The BCIT Energy OASIS Project has been a major success in allowing BCIT to generate energy through environmentally sustainable methods. However due to the Lower Mainland’s unforeseeable weather patterns, the solar panels accumulated large amounts of snow last winter, creating a snow sliding hazard to the public.
Joe Newton and Ernie Janzen, from BCIT’s MAKE+ applied research team are collaborating with the SMART research team to develop an innovative solution to prevent this problem from occurring again. Joe and Ernie have developed some prototypes aimed at solving the snow sliding problem without creating shadows that would hinder the solar panels’ energy generation.
Various versions of the prototypes will be tested on the solar panels, for example, changing the configuration of the prototype or size. These tests will allow MAKE+ to determine the optimal setup and enable them to provide recommendations to other installations that experience similar snow sliding issues.
Let it snow!
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