The best place for solar is on a large, easily-maintained farm near a good grid connection on flat level uninhabited ground.
Roofs fail on most of those. Likewise 'solar roads' and 'solar parking lots' and 'solar rail lines'. Mostly naive suggestions where the only positive feature is It's flat! But not level; not even tilted in the right direction to get efficient collection.
duxup · 8h ago
I don't understand the concepts of "put solar panels in a spot we actively use" such as the on roadway idea. I don't think we're short on space for panels are we? Roofs seem like great choices, otherwise it seems like there is plenty of space...
ben_w · 7h ago
There is plenty of space, but at the same time virtually every discussion I've seen about PV has someone acting like it's a gotcha that they use a lot of space.
In response to some of these, I myself have suggested (with maths to back it up) putting PV between railway tracks* — not because it's a good option (everything in the linked blogpost, and everything JoeAltmaier says in the other comment, is I think correct), but because weird options like this are sufficient.
* and on other occasions by the sides of roads, but that doesn't matter here
Roofs fail on most of those. Likewise 'solar roads' and 'solar parking lots' and 'solar rail lines'. Mostly naive suggestions where the only positive feature is It's flat! But not level; not even tilted in the right direction to get efficient collection.
In response to some of these, I myself have suggested (with maths to back it up) putting PV between railway tracks* — not because it's a good option (everything in the linked blogpost, and everything JoeAltmaier says in the other comment, is I think correct), but because weird options like this are sufficient.
* and on other occasions by the sides of roads, but that doesn't matter here