[pvusers] shadow

[Sherry Boschert <sherrybo@pacbell.net>]

A question from a non-techie:

I just noticed that our next-door neighbor here in San Francisco added a 
tall, narrow metal smokestack to his fireplace chimney. (This must have 
happened while we were out of town for the holidays.) At this time of year, 
after 1 p.m. it casts a shadow approximately 5 feet long by 1 foot wide 
onto our rooftop solar panels.

Would this be expected to interfere with our ability to generate solar 
electricity? My limited understanding was that even a tiny bit of shadow on 
a pv panel essentially disables the entire panel. If that's the case, I'm 
worried that this simple shadow will be "turning off" two of our panels 
throughout the afternoon.

I plan to check the readings on our equipment this weekend if I can to see 
if I can notice a difference. Any thoughts?

thanks,
Sherry 


--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*
  List sponsored by CREST/REPP  
	http://solstice.crest.org/   http://www.repp.org/