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ush | 3 years ago

this is a very good point. would be good to see data for a couple of years of production and compare vs. traditional system. it's most of the time better to spend upfront for ongoing production increase. If 5% loss during 25 years, 20% upfront saving might not look that good anymore for a plant that pays back in 7 years or so.

discuss

neltnerb|3 years ago

The response of the company when the issues of heating, vegetation, snow, and rain is... I guess I am not impressed.

> The expert added, “I’m also concerned about the lack of airflow around the module in this system design. Glass-glass modules provide a good moisture seal, but I suspect the back of the module will have very high humidity with no airflow. Damp-heat testing will be important. Not sure what other organic stuff could grow back there, like fungus or mold or things that get in the J-box,” referring to the junction box that houses the equipment that carries electricity from each panel.

> Daniel Flanigan, chief marketing and product officer at Erthos, offered this response: “No developer is going to install an Erthos system without proper diligence and all of these issues…being resolved. Yet we are engaged in over a gigawatt of pipeline.”

Okay, got it. So because people are paying for it people should pay for it. Everyone knows something no one knows.

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/solar/utility-scale-sol...

ush|3 years ago

I agree. sounds like a red flag when they reply with "yeah everyone is buying it so your question is irrelevant" instead of providing a technical explanation/response. I am also skeptical on companies that raise too much funding (I can not imagine why they need $18million)

moron4hire|3 years ago

That's what they said about Theranos, too.

twobitshifter|3 years ago

They’ve studied the heat dissipation https://www.erthos.com/modeling-heat-dissipation-in-earth-mo...

Temporary_31337|3 years ago

Consider the difference in borrowing costs now too. A 20% higher upfront cost means a 30% higher cost if you include financing over several years. So it will be good to see how the alternatives work out