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matelodave

I'm surprised that its only a 1/3

matelodave

1 is probably the easier of the three, but even then the novelty of scuttling out first thing in the morning in the freezing cold to uncover them and then going back in the evening to recover them may wane after a few days

Anti-freeze will probably cost you more than the additional leccy that you'll gain and scraping the panels may damage them. What will you do when there's 6" of snow on top of them.

In the end a bit of common sense has to come into play and maybe you'll have to accept that when the sun doesn't shine, or the panels are iced or snowed under then they wont work.

macman

Warm water to thaw the ice (NOT hot or boiling)?
Though that requires energy to heat the water of course...

chris_n

Covers, then you have some protection from snow too. Only thing to watch is when it gets windy.

Rdwill

I have solar panels, and if I were you I'd just leave them alone. What are you going to gain this time of year if you produce or don't produce.

December, I produce an average of 4 kwhs per day, what's that about £1 a day for feed in tariff, and £1.50 using the electric that you produce. So £2.50 a day for the aggravation of covering the panels and the risk of messing things up because you're interfering with them. 

Rdwill

Very admirable,

but I would contemplate 'discretion is the better part of valour' if I were you.

And where on the 'Probability / Impact Grid' that getting on the roof (twice daily) with a sheet to cover the solar panels for £2.50 sits.

Rdwill

Well if you're happy where the activity sits on the PIG, then go for it. Good luck.

Apodemus

I believe that you can get panels deisgned for snowy conditions, where a heating element uses the little power available to melt the snow cover, or you can reverse the power flow from the batteries to energise the heating circuit.  Probably only worth it for snowy climates with longer day-length than UK.

_Sam_

I'd be worried about wind, and the cover acting like a sail. So you'd need to think of a way to secure the cover, ideally not to the panels themselves but to whatever is underneath, the wall or your shed. This cold spell we just had was hardly any wind at all, but next time it could be different. 

Screwdriva

To answer your question, the impact of ice/ frost on panels can be devastating to generation. I've noticed a 90% reduction across multiple installations I've helped out with.