Mounting Bifacial Panels on old 10' satellite dish: added efficiency??

Hometree · May 21

Good day, all;

In our yard there is a very large non-functional white fiberglass satellite dish. I assume its stand (6" steel pipe) is concreted in below-ground because it's in a high-wind area and the dish itself is solid construction (not mesh-like). It's like a 10' sail where it has been stoically standing for 30 plus years.

I'm gonna be installing about 1500W worth of panels soon, and I am thinking about mounting some bifacial panels on the dish itself... it is designed/oriented to the south and with some elbow grease I could probably get the tracking axes free for controlled manual adjustment.

I'll build a solid frame that sits on the "rim" of the dish, and keep the panels somewhat "gapped" to allow some sunlight through to the dish surface.

Question: will the solar "bounce-back" be a significant addition to bifacial solar production?

SumPower · May 21

Question: will the solar "bounce-back" be a significant addition to bifacial solar production?

No.

You could take the fiberglass dish off and use the mount, I know someone who has done that and it works just fine.

Hometree · May 21

Thanks SumPower... I got the same response in another forum.

And also a health warning while dealing with these old fiberglass dishes (and disassembling them)... they are fragile when this old and will fall apart while handling them. Supposed to paint them first (to minimize airborne fiberglass) even if discarding them.

And wear lotsa PPE.

Ralph Day · May 22

I have an old 10' mount holding 720 watts of pv. In high winds you can see the whole assembly wiggle and shake. I dont' think I'd put any more on that structure. The dish was stripped off and aluminum angle metal bolted on, then the panels on that.
Once the azimuth threaded rod was cleaned and greased it became easy to manually adjust the seasonal angle. From "The Analogue Guy" I purchased a sensor that will use the old satellite actuator to adjust the angle throughout the day. Works well. It's for 48 volts, but I only use 12volts, because I have that already stepped down from my 48v system.
I put the primary pipe in a 32inch well tile (sitting on bedrock) and filled it with concrete. I filled the pipe as well, but I dont think that's necessary.

Good luck. And have a tractor and loader around for mounting work, or some helpers with muscle. Steel weighs a lot!

Hometree · May 22

Thank you, @Ralph Day

You have provided valuable insight from someone who has done the exact same.

Our satellite post is quite strong and we get extremely high winds here... the 10' dish barely shakes.

Fortunately, I only need a max of 1000-1500W of panels. Thinking I can do it in 2-4 panels.

How many panels does yours hold with the 720W?

And my son is an arborist, and has a bucket truck with winch for assistance.

Ralph Day · May 23

I have 4 180 watt panels from the early 2000's. Those racks are built like tanks. I think 1kw or a bit more would be good. I haven't done the math, but their sail surface might even be less than a 10foot dish.
If you're lucky you can find the actuators all over the place, at least in the early 2000's I could. The little dishes spelled the end of big satellite dishes. Now streaming is ending the old over the air antennas. I haven't watched anything OTA in 10 or more years.

I'd put the racking you plan to attach the panels to on the cradle of the dish first, then attach the panels to that. There's less chance of damage to panels when they are handled one at a time. And if you're drilling through the panel frame (as you usually do on custom installs), have a block of hardwood between the frame and the pv material. I had one hole go through fast and dinged the panel material. The block of wood will let you know when you're through the aluminum frame. I didn't damage the cell, but tore the backing material. gooped up ;with silicone and all well after 20 years. 21 actually.

JRHill · May 23

Ralph Day said:

I have an old 10' mount holding 720 watts of pv. In high winds you can see the whole assembly wiggle and shake. I dont' think I'd put any more on that structure. The dish was stripped off and aluminum angle metal bolted on, then the panels on that.
Once the azimuth threaded rod was cleaned and greased it became easy to manually adjust the seasonal angle. From "The Analogue Guy" I purchased a sensor that will use the old satellite actuator to adjust the angle throughout the day. Works well. It's for 48 volts, but I only use 12volts, because I have that already stepped down from my 48v system.
I put the primary pipe in a 32inch well tile (sitting on bedrock) and filled it with concrete. I filled the pipe as well, but I dont think that's necessary.

Good luck. And have a tractor and loader around for mounting work, or some helpers with muscle. Steel weighs a lot!

Ralph, thanks for the link to the tracker!

Mounting Bifacial Panels on old 10' satellite dish: added efficiency??

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