Reason for rooftop solar #419: Ice storms

Millions of homes were left without heat and power after a huge ice storm. This wouldn't happen with hyper-local power generation (aka makin' power on your roof).

Sun, Feb 01 2009 at 9:25 PM

Photo credit: Flickr user FotoDawg

Kentucky just got walloped by a deadly ice storm. Up to a million homes lost power when thick coatings of ice wreaked havoc on power lines.

If most houses in Kentucky had solar panels and/or wind turbines, people wouldn't be forced to flee their freezing homes or sit huddled under blankets all day in cold bedrooms. They wouldn't die from carbon monoxide poisoning from diesel powered generators. If we all had solar panels, the locally generated power would keep heating systems running and lights on. And instead of being stuck in the middle of a statewide emergency, everyone would just be unable to run the dryer for a day or two.

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Comments: 2

Guest Feb 02 2009 at 1:26 PM

I was thinking about this when I heard the news, but do solar panels still work if they're coated with snow and/or ice? Same thing for wind turbines. Can they continue operating in a heavy snow or ice storm?

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Guest Feb 02 2009 at 8:07 PM

Wind turbines work fine in the snow. They're high enough off the ground to avoid getting buried and aren't especially conducive for snow to build up on. They do get coated in ice storms, but still work, although at a slower rate, until able to throw off the ice. Solar panels need to get dug out from snow. I would think they would work, again at a limited capacity, after an ice storm. I'd imagine that there is some entrepreneur working on a solution to clear panels of ice and snow; not everyone can

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get up on their roof to shovel their panels after a storm. I'm going to do some looking around on that one.