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TIL about bifacial solar cells which produce electrical energy when light hits either side
(en.wikipedia.org)
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
111 points (98.3% liked)
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Vertical solar panels are looking to be quite economical. While there power per panel surface is lower, the timing of peak outputs is an excellent complement to standard solar. It has maximum output in the morning and evenings, when people want to run home appliances etc, rather than at midday when they are all at work.
It also uses less land. Rather than giving up 100% of a field to solar, A farmer can give up 20%, leaving the rest for crops or livestock. Apparently sheep do particularly well in this setup. The panels provide shade, and more diversity in plant types to eat. They actually do better than those in an empty field of the same size.
yeah i'm well aware of that. the problem is more that you can more effectively shift power around from midday to evening and morning with batteries.
Generation on demand is still a better. Batteries are still quite an expensive option, at the scale required.
It also ignores the other benefits. The main one is allowing a combination of agriculture and power generation.