Comments on: tenKsolar Doubles Residential Solar Setup Performance

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 06 May 2011 15:15:00 +0000

I can see from the now-appropriate image that one could carefully walk between the panels and reflectors. Not a labor efficient space for cleaning, but perhaps it is offset by tighter packing of panels.

Still, snow accumulation is going to be be a problem in places where it snows.

My panels are ground mounted and I’ve left about a foot between the bottom of the panels and ground. With a normal snow I have to first shovel or walk down the snow below the panels. Then I can start removing snow from the panels. With a larger snowfall I first have to dig down to find the panels.

By: Tim Johnson

Tim Johnson — Fri, 06 May 2011 14:44:00 +0000

How a product is designed should be driven by the goals of what you are trying to achieve. For distributed generation, output per square foot is key because that relieves the most stress on the energy distribution grid. Thus packing the solar collectors more tightly and using as much available light as possible through reflection to maximize energy per roof is essential.

Also, if you get a chance to see a design in person, you’ll see there is an area between the module and reflector that allows you to walk along the rows.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:53:00 +0000

The picture above doesn’t match the product that tenKsolar is selling as best as I can tell. (In addition, that’s one ugly installation).

Perhaps tenKsolar has a good solution to partial panel shading, but they’ve got a real snow problem with their panel/reflector design. What they’ve done is created a snow catcher in front of each panel where the snow is going to collect and remain. Unlike other installations there’s nowhere for the snow to slide, it’s going to hang there until it melts.

If you live somewhere that gets significant snow I can’t see how you can get to the panels to shovel them off.

And, a smaller issue but worth considering, they’ve created a system which will be hard to clean. Hope they don’t mount some where the blackberries grow. Bird poop doesn’t easily wash off with a hose, takes a little scrubbing….