Great article. Acknowledges what we have known, and worked around for years here at Falmouth Solar, LLC on Cape Cod, MA. What really would be helpful would be some hard numbers, tested in my area. What output loss is experianced at what height / and roof temps for example. WE don't like the trend of the local installers here to put the array within a couple of inches of the roof, then put a sheet metal cover along the bottom row. How can heat convect? It's a nice look from the ground, but stupid from an engineers view. We don't install railess racking because we generally will even provide 1.5" between rows to further let the excess heat evaluate. This, as far as I know is an original thought, and I am unaware of any other installers doing it. Testing is needed to validate the effects of side skirts, row spacing, and height above roof for validation of our efforts, but a potential loss of 10-25% is HUGE in this industry, and generally ignored (except by the wise few reading this article!)
Great article. Acknowledges what we have known, and worked around for years here at Falmouth Solar, LLC on Cape Cod, MA. What really would be helpful would be some hard numbers, tested in my area. What output loss is experianced at what height / and roof temps for example. WE don't like the trend of the local installers here to put the array within a couple of inches of the roof, then put a sheet metal cover along the bottom row. How can heat convect? It's a nice look from the ground, but stupid from an engineers view. We don't install railess racking because we generally will even provide 1.5" between rows to further let the excess heat evaluate. This, as far as I know is an original thought, and I am unaware of any other installers doing it. Testing is needed to validate the effects of side skirts, row spacing, and height above roof for validation of our efforts, but a potential loss of 10-25% is HUGE in this industry, and generally ignored (except by the wise few reading this article!)