New House Thermal

Then why is my solar panel so hot?
And why is the conversion efficiency only 10-12 percent?
That seems fundamental to me.

- it's all been explained over and over above in this thread. Steady-state temperature does not equal heat energy transfer. Nevertheless, a solar "farm" may be similar in effect to a parking lot, which is more likely to generate thermals than ground covered with green plants that evaporate water.

You have a fundamental misunderstanding about solar power: they don't generate heat, they consume solar radiation (which reduces heat, much like a body of water).

They do generate heat, not reduce it. From the lay literature, the efficiency of solar panels is 12-20%, while the theoretical limit is just over 30%. New advancements may beat those numbers. Maybe the glass panels act as insulators, but the heat is radiated back somewhere. Also, bodies of water and suspended particles absorb light and are heated by it; water doesn't reduce heat.

2G wrote on 8/10/2017 8:17 PM:
On Monday, August 7, 2017 at 4:53:28 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 4:23:32 AM UTC-4, wrote:
The Treasure Coast Soaring Club will soon have a new house thermal. Florida Power And Light is in the process of building a 400 acre solar power plant within 3/4 mile from our airport. Heat from this type of farm should make for a great house thermal. Anyone out there with experience flying over solar farms? Thanks, Bob

Solar panels are being installed in a rapid pace. i would expect this and the sister project only two miles apart to be completed within late fall. this should be interesting to see what thermal activity is created.

You have a fundamental misunderstanding about solar power: they don't generate heat, they consume solar radiation (which reduces heat, much like a body of water).

The panels do get bloody hot in the summer sun! They should have good airflow past
the top and bottom surfaces, given their mounting angle and clearance from whats
below them. That might be more effective at transferring the heat to air, compared
whatever surface they are built over.

I'm going to guess panels over vegetation will improve the thermal activity, but
panels over desert sand might decrease it.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorg...ad-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Dec 2014a" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm

http://soaringsafety.org/prevention/...anes-2014A.pdf

The panels are taking the place of 400 acres of orange grove. Black panels vs green trees. With thier southwest orientation, based on the initial set installed on the southwest corner, I'm thinking they will be a good source for thermals in the mid-afternoon.

After reading the recent article in Soaring about how to create teepee-shaped thermal generators, I have to think there is some correlation, if the theory is correct.

Paul A.

Paul, I have just returned from flying in Uvalde Texas for 10 days. Adjacent to the airport there was a substantial solar farm. It was very close to the airport and certainly within "house thermal" gliding distance. At no time did anyone catch a thermal over the array. For your less experienced pilots, I wouldn't even consider telling them about the possibility of getting a thermal from the area. We have a good number of very knowledgeable engineers in soaring that have already weighed in with the science involved. As the say in one of my favorite tv shows, the myth of a house thermal generated by a solar farm is "Busted!""

Still can't wait to fly at your club. When the weather cools off a little, I'll bring some of the Seminole-Lake crowd. Maybe we can do a fly-in?

Best Regards,
Rich Owen

On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 4:23:32 AM UTC-4, wrote:
The Treasure Coast Soaring Club will soon have a new house thermal. Florida Power And Light is in the process of building a 400 acre solar power plant within 3/4 mile from our airport. Heat from this type of farm should make for a great house thermal. Anyone out there with experience flying over solar farms? Thanks, Bob

Well, I guess some people don't quiet get it, Yes, there will be a thermal created by the solar farm! Yesterday I flew the Gorilla over the solar array and yes there was a substantial thermal being generated by the array. I guess I can conclude that heat goes up. After testing the panels on top of the hangar I already know the temp difference and once again heat goes up! Maybe it is the poor technique of thermal identification and centering that some of these people are having problems with. Bob

I wonder what contribution to global warming (:-D) these things make...
(Flame suit on.)

On 8/13/2017 5:20 PM, wrote:
On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 4:23:32 AM UTC-4, wrote:
The Treasure Coast Soaring Club will soon have a new house thermal. Florida Power And Light is in the process of building a 400 acre solar power plant within 3/4 mile from our airport. Heat from this type of farm should make for a great house thermal. Anyone out there with experience flying over solar farms? Thanks, Bob
Well, I guess some people don't quiet get it, Yes, there will be a thermal created by the solar farm! Yesterday I flew the Gorilla over the solar array and yes there was a substantial thermal being generated by the array. I guess I can conclude that heat goes up. After testing the panels on top of the hangar I already know the temp difference and once again heat goes up! Maybe it is the poor technique of thermal identification and centering that some of these people are having problems with. Bob

--
Dan, 5J

On Monday, June 26, 2017 at 4:23:32 AM UTC-4, wrote:
The Treasure Coast Soaring Club will soon have a new house thermal. Florida Power And Light is in the process of building a 400 acre solar power plant within 3/4 mile from our airport. Heat from this type of farm should make for a great house thermal. Anyone out there with experience flying over solar farms? Thanks, Bob

Yesterday, Saturday August 19, the solar farm is rapidly becoming filled with panels. There was a very interesting formation of a big booming cloud directly above the solar farm. I found one of the best thermals of the day being set off by that 400 acres of black panels.