this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2026
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Switzerland bolted 5,000 solar panels onto a dam wall 8,000 feet up in the freezing Alps. The plant now makes three times more winter power than any farm down in the valleys (www.ecoportal.net)
submitted 3 weeks ago by UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
189 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Up on the dam, almost everything that looks like a problem becomes an advantage.

The plant sits above the fog line, in thin, clear air that lets far more sunlight through.

The higher you go, the stronger and cleaner the sunlight becomes.

Cold actually helps, because solar panels work more efficiently when they are not baking in heat.

And then there is the snow, which acts like a giant mirror, bouncing extra light up onto the panels from below.

Scientists call it the albedo effect, and it can lift a mountain plant’s output well beyond anything possible in the valley.

A test site at a similar height recorded yearly output far above a typical Swiss plant.

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[–] TheStaffmaster@lemmy.world 31 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (17 children)

I've thought for YEARS that we should to the same thing with the Hoover Dam. Should also mount wind turbines on the face of it to catch the updrafts out of the canyon. You all acting like green energy has to be mutually exclusive to one another. Wind turbine blades have a lot of surface area that could be covered in solar panels, which solves the issue of solar panels energy output decreasing with heat because then they'd always have built in cooling. No wind? There's still light and some wattage is better than no wattage. Put the turbine blade head on a giant hinge and they can catch rising air from the grounds' radiant heat at night. Free energy is everywhere if you just know where to look and how to take advantage of it.

[–] reptar@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Maybe it's no big deal, but I imagine there's a significant complication of the blades to do that. They're basically wings, and (again, I'd imagine) are structurally sensitive.

Agree with your general point of mix and match and combine

[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 3 points 3 weeks ago

Maybe it’s no big deal, but I imagine there’s a significant complication of the blades to do that. They’re basically wings, and (again, I’d imagine) are structurally sensitive.

I think a problem could be that the wind turbines are moving parts, so they somehow vibrate, and that could be a problem for the dam while panel on the other hand are basically a layer of paint.

[–] TheStaffmaster@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

solar cells are basically a membrane. it's usually the mounting frame that adds the weight.

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