re: Trump pitched Republican leaders on a SOLAR-PANELED border wall

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The graph shows the yearly (top) and summer (bottom) average hourly output for a square meter (m2) of solar panel facing south (red line) and west (blue line). The difference between the red line and the blue line shows how facing a solar panel in a different direction shifts the time that it is producing solar power – an east facing panel would shift the curve left of the south (red) curve. The graph also shows the average ERCOT wholesale electricity market price (black line). Over the entire year, the west-facing array produces about 14% less energy than the south-facing array. However, during summer months, the difference is just 1% less. If, over the entire year, we multiply the hourly output by the hourly price (black line), and look for the best placement, we get the orange line, which is at about 219 degrees, or 39 degrees west of south, almost right between south and west. If we consider an extreme case where we only care about the energy produced during peak times (3—7 p.m.), then a western orientation is the most preferred.

In the end, it all comes down to incentives. In Texas, the current structure of compensating for the energy produced by solar panels incentivizes south-facing panels. However, what utilities really want are west-facing panels to hit peak demand as hard as possible. Given the limited daily solar resource, the market calls for something in the middle. All of this is just for Austin, Texas. The answer changes depending on the local solar resource, local prices, and local incentive structure. As solar penetration increases, local grid authorities might want to reconsider how structuring solar rates and rebates can reduce, to a certain extent, solar panels’ impact on the grid.

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