“We just realised how much more we could get”

This slightly geeky article from a solar industry website shows the thinking of the proposed development at Cleve Hill.

Solar arrays that are situated east-west can squeeze in more rows and panels – and therefore a greater generation capacity – than their south- or north-facing cousins. Cleve Hill Solar Park Ltd, a joint-venture comprising solar EPCs Hive Energy and Wirsol, adopted that approach when designing the 350MW+ Cleve Hill solar farm situated on the UK’s south coast in Kent.

The developers now expect to fit more than 1 million panels onto the 400-hectare site. “We just realised how much more we could get on the site for an east-west layout,” Hive’s Hugh Brennan said.

And although cramming more panels in may be good for the bankers and financiers, its the environment that suffers.

As the rows are packed in more tightly and in a convex manner, the frames and panels often create roof-like structures that block natural light and rainwater from reaching the ground underneath.

via Five key considerations for east-west solar design | PV Tech