| Gerald J. - 5/10/2014 15:05
Flat roofs are a poor choice for solar panels
Flat roofs can be used with tilted panels at different heights just as well as on the ground and better than on a sloped roof. Instead of having each panel rotate to track the sun, you can also have all panels on a single support that rotates. I think these are just engineering and mechanical challenges that can be solved. Traditional roofs are sloped in these latitudes mostly because of the snow, but that can also be solved with the right building design.
Tracking is indeed expensive and does not make that much of a difference, but it is perhaps even more important in the north, where every photon counts. On the other hand, Scandinavians are quite happy with photovoltaics, they mentioned a fact that I didn't think of, which is that the most northern locations also have the longest daylight exposure in summer, giving a boost to photovoltaics.
I read that Google just started a competition to embed more electronic components directly on the solar panels rather than expensive inverters in an outside box. There are already solar panels with micro-inverters that allow panels to produce electricity in the most efficient way as a whole array when one of the panel is in the shade (usually one panel in the shade impacts the whole array's production), so I don't know what that Google initiative is about, but hey, there's a million dollar prize for the winner!
http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/09/google-little-box-challenge/
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After rooftop solar panels, pavement solar panels
