Solar panels for roofs, balconies, lawns all exist.
But why hasn’t solar panel blinds and curtains taken off?
To me it seems really good for people who live in apartments and want to get more juice from the windows.
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Different take from everyone else in the comments. Wiring. There is something new being made popular called a balcony solar panel. It hangs off the side of your appt balcony and plugs in to an outlet. The electricity generated gets added to your appt’s wiring. The problem is regulation. Most solar installs require agreements and inspections between you, the local city govt, and the utility company. I believe they’re pretty popular in Germany because they set up the regulations to handle it. But many places don’t want unregulated power generation. The concern being when there’s a power outage, linemen need to fix stuff, and if they’re expecting a line to be dead due to power being out, you can injure them by dumping electricity on the grid. My solar panels were inspected to verify when the grid goes down, they don’t put any electricity onto the grid.
You raise a good point!
I plan to use EcoFlow powerbanks in self power mode to have them be a a UPS that is supplemented bt the sun, which lets me get by the “no power into wall” limitations.
A solar panel that occasionally blocks a window would be completely useless the other part of the time.
A window permanently blocked by a solar panel is better known as a wall with a solar panel on it.
A vertical wall with a solar panel will not be as effective as one angled towards the sun, such as one on a roof might be.
They’re usually open when the sun’s out, so pretty pointless as you couldn’t charge them without being in the dark.
Blinds can technically be extended but “open” to both light in, and minor light absorption
Why not something like this - oldschool:
I love the idea. Maybe both sides working? Or having a fixpoint at π/2.
Those would be really nice!
Some reasons:
We don’t (yet) have flexible panels that would survive the abuse that curtains experience.
Vertical surfaces are not nearly as effective for the majority of cases in capturing solar radiation.
Windows have lots of obstructions that reduce the effectiveness of a solar panel.
Putting solar panels behind an extra layer of glass that would need to be kept pristine would be counter productive.
The voltages involved in solar panels would create an added source of danger inside the house.
Vertical surfaces are not nearly as effective for the majority of cases in capturing solar radiation.
I will say, I’ve seen compelling evidence for vertical bifacial panels. In east-west facing configurations, they generate more power when demand is greater and regular panels produce little power. They also stay cooler, so they operate more efficiently. I think it’s often more cost and space efficient to have more panels installed flat to something than fewer panels installed at the theoretically best angle.
To be honest I think windows work better as sun traps. Even in the winter a good sunny day will make a noticeable difference to my bedroom with large south facing double glazed units.
Thats a lot of infrared that wouldn’t be used by solar panels.
We don’t (yet) have flexible panels that would survive the abuse that curtains experience.
Vertical surfaces are not nearly as effective for the majority of cases in capturing solar radiation.
But blinds then would be perfectly fine no? They can adjust their angle and aren’t flexible.
Windows have lots of obstructions that reduce the effectiveness of a solar panel.
A 10% loss is not bad, even 30% isn’t too bad, because every cent counts.
Putting solar panels behind an extra layer of glass that would need to be kept pristine would be counter productive.
You don’t clean your windows yearly?
The voltages involved in solar panels would create an added source of danger inside the house.
Home/Commercial battery systems like EcoFlow don’t seem dangerous at all to me. I feel like the danger you’re describing is minimal with the wattages you’d get from window panels.
These things are all solvable but will always remain reasons why solar blinds are not practical.
Solar on residential buildings isn’t about collection area, it’s about cost and practicality.
edit: And even low power will kill you. Your 10w panel still makes a lethal 100mA. You can’t hand wave safety.
Flexible conductors are very expensive (source: worked in automation). If you use cheap ones they’ll fail and either the panels won’t make power, and/or you’ll have an exposed shock hazard.
Besides, we have way more walls than windows. Fixed panels make way more sense.
Thanks for bringing up flexible connectors! I didn’t consider that before.
Would blinds be better for not needing more flexible connectors, or worse?
The whole thing would need to be flexible, AND you’d need a power-capable slew connector, which would not be cheap, even at volume.
What’s the point?
It would be easier to install and more effective just have the same surface of solar panel to the side of the window instead of over it.
For renters.
