Photovoltaic projects crumble in harsh alpine environments…Swiss solar panels on dam project fails after just 2 years.
Who cares if it works or not?
It’s often how the green racket works: Conjure up some green energy producing pie-in-the-sky project, no matter how unfeasible it may be, propose it to technically illiterate bureaucrats – who permit and fund it with little hesitation – build it, and, after realizing it won’t ever work, abandon it and let the next generation deal with the mess. In the meantime, you will have earned a tidy sum of money.
The latest likely example of such a project is “Axpo in Glarus Süd”, described at Blackout News here: “Solar panels at Muttsee dam fail after two years – solar plant not suitable for mountain use.”
PV system installed on a dam in Switzerland. AI-generated image, Source: Blackout News.
The Swiss Axpo Glarus Süd solar project consisted of installing solar panels on a dam with ideal orientation.
Extremely harsh environment
It was heralded as a pioneering project and designed to last 20 years while providing green power (at least in the summertime) to nearly 3000 people. But, as Blackout News reports: “After just two years, considerable problems are already apparent. Of the 5,000 or so solar panels installed, around 270 are damaged, reports the newspaper Südostschweiz.”
A solar system in the harsh environment of the Swiss Alps? What could possibly go wrong?
Surely the builders and those approving the project had to have been familiar with extremely harsh winter conditions and massive snowfalls of the Swiss Alps, and that the system would never have a chance. Obviously no one cares much about reality anymore. The important thing, it seems, is to grab all that green cash and make a stash.
Panels damaged after just 2 years
Already, just 2 years in operation, 270 panels (5%) of the Muttsee project need to be replaced, and that at an exorbitant cost. Just check out the Axpo promotion video and take a look at the equipment needed to build the project. The helicopters, cranes, rigging and this caliber of personnel aren’t cheap.
Axpo promotion video: “Construction start of Switzerland’s largest solar facility.”
So far I haven’t found data on the project’s return on investment time.
Another embarrassing fact: “The full extent of the damage only became clear when the snow at 2500 meters above sea level had completely melted,” reports Blackout News.
No one became aware of the damage until spring had arrived?
The AI image is likely FALSE.
The location of this structure seems to be:
46.860297, 9.020500
It seems to NOT be on a pre-existing structure. Current image seems to be March, 2022. Perhaps the level of lake Muttsee was lowered to allow construction. Note the raw construction site with the kink, at the yellow Google Earth pin. YouTube video shows this kink. Large crane to the right of the pin. Use the earlier image – 7/2010 – to see the larger lake. The construction site is near the power station and lines out.
The Wikipedia entry for Muttsee shows an outline of the larger area.
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1) Why use a FAKE, AI generated picture, instead of one of the photographs on the project’s website? It looks nothing like the fake picture.
2) Solar panels are dirt cheap now (£60 for a 400W panel at retail, so doubtless £40 or less when bought in bulk by the trade), and nowhere is there an explanation of how the 275 panels became damaged. This would be helpful. Solar panels do not “crumble”, the project isn’t “crumbling”, solar panels are easy to replace – one man can go down on a rope and the panel can be lowered down on another rope by one man, it takes about five minutes to unscrew the mounts and disconnect the MC4 connectors, and five minutes to put the new panel on. So where is the “crumbling”?
Snow fall doesn’t damage solar panels, harsh Winters don’t damage panels, so the CAUSE of the damage would be very helpful to know…
Having said all that, of course there is no ‘climate emergency’, but solar power is a very useful addition to electricity generation, and now cheaper than ever.
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