Submitted 1 year ago by pizzaiolo@slrpnk.net to energy@slrpnk.net
Low voltage DC collection distributed over hundreds of km - sounds brilliant.
Really- it’s a good idea with some real design and maintenance challenges. It also costs a great deal of money to implement. Covering unused land en mass is more cost effective, but still not enough to put everywhere. And just covering the water with a reflective surface would be cheaper, but still more expensive than losing the water to the atmosphere (so far).
Yeah just makes sense, they just need some way to funnel rain water into them too still.
That itself is not hard either.
Dams too, rather then those little black balls ontop of the water a large solar array could help stop evaporation while still letting water collection happen
There are solar installations on quite a few dams around the world. It just makes a lot of sense. It keeps the panels cooler, which means they are more efficient, and the damns usually have turbines which means easy tie in with existing electrical grid.
Jah348@lemm.ee 1 year ago
It looks to me like a completely unnecessary solution. Covering up the water is a good idea, but find an immediate and cost affective way to do it. Loads of custom ineffectively laid out solar panels is not that.
It’s not as though we have a surplus of solar panels that need a place to go. If the money is being invested, place them in a location with them oriented toward the sun and not above water.
oo1@kbin.social 1 year ago
yeah fill up flat-roof buildings first - before even thinking about any of these wacko things.
it's nearest to electricity demand so less distribution losses.
and access for maintenance is probably already there.
QuinceDaPence@kbin.social 1 year ago
I'm absolutely down for solar covered parking lots though. Shaded parking + power.