Latest articles by The Solar Nerd

Solar panel efficiency keeps getting better. Back in 2013 - which really isn’t that long ago - I had 260 watt solar panels installed on my home. Today, most homes will use solar panels in the 300+ watt range. But now, manufacturers are starting to put out panels that exceed 400 watts. These products are at the premium end of the market, which means that you can expect to pay more for them.

According to Solar Power World, Trinity Solar is the second largest residential solar installer in the United States, having installed over 83 megawatts of solar last year. (Note that this doesn’t include Sunrun, which is the largest but doesn’t participate in Solar Power World’s rankings.) They operate in nine states and are known for doing door-to-door sales and telemarketing, so there’s a good chance that you’ve received one of their pitches to install solar on your home.

When solar panels get hot, they become less effective at generating electricity. This is because when the temperature increases, electrical resistance increases too. That means that as a solar panel gets hotter, more and more of the electricity it generates is lost as heat within the internal wiring of the panel. You can look up the datasheet for any solar panel and find out what the power temperature coefficient of the panel is.

Solar panels are extremely safe. According to data from Germany, only 120 fires out of 1.4 million solar installations have been traced back to solar equipment. Compared to the 44,000 electrical fires that occur in the United States every year, the risk of fire caused by solar equipment is very low. However, a greater hazard is the risk of live wires to firefighters who might need to work near solar equipment during an emergency.

If you stick some solar panels on your roof, they’ll generate clean electricity for 25 years or even more. They don’t make noise, generate smoke, or move. All they do is silently turn sunlight into electricity. Seems pretty magical, no? It is a little bit magical, but it’s also good old physics and chemistry. Here’s a quick explanation of how it works. How is a solar cell constructed? The essential component of a solar panel is the solar photovoltaic cell.

If you’re getting quotes a home solar system, there’s a very good chance that one of them will specify a SolarEdge inverter. SolarEdge was the market leader just a few years ago, but its market share has been slipping recently and fallen behind Enphase. Even so, SolarEdge still has about 40% of the US inverter market share, so there’s good odds that one of your solar proposals will include a SolarEdge inverter system.

Installing solar panels on your home is typically a five-figure purchase, so a majority of people take on financing to pay for it. It’s often easiest to get financing directly from your solar installer. The installer will give you a solar installation proposal with a financed price, and you won’t have to deal with your bank or any other lending institution. Simple, right? We're solar nerds, not finance nerds. Be sure to consult with a professional financial advisor before making major financial decisions.

After the death of the Build Back Better bill, a pared back climate bill that also died, machinations in the senate, and an unexpected last minute back-from-the-dead effort, President Biden signed the Investment Reduction Act this week. It’s being called the largest investment in combatting climate ever and the most significant environmental legislation since the Clean Air Act. The IRA covers a large swath of things intended to lower the cost of energy and prescription drugs, of which are outside the scope of this blog.

If you live in a climate where air conditioning is a significant part of your electricity usage, that probably means it’s a good climate for solar energy. Does that mean you can power your air conditioner with solar electricity? You absolutely can, but we should explain exactly what that means. If your idea is to power an air conditioner directly with solar panels - that is, connect some solar panels directly to an AC unit and essentially run it off-the-grid - it is possible.

Texas likes to do things differently, and that extends even to esoteric areas like its electricity grid. Unlike other places in the country, the Lone Star state is truly alone when it comes to electricity. Texas isn’t connected to other regional grids, so when it’s short of electricity, it doesn’t have the ability import it from elsewhere. Because of this, Texas has suffered recent blackouts as extreme weather has become more common.