As we all know, solar energy is an amazing renewable energy source that gathers up and harnesses the power of sunlight and converts it into electricity for you to use. It is an extremely environmentally friendly energy source that is gaining more popularity each year, and can actually end up saving you a lot of money in the long run.

With so many benefits it often begs the question why anyone would hesitate about getting solar power for their house? Well one of the reasons might be because they do not know if solar power is a viable option for the location in which they live.

Some individuals who live in particularly cloudy regions might not think that getting a solar company in Erie, CO to install thousands of dollars worth of sunlight-dependent solar panels will be worth it. Well your solar panels might actually be able to operate during cloudy weather much better than you thought.

Down But Not Out

While it is true that solar panels do not work as well on cloudy days, they still definitely work. Depending on the specific conditions of the cloudiness, you can expect your panels to be putting out around 10-25 percent of their stated energy output. When it comes to a solar panel it is not just about direct access to sunlight, there are actually a variety of aspects that you have to consider if you want to see the big picture.

For example, you can’t just focus on one bad month or one bad season for sunlight when you are trying to decide on solar power. You have to look at the entire year as a whole, because often times places that are known for having particularly cloudy winters can end up getting similar levels of sunlight as many other places that already have thriving solar powered communities.

You also have to not just consider levels of sunshine but the variants in temperature as well. Somewhere that is generally extremely sunny but also extremely hot might not actually be as effective at hosting solar panels as you would think. Since the electrons used by these panels prefer temperatures that are not too hot, the areas with more clouds but also more moderate temperatures are actually sometimes better for solar power.

Believe it or not, there are actually times when a mix of sun and clouds is actually better for solar panels. Sometimes when they sun passes over the edge of a cloud it creates a phenomena known as the “edge of cloud” effect where the sunlight is actually temporarily magnified by the outer edge of a cloud. This can end up boosting the levels of energy harnessed by the panels to exceed even direct sunlight levels.