Consider the following drawing:

I take it that solar panel’s generated electricity would be the same whether it’s installed in scandinavia or africa, as long as it faces in the same direction? or am i stupid

i’m asking this because everywhere i hear how “solar panels have higher efficiency near the equator”, but that’s just not true. Maps such as these are common on the internet:

And they suggest that solar energy around the equator would be twice as available as on northern latitudes, but actually that’s just the solar irradiation if the panels weren’t inclined, but in practice, they were likely will be. So they receive similar amounts of power.

edit: so, it’s the cloud cover. got it; thanks :D

  • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    3 months ago

    The suns rays go through less atmosphere near the poles equator. Not to scale, but should show the overall concept.

    • over_clox@lemmy.world
      18·
      3 months ago

      “The sun rays go through less atmosphere near the poles”?

      I think you meant to say sunlight goes through more atmosphere near the poles, but otherwise nice quick sketch diagram 👍

    • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
      111·
      3 months ago

      You can actually see this in action. At sunrise or sunset, it is possible to look directly toward the sun. That’s because more light is scattered at that angle and so it is less direct. At noon, the same sun will sear your eyes.

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.deOP
      3·
      3 months ago

      isn’t the atmosphere transparent for most of the light, though? (except UV, but that gets filtered out even at the equator, so it’s the same everywhere again)

      • LostXOR@fedia.io
        7·
        3 months ago

        The atmosphere is mostly transparent; see the table near the bottom of this Wikipedia page for some numbers. At an angle of 45 degrees from vertical you’re getting 91% of the energy, and at 60 degrees you’re getting 81%. A bigger problem is seasonal variation: during the winter at high latitudes you get very little energy. My city, at around 47 degrees latitude, sees the Sun peak at less than 30 degrees with under 10 hours of daylight for a quarter of the year. A solar array isn’t as useful if it produces almost no power for much of the year, especially when people need a lot to keep warm.

      • snooggums@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        3 months ago

        It isn’t perfectly transparent. It has dust, moisture, and other particles in the air that block or deflect a portion of the light.