News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on the ground. Parent comment

Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by sorenjan on Friday December 09, 2022 @07:05PM (#33928202)
I don't understand why they cant dig some kind of trench or mound to put them on at least, to angle them more towards the sun. There's plenty of agricultural equipment designed to cultivate soil (first example I found[0]). That could take care of the drainage as well, although I don't know how much it rains in Texas.

[0] https://www.asa-lift.com/asalift/producttypes/bodenbearbeitu...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by JumpCrisscross on Friday December 09, 2022 @07:16PM (#33928272)
> why they cant dig some kind of trench or mound to put them on at least, to angle them more towards the sun

Trench will flood. Mound needs to be maintained. Cheaper to put more static panels flat than trying to get every electron out of them.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by rootusrootus on Friday December 09, 2022 @07:36PM (#33928426)
> why they cant dig some kind of trench or mound to put them on at least

Just use the rack then, it's exactly the same result.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by sorenjan on Friday December 09, 2022 @08:17PM (#33928725)
I think using the dirt that's already there and building the structure with some kind of machine would be cheaper than having someone mounting them on a steel rack. See for instance large potato fields [0]. The point is instead of putting them on flat ground, make the ground have a better shape first.

[0] http://www.thompsonpotatofarm.com/common-tater/banking-the-p...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by rootusrootus on Friday December 09, 2022 @08:21PM (#33928764)
The racks are really easy, well known technology. That was my point. If you're going to give up the entire reason for laying them flat on the ground, you're going back to the way existing solar farms work, so just use the same proven technology.
[ Parent | on HN ]