Power from the flower
The switch from conventional energy sources to renewable ones is happening as we speak. Companies and scientists all over the world are constantly looking for new and smarter ways of implementing renewable energy. In this article, we are going to focus on implementing solar energy.
The potential of solar energy is large and it can be widely used as a solution to our energy needs. Innovations for generating electricity from solar energy are on the rise. One of the latest innovations that have started to be offered but it is not yet widely used for solar power generation is the smart flower.
What is the smart flower solar system?
The smart flower is a combination of solar panels and art, a product inspired by a sunflower. It is a system of photovoltaic panels that unfolds its petal-panels when the sun goes up and folds them when the sun sets. Smart flowers come with a dual axis tracker that gives it the rotating feature with which the flower follows the sun as it moves from east to west. That way, the solar flower maximizes its solar energy production.
How is the solar flower different from a standard rooftop system?
Unlike the rooftop solar systems, the smart flower is mounted on the ground and so you can avoid the potential limitations that come when installing a rooftop system. When installing a rooftop system, you have to take into account several variables like roof type, space availability, orientation, roof pitch and shading, but with the ground-mounted smart flower system, you have the freedom to install the system wherever there is sufficient exposure to sunlight.
What are some of the ‘smart’ features of the solar flower?
One of the key features that separate the solar flowers from other ground-mounted and solar tracking systems is the self-cleaning quality. The smart flower automatically self-cleans each petal every time it opens and closes with the help of brushes that are added to the back of each panel.
The second feature that makes smart flowers stand out from other solar technologies is the ‘smart cooling system’. The flower includes rear ventilation to keep the modules cooler, which helps the solar cell’s efficiency, as the function of the solar panels can vary in different
temperatures.
A very important feature of the smart flower is that it is self-containing. This means that it contains all the hardware and other components within itself, such as a control box, tan inverter, battery charger and batteries. According to the companies that work with this type of solar technology, the installation can take two to three hours, whereas a rooftop installation with the same installed power can take a whole day.
Disadvantages of solar flowers
All of the features that smart flowers offer are quite impressive, but that’s in terms of design. The numbers may tell a different story. Some of the disadvantages of these systems are:
– Higher cost compared to rooftop systems
– A system warranty of 5 years and a module performance warranty of 25 years, whereas other solar panel systems have 20 to 25-year warranties for both system and performance.
Despite the high cost and shorter warranty, the smart flower is considered to be a unique, portable and innovative technology. Smart flowers may just be the future of solar technology.
