Consider the following drawing:

I take it that solar panel’s generated electricity would be the same whether it’s installed in scandinavia or africa, as long as it faces in the same direction? or am i stupid

i’m asking this because everywhere i hear how “solar panels have higher efficiency near the equator”, but that’s just not true. Maps such as these are common on the internet:

And they suggest that solar energy around the equator would be twice as available as on northern latitudes, but actually that’s just the solar irradiation if the panels weren’t inclined, but in practice, they were likely will be. So they receive similar amounts of power.

edit: so, it’s the cloud cover. got it; thanks :D

  • gandalf_der_12teOP
    3·
    11 months ago

    isn’t the atmosphere transparent for most of the light, though? (except UV, but that gets filtered out even at the equator, so it’s the same everywhere again)

    • [deleted] in lemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      11 months ago

      It isn’t perfectly transparent. It has dust, moisture, and other particles in the air that block or deflect a portion of the light.

      • gandalf_der_12teOP
        2·
        11 months ago

        thank you, i’ll consider this the best answer as it names both dust and moisture as reasons why sunlight is blocked.