this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2025
65 points (98.5% liked)
Green Energy
3445 readers
313 users here now
Everything about energy production and storage.
Related communities:
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Some plants actually grow better in the shade under solar panels than in direct sunlight. Of course it will depend on local climate too.
Oh yeah, I’m an avid gardener. I grow stuff in the shade on purpose. It’s usually in the shade of a tree though. I would imagine a giant array of solar panels that always rotate to face the sun would cast much deeper, more solid shadows than trees do.
Most solar installations, like the one in the picture, don't rotate or only rotate on one axis.
There's some actual research into how different crops react when grow between rows of solar panels. Vertically mounted solar panels are especially suited to this because you can drive between them on a harvesting machine easily. Sadly I don't have any links to give off the top of my head.
Trees still let some light through. Lay flat under a tree and look straight up. It's brighter than you think. The panel is going to block 100%.
Not quite. Shit bounces around. You can till see in there, after all.
True! But try my "laying down" test. Found some moss in a super shady area, couldn't figure how enough light got through for even that. Laid down on a cloudy summer day, looked through the canopy, blinded.
Our eyes have little to tell us about how many lumens are hitting the ground, to say nothing of UV and spectrum.
tl;dr: Yes, a solid panel is going to block way more light than a tree canopy.
More not all.
Two-axis rotating panels are rare; it's usually most cost-effective to to zero or one axis of rotation, so it's a lot more like planting under a tree than you might think.