On the scale of things, they haven’t improved that much. Most PV panels now will capture 18-20% of energy that lands them, where 25 years ago that was about 13-14%. A ~50% improvement, but only an absolute gain of 6%. The massive difference is cost, the Wp (Watts peak) cost of those panels will be less than a fifth.
Panels facing east will generate well in the morning, but obviously fall away badly in the afternoon - which in most cases is the peak generation time.
I think a big chunk of the renewable energy contracts have been inflation linked too.
A reasonable portion of UK wind is ‘merchant’, not on renewable energy contracts but selling at the market price. So for all the people complaining about companies expecting bailouts, those wind farms have seen years of revenues below projected business cases while the UK public enjoyed the benefits of cheap natural gas.
I always thought they had to face directly South because of the higher heat generated by the sun at midday…
Although I also learned that if I ever had to cut a bridle path through a dense forest, it should run East to West so that it has sunshine all through the day… So maybe it has more to do with the type of light/heat they receive as opposed to the duration of daylight hours…!
Either way, I will be giving the solar experience a miss for a tad longer until someone invents a cost-effective battery replacement… Just my thoughts on the subject though
No, heat has nothing to do with photovoltaic energy - in fact, the less heat the better. Standard output measurement is at 25 deg C, but per Ohm’s Law resistance increases with temperature, and PV cells are essentially a semiconductor device. The less resistance, the better. With the same solar energy, the same PV module will generate more the colder it gets.
The reason you point a fixed panel south is that the angle of incidence has a direct effect on output, both for reasons of geometry (same amount of energy spread over a broader area, wavelength) and the actual structure of a PV cell (the flat surface you see is at a microscopic level a field of ‘pyramids’ that refract energy into each other). The ideal is directly perpendicular. A southern azimuth maximizes the amount of light that arrives at higher angles over the course of a day, the tilt further optimizes that angle.
edit - software says a 300W panel (18% efficiency) at Anfield with a two-axis tracker would produce 430 kWh per annum. Same panel with a one axis tracker would produce 419 kWh. Fixed south facing with the optimal tilt (43 deg), it would produce 334 kWh. The East facing panels that @rupzzz describes are taking a significant hit, the 300 Wp panel faced East would only yield 262 kWh - though it might be possible to optimize the tilt for morning collection and improve that slightly.
Cheers, I was being a bit naughty again with Tory party links etc. Our governments over protectionism of large business providing what is normally a government lead service is becoming a little worrying at the moment. Energy, water, parts of Rail and if they have their way Health.
There’s a really strong argument against privatisation building
I’m going to be honest - Liz Truss did actually answer some questions, which felt a bit weird coming from a sitting Tory PM. “Will there be a windfall tax?” “No”. Johnson would never in a million years have answered that. He would have instantly reverted to some blabbering about dithering, police, getting on with the job, Getting Brexit Done™. So in that sense it was kind of refreshing watching PMQs and not being confronted with a wall of verbal diarrhea from a PM.
6 questions, 1 answer (that she gave twice because Ian Blackford asked it too) and that 1 answer was only given because it plays well with her base. I’m not enthused.
1 > 0 ? Take the small gains 
I haven’t seen it back yet apart from a few small clips but quite a few political commentators are saying that Truss got absolutely destroyed this morning in the Energy Crisis Debate. The clips I saw she certainly looked like a deer in the headlights but hard to know the context from 30 seconds.
indyref2
I was told this saying many years ago that seems so apt today:
be careful on whose toes you tread today, for they may be connected to an ass you have to kiss tomorrow.
Thank God Boris has gone. Can only imagine how much he’d milk the Queen’s death to his own interests.
I know it doesn’t belong here but ditto the other blondie from across the pond… can you imagine the funeral with him attending!?
… he was just cheesy … or a big cheese, cheesed me off anyway.
A victorian string puppet surely, punch and judy without the style. Surely robotics are far to advanced?
I still bet that cunt will try and take her place on the throne.