Mirrors to increase the power of solar panels?

[ham789]

Originally Posted by ECO20

Does anyone use mirrors to increase the power of solar panels?

There are numerous issues with this.
To name a few...
The output of a panel is related to something like the cosine of
the angle of incidence. As the sun moves the output changes.
You can keep the angle perpendicular with a two-axis sun tracker.

If you try to use mirrors, how are you gonna arrange them?
How are you gonna track the sun? A small change in incident angle
decreases solar output by a small amount. But a change in the angle incident
on the mirror can cause the energy to miss the panel entirely.
Even a partial miss can decrease output dramatically.

Then there's heat. If you've ever tried to start a fire with a magnifying
glass, you have seen the effects of concentration.

Somebody has to keep the mirrors clean.

Mirrors work great when you have a bunch of them actively tracking
and projecting/focusing the energy on a small boiler high in the air.