this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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Environment
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Crop success should get better as you go south and get directly under the sun -- the panels will cast smaller shadows.
Solar efficiency might get much worse.
In the end, it's a range: you can angle the solar panels not at all, or a little bit, or a lot. The effect on crops will vary and eventually you'll have to stop planting in the persistent shadow of the panels. But perhaps there are lower-light broadleaf vegetables you could plant there.
I thought it would be the opposite. As you move north, the crops get more sun because the sun is farther to the south whereas closer to the equator it’s mostly due east to due west so the crops would get shaded more by the panels. But my handle on geometry is poor.
Oh, the panels are running in lines N-S, and they've got a 2-sided arrangement that faces east and west. Yeah I didn't quite get the geometry either.