• Aeri@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Stupid question but can we not like, make toggleable solar panels? Like if I Just pull the plug extracting power from a solar panel does it explode or break or something?

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Not really. You can discharge into the ground, but for large installations even the ground has a limited (local) capacity.

      Edit: explain yourselves, downvoting cowards

      • T156@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Could they not just break the circuit for the panel, and stop it feeding back into the mains?

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          Yeah. My understanding is that most large solar complexes don’t have this capability, at least not in any efficient automatic way, but most home solar systems do.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          My understanding is that most large solar arrays don’t have this capability in any sort of automatic way, and at these levels of power it’s a bit more complicated than “just unplug it”.

          • uis@lemm.ee
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            1 month ago

            most large solar arrays don’t have this capability in any sort of automatic way

            Look at this “manual” unplugger:

            and at these levels of power it’s a bit more complicated than “just unplug it”.

            Unplug many.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              “Everything is so fucking simple that I can easily figure out the solutions to giant societal problems with 15 minutes of googling” is the dumbest take I’ve heard all day. Granted it’s only 6am but still.

              Maybe you’re not fucking Sun Tzu, Einstein and Jesus rolled in to one and there might be the occasional issue that’s slightly more complicated than your armchair quarterback solutions.

              Christ you people piss me off.

              • uis@lemm.ee
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                1 month ago

                societal

                When did solar panels form society? Calm down your imagination.

                You are saying that there is no way to disconnect solar panels from grid, which is obviously not true.

      • sep@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I have no idea what i am talking about… But what would happen if you pulled a black tarp over the panel? Could even be automatic like the blends on a building. And even partial.

          • Disgracefulone@discuss.online
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            1 month ago

            You’re telling me a toggleable panel that flips when it needs to is too expensive? You’re already installing the panels. You’re already doing all that. The only difference is the material on the back side of the panel and of course some sort of crank and shaft to rotate it.

            Or if only there was some sort of powered component that could rotate it when it reached the capacity you know since the name of the game is power

            • Allero@lemmy.today
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              1 month ago

              Solar panels are very cheap, and any modification, even just a moving cover, greatly ramps up prices. No, really.

              We just need a lot of panels to generate significant amounts of electricity, which would necessitate a large cover or a lot of mechanisms - which would get expensive on that scale.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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              1 month ago

              In addition to what allero said, you seem to only be considering future installations rather than existing ones. Retrofitting existing equipment is massively more expensive than changing a design prior to building it.