance to the idea from the left.
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@solar_chase I notice that you didn't mention nuclear this year. Have your opinions on that changed at all?
@literatesavant no, I was just trying to freshen it all up a bit!
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41. Achieving a low-carbon transition, for most countries, will not look like winning a war or marching while waving flags. It is the ability to say "no thank you, we do not want what you are selling" to the petrostates, and walking (or cycling, or taking a bus, or driving an EV) away.
(The End, for now).
@solar_chase Great Thread (as always)
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@literatesavant no, I was just trying to freshen it all up a bit!
@solar_chase got it. I continue to go back and forth about whether it is feasible as part of the transition, especially here in Australia where we don't currently have any.
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3. Solar is struggling because it’s running into saturation effects in major markets, where there’s already plenty of power in sunny hours, and adding more solar panels generates the most power in the same hours. The power stack in Germany in a sunny week now looks like this.
@solar_chase With forthcoming changes in NL per 1-1-2027 where solar exports only receive base epex is moving a *lot* of batteries.
If you frequent deals on Pepper or through Aliexpress you can get a 800Watt 1.9kWh plugin battery for roughly 350 euros with free shipping from France. (Zendure Solarflow 800+)
The CBS currently has 79k (september) registered (mandatory, but not policed) home batteries. These range from 1.5-8kWh in size.
It appears 5kWh isn't enough for night with HP.
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Yes to all that, except that you obviously have way more space than me, I couldn't do that here! Are yours pointing east/west?
I also have some horizontal panels on a flat roof which do very well in diffuse overcast, better than a single vertical by far. They do need washing way more though.
We don't have snow on the ground for long here usually, but that would certainly enhance vertical performance.
@xenogon @flaki We have a reasonable amount of space but certainly not enough to randomly put up fences. Our actual fences aren’t especially suited, being mostly heavily shaded except a WNW facing one, right next to the public pavement.
We’ve DIY installed 6 panels on the almost flat roof of the small shed - and yes, same observation, they are great on overcast days. But also very seasonal - 4.3kWh on a sunny October day vs 8kWh in June. -
@xenogon @flaki We have a reasonable amount of space but certainly not enough to randomly put up fences. Our actual fences aren’t especially suited, being mostly heavily shaded except a WNW facing one, right next to the public pavement.
We’ve DIY installed 6 panels on the almost flat roof of the small shed - and yes, same observation, they are great on overcast days. But also very seasonal - 4.3kWh on a sunny October day vs 8kWh in June.@xenogon @flaki We’re currently re-roofing the garden house due to whoever built it having done a botch job - no chance it would have ever been waterproof, so the wood started rotting, plus they broke local planning rules. Anyway, there’s space for 14 panels on there, plus another 2-3 on the west wall, so that’s next on our solar-everywhere quest.
At least the panels themselves are super cheap on the used market, people replacing perfectly good 5-10yo installations.
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41. Achieving a low-carbon transition, for most countries, will not look like winning a war or marching while waving flags. It is the ability to say "no thank you, we do not want what you are selling" to the petrostates, and walking (or cycling, or taking a bus, or driving an EV) away.
(The End, for now).
@solar_chase Thanks so much for your very informative thread.
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@xenogon @flaki We’re currently re-roofing the garden house due to whoever built it having done a botch job - no chance it would have ever been waterproof, so the wood started rotting, plus they broke local planning rules. Anyway, there’s space for 14 panels on there, plus another 2-3 on the west wall, so that’s next on our solar-everywhere quest.
At least the panels themselves are super cheap on the used market, people replacing perfectly good 5-10yo installations.️Yes I recently bought some good used 375w panels for £30 each, but for reasons I won't go into here we don't really have suitable places to deploy them.
14 panels is huge for an outbuilding - we have 6x375w so far in use.
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22. It should be all over for the new internal combustion engine car market. The only reason it doesn’t seem to be is that a lot of people don’t seem to realise how times have changed, and still repeat old talking points.
@solar_chase This is so, so true!
