The whole premise is wrong.
It's not that solar panels don't work when they're cold, it's that the conditions when things are cold are not the sort that are conducive to solar power.
First of all, a solar panel covered in ice and snow is obviously not going to be producing on the same level as one that isn't, which for a solar farm you could probably hire someone to keep them clean so that's not that big of a deal, but for the ones on top of a house that could be a big deal.
Second, and most importantly, heat on Earth comes from the sun. The times that it's cold out are cold because insufficient energy from the Sun is hitting that part of the earth to warm it up to a comfortable temperature. Where I spend most of my time, in winter there's like 8 hours of daylight, and in summer there's like 16 hours of daylight. When the sun isn't out, the cost of a kilowatt hour of solar power approaches Infinity. Not because it's cold, but because they rely on sunlight.
On the basis of system output according to natural resources canada (since I'm somewhere that gets hot and cold), solar system output in December is about 50 kWh/kw, compared to 125kWh/kw in July. Moreover, on an ideal day, electricity production from a solar farm looks like a bell curve that starts when the Sun first peaks over the horizon, peaks at whatever the local noon is, and ends as the Sun starts to drop below the horizon again.
The primary drivers for variability of electric loads tends to be both heat and cold. Therefore, often the annual peak loads occur on the hottest days of summer, usually in july, or the coldest days of winter, usually in January. The coldest hours of the coldest days tend to be in the middle of the night when there's no sun, meaning that the need for heat is at its highest at that point.
If a bunch of this stuff seems like Fox News propaganda.... Then it doesn't matter what channel you're watching, it's time to pull yourself away from the television and go outside.
It's not that solar panels don't work when they're cold, it's that the conditions when things are cold are not the sort that are conducive to solar power.
First of all, a solar panel covered in ice and snow is obviously not going to be producing on the same level as one that isn't, which for a solar farm you could probably hire someone to keep them clean so that's not that big of a deal, but for the ones on top of a house that could be a big deal.
Second, and most importantly, heat on Earth comes from the sun. The times that it's cold out are cold because insufficient energy from the Sun is hitting that part of the earth to warm it up to a comfortable temperature. Where I spend most of my time, in winter there's like 8 hours of daylight, and in summer there's like 16 hours of daylight. When the sun isn't out, the cost of a kilowatt hour of solar power approaches Infinity. Not because it's cold, but because they rely on sunlight.
On the basis of system output according to natural resources canada (since I'm somewhere that gets hot and cold), solar system output in December is about 50 kWh/kw, compared to 125kWh/kw in July. Moreover, on an ideal day, electricity production from a solar farm looks like a bell curve that starts when the Sun first peaks over the horizon, peaks at whatever the local noon is, and ends as the Sun starts to drop below the horizon again.
The primary drivers for variability of electric loads tends to be both heat and cold. Therefore, often the annual peak loads occur on the hottest days of summer, usually in july, or the coldest days of winter, usually in January. The coldest hours of the coldest days tend to be in the middle of the night when there's no sun, meaning that the need for heat is at its highest at that point.
If a bunch of this stuff seems like Fox News propaganda.... Then it doesn't matter what channel you're watching, it's time to pull yourself away from the television and go outside.
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