- Did you know solar panels love light
but they hate heat?
The hotter it gets,
the worse your solar panels will perform.
A solar panel is sized in watts based
on the perfect solar panel
temperature of 25 degrees.
But the solar panel will
almost always be hotter
than the air temperature.
So it's a 37-degree day
at 9 a.m. in Adelaide.
We've having a bit of a heat wave.
Let's see how hot these solar panels are
after they've been baking in
the sun for half the morning.
(thermometer beeping)
So the solar panels are sitting
at just over 51 degrees.
That's 26 degrees more
than their perfect temperature of 25.
As a really rough rule of thumb,
a solar panel will lose about
half a percent of efficiency
for every degree the panel is over 25.
So these panels here
are operating at 26 divided
by two, 13% less efficiency
than ideal. But don't worry,
a typical six-kilowatt system on your roof
will still easily power
your home's air conditioner,
even through a heat wave.
Your solar inverter is a sophisticated box
of power electronics.
A good one should last 15 years
but only if you look after it.
Inverters do not like heat
and they get hot enough
converting your DC power
into the AC power your home can use.
If you then bake it in
the relentless Aussie sun,
your inverter will almost
certainly die prematurely.
So the best place to put a solar inverter
is in a cool garage.
If it must go outside, put
it in a nice shaded spot
and at all costs, avoid
north-facing walls.
