Businesses In Cold Weather Regions Harnessing Solar Power To Bring Down Utility Costs
February 28, 2011 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis 
A Minnesota man cleaning his solar panels. Photo by cleantechnica.com.
When most people think of the northern latitudes, they think of cold harsh winters, short days, and this year - tons of snow. This isn’t what most people would consider suitable climate for generating solar power, but major companies are betting otherwise.
While the common assumption is that solar power needs a lot of sun and hot weather to be worthwhile – this is only partly true. Like with other electrical devices, heat isn’t a solar panel’s friend.
Brightstar Solar, a New England-based company that designs and installs photovoltaic systems, explains it this way:
As temperatures rise, the efficiency of solar panels decreases. Heat causes electrical resistance to the flow of electrons. On days where the temperature is more than 75 degrees, the electrical resistance makes the voltage fall and thereby producing less kilowatts per hour.
Photovoltaic systems still produce energy on cloudy days. The electricity production may not be as high as on a sunny day, but your system will still produce electricity because there is still some irradiance. Under a light overcast day, panels might generate about half as much power as under full sun.
When a home or business is also connected to a power grid, the photovoltaic system works with the grid, so the utility makes up for the electrical shortfall. The reverse is also true. When the photovoltaic system generates more energy than the building requires, the excess power is exported to the utility grid, reversing the electrical meter – effectively giving you money back from the utility company.
All this has become increasingly common knowledge to businesses looking to lower their utility bills. Already around the world are some solar projects in the works that are definitely worth mentioning.