I could be wrong on this but i thought i remembered some engineer youtuber saying that sun panels naturally emit enough heat to prevent snow from forming? (Fact check me on that)

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

And they're hydrophobic. I hear snow is rarely an issue, but would be interested to hear from someone with actual experience.

[–] Hux@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There’s a train station parking lot where I live which has solar canopies over the car spots.

In the winter, snow and ice accumulates and does fall off. A few years ago a saw a big section of ice/slush slough off and almost hit a kid waiting for their parent to pick them up.

I’m not sure how bad it really is overall, but the photo in this post doesn’t look much like an area which gets snowfall.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

a big section of ice/slush slough off and almost hit a kid waiting for their parent to pick them up.

I have heard of this. Don't park under a roof with solar panels while it's snowing.

[–] spidermanchild@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

Hi, I have solar on my roof in Colorado. Solar panels are glass, so depending on angle snow will accumulate and slide off dramatically if not for snow bars either on the bottom of the panels, or more commonly the roof below the solar panels. The structure needs to be able handle the snow load and be designed so snow doesn't slide off and kill people.

[–] spidermanchild@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

Snow will accumulate on solar panels (source - have rooftop solar on Colorado). Panels are glass so snow will slide off depending on angle, and since panels are dark they tend to melt snow quicker once they get started melting, typically causing the snow to slide off dramatically.

[–] rumschlumpel 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sunlight tends to be negligible during snowfall season, anyway.

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago

I mean that’s just absurdly false