Framed- or Frameless Photovoltaic in Snow Experiencing Climates

Abstract

Correlated with the declining photovoltaic (PV) system’s prices are the increase in areas they can be proven cost-efficient. PV systems are recognized as vital renewable energy sources for the contemporary societies, however, one considerable incentive for implementation is the PV systems’ return of investment time. An elevation in PV systems’ efficiency will decrease the break-even time, promoting justifications for implementation.

Evaluating PV systems installed in the northern hemisphere makes it eminent that the presence of snow is less than beneficial for PV energy production. As of now, there is a gap in the PV market where no purpose-designed PV system for snow exists. An optimized PV system for snow experiencing climates should contain measures that hinder accumulation of/remove accumulated snow. These measures cannot decrease the PV system’s efficiency, meaning they should not consume grid-fed energy or energy from the PV system itself.

This article investigates one implementable measure capable of reducing the accumulation of snow on the PV system’s exterior glass window. Two test-systems were created and exposed to the Norwegian winter. These test-systems represents the framed- and the frameless PV system, and have all but one component similar, being the geometry of the exterior frame. By processing the empirical data, a statistical significance was found between the two test-systems’ power output, where a positive output difference favors the frameless PV module on snow experiencing days.