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

Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by TaylorAlexander on Saturday December 10, 2022 @04:51AM (#33931342)

In some areas, the water use just from cleaning solar panels becomes a serious issue (let alone using more water to cool them). It's not much water to spray on some panels you are experimenting with, but for a large installation it seems like it would be a lot of water.

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Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by gregoriol on Saturday December 10, 2022 @05:15AM (#33931434)

The best areas for solar are hot, those are also likely to be the areas where water supply is the most constrained, so this is definitely a no-go solution

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Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by Pigalowda on Saturday December 10, 2022 @07:49AM (#33932160)

This is in Texas which is hot but there’s water.

Additionally power stations use steam turbines which require a lot of water. Some cooling water for misters would probably be a rounding error.

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50698

https://www.seia.org/initiatives/water-use-management

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Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by pooper on Saturday December 10, 2022 @05:41AM (#33931534)

Sorry if this is too basic of a question but for places close enough to the sea, would sea water for cooling and cleaning be an option? Too much salt residue?

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Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by 2ICofafireteam on Saturday December 10, 2022 @10:48AM (#33933585)

Now I'm waiting for the seaside solar power plant/salt works proposal to pop up!

Seriously: Maybe residue wouldn't be an issue if it was never allowed to dry, but the corrosion-proof construction, drainage system, and pumping costs would be considerable. Then there's the 100 problems we're not aware of yet...

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Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by nkmnz on Saturday December 10, 2022 @05:54AM (#33931578)

salt crusts are highly reflective, driving down light exposure pretty fast. Plus, salt water is corrosive.

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Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by danuker on Saturday December 10, 2022 @06:11AM (#33931640)

> salt crusts are highly reflective

I think this will not be a problem, as the salt would be continuously washed away with new water. But the corrosion would be a problem indeed.

Maybe some plastic/epoxy/glass casing would help, but it might also hinder recyclability.

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Re:A 100MW solar farm in Texas will mount panels directly on... by pkphilip on Sunday December 11, 2022 @04:50AM (#33941749)

See my comment above. This water is being used to grow agricultural crops under the panels in Kochi airport in India.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2021/dec/13/c...

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