Get 4X The Power From Your Solar Panels! - TI Sunday 

Funny I was just thinking of the vids you did on using reflectors to get more power and then I saw your comment.

Could you add some kind of radiator to the underside of the panel?

not only weight-wise, but it saves a lot of money making energy with them you could have solar farms that'd be 3x cheaper if you were to quadruple its energy output, as you wouldn't need as much panels to do so

I guess it depends how much the reflectors reflect rather than absorb heat. If, as is suggested in the video, the type of reflectors used preferentially reflect mostly the spectrum used by the photovoltaic cells then maybe the cells wont get that much more additional heat. The reflectors would need to dissipate heat from the back of the reflector though rather than re-radiating it out at the solar panel. Perhaps that can be tested next by measuring the cell temperatures.

Like was said in the video, this could work great for places where the sun doesn't really rise much above the horizon during winter, like Canada or Finland. If the air is closer to freezing, and the power output isn't more than the panel is rated for, I'm sure the panel will be fine. I was thinking that this could also work with panels that are mounted straight up, like on top of an RV. I could just put a reflector towards south, and compensate for the bad angle. I might experiement with something like a space blanket.

Thanks! No, I'm not. We covered this in our first livestream.

Thanks you!

@@TechIngredients I want you to quantify efficiency of expanded solar systems. To include not just power generated but power saved. Please look at low line New York experiment. If you could also consider the description and example of a modernized skyscraper, for which I emailed you. If I may zoom and discuss that would be great. Thanks for your time and consideration.

You can get panels that are designed to help mitigate partial shading, but even with one of those, this demonstration would be voided, because both panels are not experiencing the same input. Without the mirrors, both panels should have the same output and with one panel being shaded there's no way they can have the same output, even if this was one of those designed for shade. I want to point out that that doesn't mean that this doesn't work just that the results are not as dramatic as what you're making them out to be because that shaded panel is seriously hampered

@@better.better They where aware of and fixed the shading issue. They mention it in the annotations during the video.

@@TechIngredients.....great work., but please look at PV-T.,ie stripping the heat out of the panel..There is a very nice Turkish panel that has been made from the 70's.,pulling the heat off the back of the panel., and it can be purchased double glazed..There is a German copy..I do like your barn door approach.,as a camping.,we'll attended unit.......but as a lash down and run away.,not quite the beast..Have a look at Rosco.,makers of film gels to the film industry.,who also have a great line in mirror film on the roll.,but your item is likely to have greater longevity..

That was my initial concern. Did the wind damage or fight with his design? Apparently so. The question then is how to windproof the moving mirrors. Perhaps a stand alone green house type of structure? Perhaps a different, heavier mirror syatem? I would not know, but it is very interesting.

Nah, you don’t need a tether, you just need some flight control software and a GPS!

@@HealthyDoubter Perforate the reflectors!

I’ll be an airplane one day

Add a turbine for a solar / wind hybrid system? 😎

Yeah, where would one get a tracking system to affix to a mirror array like that, that would get the mirrors to move and keep focusing their light on the panel as the sun moves?

Thanks! Both are needed. The bookish knowledge is where you start, and the practical engineering is how you implement it.

Those blankets degrade quite quickly outside, been there, done that.

@@boots7859 how quickly is quickly? Slow enough for a (prolonged) camping trip?

I've gone down the mylar path, and honestly, those $45 silver coated alloy sheets sound like the way forward. Getting a result out of mylar is easy.. Getting a great result will cost more and be less resilient.

@@Jehty21 If you're thinking along the lines of boosting a portable folding panel on the trail then yes, you've got little to lose by rigging up a frame or two, you can get them very cheap.. Other than that, user mileage may vary.. It's pretty thin.

wind though

Now that is a brilliant perfection of an idea ;)

Yews, he did not mentioned that. And compared apples with oranges. The both panels should have been in full sun.

@@ehombane Watch the video again at 14:21 There's a few secs in the video where it says "2nd test" done when both the panels are under full sun without shadows.

@@pravinsmart Thanks for pointing that out. I did not noticed. I use subtitles to confirm, that I hear correctly, but something is faulty here, subtitles are ridiculously off. So I ignored them, focusing on audio. Hence, I did not noticed the written notes. And what I have said it remains true. He says that panels increases the output at a rate of over six times which is not true. It is almost 4 times as second test proves. He should have corrected with text this figure too. Even more, the enhanced panels should have been placed in the shadow. Obviously, you need to enhance panels when you have poor sun conditions. Enhancing in that situation will not wear the cell too much, compared with enhanced panels in full sun. As we know, panes as every electronics depreciate in time due use, depreciation being a lot faster when the system is overexerted. So the mirrors may kill the panels in few years in a sunny location, but be a blast in a shadowed location. I have done some testes myself at window, where I have few hours of shadowed sun, with very unsatisfactory results. However, I noticed that charging my little solar radio from a LED light, is 12 times more efficient. Yep, mind boggling. More precise, a full day of exposure, gives me one hour of player use. I considered only the two hours of full sun, the rest I suppose is useless. But at LED I charged only 10 seconds, which gave one minute of player use. Repeated few times, but not extensively, so there may be some errors. However the difference is stark. So I assumed that solar panels works on a band that LEDs are providing. Now, he confirmed my hunch. SO, that coating may be a really nice find. The two mirrors should have tripled, the production, or even less, since it cannot have perfect angles to capture all reflected surfaces. So, the extra percentage may come from that filtering of the useful band. I mean it reflects the useful bands but not the useless ones, that may even do damage through extra heating. So, the idea is amazing. Too bad that is poorly presented and incompletely tested. .

Thank you!

Yet, no understanding of the impact of a shadow on panel1

@@occamraiser it is mentioned in the video as a second test where there was a difference of about 10 watt.

And I myself, having no technical expertise in any of these subjects, appreciate his willingness & generosity to educate laymen & encourage a collaborative spirit. The global energy crisis we're facing (peak oil + climate change + emerging economies) is everyone's problem. Not just country bumpkins or city mice. Not just North America, but every continent everywhere. Once upon a time the American economy depended too heavily on whale oil and giving it up was needful. Seems to me this is the next generations global space race.

@@MohamedAdel-jf4qe why not provide a time stamp so people can see for themselves. I watch the video a year ago. Don't want to have to watch it all again

14:20

They tried this in the Mojave, and ended up selling off all the panels be caused it really didn't work. Most of the panels just got cooked and failed, the blue cells turned brown. Heat is definitely the big problem, but I bet it would work in cold areas.......

YES ! A geothermal heat exchanger would work , I bet .

@@nimrodquimbus912 As you said this type of setup is definitely better in colder areas. While deserts do get more light than any other (terrestrial) location they also have to deal with extreme heat and extreme cold as well as sandstorms.

In order to do a long term test, he would have to build the robotic control arms that he mentioned. They would not only need to track the sun but also would have to open up when the panel temperature gets too high, and of course close when it rains or when the sun goes down. Spending all that money, time, and resources just to capture at most 30 cents a day worth of energy doesn't seem like a wise investment (unless you're a government worker)

@@Shadowmaster625 it would not be so much about capturing small amounts of energy as it would be to see if doing it would actually add any benefit to the overall performance day by day week by week month by month or if what was shown in the video amounts to nothing more than a parlor trick. Lots of questions could be answered like does it degrade the panel to fast and end up costing us more in the end, Bugs and design changes to the reflection system if it works, TCO recalculated, and much more. The investment would be well worth the money if there was true benefit to be realized. Simply showing what was shown in the video is not enough to cause your average joe to spend money on a potential money pit Considering how expensive solar is. Why would anyone just tamper with a working system after watching a RU-vid video In order to get potentially damaging results. However with more concrete evidence the equation changes and the risk can be justified.

Do you think white color panels would help considerably or it should be somewhat shinny?

I agree

I ran into this issue with the AC unit on top of my RV, it didn't matter which direction the sun was in one of my solar panels was being ever so slightly shaded by the AC unit

I was thinking the same thing as I was looking at the shadows off the trees on the first panel.

This shadow makes the comparation invalid. He should make a new test video.

Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) inverters with bypass diodes can mitigate the effects of shading, by bypassing low output shaded cells. Advanced algorithms for MPPT can even respond to transient shadings such as clouds or even a high-speed event like a bird passing over a panel. These algorithms use a variety of techniques like Neural Networks (NN), Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC), and even biologically-inspired algorithms like Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Ant-Colony Optimization (ACO), and even Flower Pollination (FP) to search for a global power maximum on the I-V curve among all cell outputs.

Yes, There's actually shadow seen in the left panel which I immediately thought that are the figures completely right. *edit* oh it was already commented

I've got a big old satellite dish laying around that I keep thinking I should cover with mylar. I haven't worked out an application for it, though, besides hanging a can of beans in the focal point and taking bets on when it explodes.

I immediately thought of using emergency blankets too for the reflector. Thumbs up.

@@Darwinpasta It might be pretty difficult to get it to lay flat without creases. If it's made of metal already you could try simply stripping off the paint and polishing it. Rustoleum also makes actual "mirror" paint you could try. Sort of expensive though at close to 20 bucks a can where I live (Canada).

@@whatelseison8970 Fiberglass, unfortunately. I figured the creases wouldn't matter too much if it's all reasonably flat. Hadn't thought about the paint, though.

@@Darwinpasta It depends on how tight you want the focus to be but you're probably right. Only one way to find out I suppose. To stick it down for a trial run you could just spray a bit of water between the dish and the film and the surface tension will hold it down. If that goes well then you can try a nice, thin, slow curing epoxy. Generally solvent based glues can't dry through the film.

You mean it's rigged? Say it ain't so...🤣

And the angle is different . Are the electric parameters identical? The only correct measurement had been the same panel with and without mirrors. And you have to correct the angles automatically or you must have a lot of time ....

that is not what I am saying @@kennguyen821

The tracking system needs to be addressed. If these were fixed they'd reduce morning and evening sunlight on the panel. Canceling out efficiency gains. These also force you to space your panels out a LOT more because the collectors could shade other panels. There's a lot more work that needs to go into this. For most people any type of tracking system. Even a cheap DIY one totally destroys the cost benefit ratio. It's easier to just buy more panels.

Wouldn’t recommend. When the end times come mcmaster-carr probably doesn’t deliver supplies anymore. These guys are done for then. 😂

@@petergoestohollywood382 I'm not so sure. Super-Dad here will probably start mining his own rare earth metals at that point. ;)

This is where I landed.... Going with used panels and an orphan (new, but no longer supported by mfg) inverter, including single axis adj. mounting with 4x6 and unistrut... I'm at $430 per kw. That is not counting the cost of the wiring I had to upgrade and the cutoff switches and such to wire everything up, or the inspection after I finished.

I have been working with solar power since 2012 and I am very much in agreement with Steven additional panels is almost always the best option and like Steven points out you can add more panels to a smaller inverter to get a higher output - yes you might lose some power in the summer but you will get it back in the winter months - I've done the calculations many many times 😁

What? ... 🤔 Dude took 20 minutes to give us a

@@trupyrodice4462 yes, but if you try to watch videos, you know it could have taken an hour to show five minutes of content! Relatively speaking, this video wasn't too bad.

Don't forget wind load. And snow on the upper reflector. Will need daily care like a rabbit hutch.

@@NICEFINENEWROBOT In most cases fixed panels will remove their snow pretty quick. You may have problems if you live in an area that is prone to having 1 foot of snow drop a lot and sticks around. Yet it does not take much for the air to warm up the panels and the snow to slide off.

@@kameljoe21 Usually you can heat the panels by running current through them.. making the snow disappear quite fast

@@allesklarklaus147 I have never heard of that. If that is true then that is how the large solar farms in northern areas might do it. Though I wonder how much energy it requires to do that and if its manual or not, an AI of some sort would have to confirm that there is snow on the panels and start the process of heating panels.

@@kameljoe21 I don't think you need AI to know that if it's January at 1PM and your solar panels aren't producing any power that you probably have snow on them.

Doubtful it would change the fact it had a 5x increase.

Absolutely right. The shading of a single cell affects the total panel performance ance

That's the benefit of Microinverters v. Central Inverters.

This is the most important comment… comparing a panel in shade (even partial) to one in direct sun is a completely FALSE comparison. I have tested this myself and the loss of power is HUGE!

​@@kiterb3527 micro vs string NOT central. Commercial term. Less confusing for layfolk like me.

Good idea with mylar. That's exactly what cannabis growers use to make the most of their indoor lighting.

@@davedunn7759 I wondered why they looked at me so funny when I asked for thirty mylar blankets at the hardware store lol

@@larryreagan6936 LMAO!!

Can you show a pic somehow of your Mylar blanket setup ?

@@emmasantos5939 I have some pictures. I'll try to post them here but if I can't I'll post them on my FB page under my same name.

Now thy are scaring the public with threats of toxic Lead (Pb) in waste Perovskite (TI check pronunciation) panels. - it could be somewhat of a concern as just like batteries solar panels to tend to be distributed and downscaled over a couple of generations - rather than replaced and recycled after first use. More likely causing problems in "terminal countries" rather than place of initial installation.

@@kadmow Perovskite is actually the name of CaTiO₃ structure that can hold various cations inside. Newer perovskite panels that are being tested have had their Lead replaced with other elements that are not toxic.

only good for seperate pnls,,no good if 10 or 20 on roof..

@@iamstillcrazy not useless in our northern climate. We install these for three months in the winter and then remove them for the other nine months.

@@iamstillcrazy I live in the north and it is cloudy lots of days so solar panels don’t make much sense. I came up with this idea to find a work around for those problems. I currently don’t have any solar panels and likely will never. However this concept brings it closer to a possibility - except during the summer. Thanks.

@@akau1340 Why do you remove them for the other 9 months?

I'm thinking a 30 Watt fan in the circuit, aimed at the surface of the panel will solve the temp issue, albeit using some of the extra incoming power. A thermal sensor/switch would turn the fan on and off, to preserve energy when cooling is not needed.

I think those methods are quite cost prohibitive. Instead just rotate the panel 90° to capture the most of the sun while nullifying a mechanical actuator.

Light just means it's basically a sail. Wind stress will become a major issue

Hi the water jacket sounds like a great addition to the reflectors.Do have a photo and more info on it and how you retrofitted it

@@martinscheirich6387 I'm still working on it - I changed the design into a small 'misting' system which sprays water over the backside of panel - this is the way to go I think - very little cost for this setup as long as water is easily available

Screaming! Screaming for vengeance!

@@mordecaisackett9421 thanks,you don't have a photo of your stop do you?

@@mordecaisackett9421 could you submerge the backside of the panel in a pool of water? Or submerge the whole panel?

Perhaps you could package and edit some of your videos for a high school audience and see if you can find a school district interested in buying. After all we are becoming a multimedia learning environment. Covid has actually pushed us more into distance learning. It's the interactive part that needs to advance. Great work!

Agreed. Thanks!

I recently saw a video of a guy seeing a spike of something like 20% loss in power output simply because a thin metal pole for an antenna shaded the solar panels. The video name is "EEVblog 1426 - WOW! This Problem DROPS Solar Output by 20% !" by the channel "EEVblog" I would say that the gain in solar panel caused by the mirrors is more like 20% to 50%, depending on the circuitry of the solar panel. The biggest increase would be from lighting up with the indirect light (being reflected by the mirrors) the areas which are shaded by the direct light hitting the solar panels. But there are ways to use more mirrors to light up either a solar panel, a solar heater, or a house. You can use multiple mirrors (which can be as cheap as aluminium foil, with clingwrap (food wrap) on both sides for protection, kept fairly stretched between two poles (but not so much they rip), each at a different angle from the ones next to it, to act more like a fresnel mirror (the mirror version of the fresnel lens), and to either move that one or the solar panel into the concentrated sunlight. You can even set it up to maximize sunlight gained in the mornings and evenings, so you don't have to cool the solar panels too much, since that takes away from the energy produced, but mounting an under-volted fan or array of fans to the back of the solar panels, and maybe also using the do-it-yourself thermal paste and a copper or aluminium backing for a heatsink plate (as opposed to a heatsink with those fins) to maximize the heat transfer to the air. With water, it's a bit more difficult, because you have to use waterproof materials and electrically insulate them from the panels, so it would be less efficient than the fans, and (depending on the setup) it might need to resist both the water pressure and quick thermal expansion-contraction cycles, without losing structural integrity for quite some time.

The shadow made about 17w (around 40%) difference.

@Jim McIntosh impractical for most applications due to size, windproofing and overheating. Ground mounted systems or small portable panels are where mirrors would work best especially in cool places far away from the equator.

@Jim McIntosh wouldn't the cells be at very inefficient angles to the sun? /\ or is one side a mirror? I think heat pipes would be better in lower temperatures but costly. I have fancied making my own heat pipes out of copper pipes containing water in a vacuum but I am barred from fitting anything to my roof so have not tried.

A mild wind will rip that panel right off the roof.

Perfect setup for linear actuators too!

No need for timetables or a micro processor. Two LDR or photo diodes feeding a comparator, deciding which way round to turn the gear motor. It also works in the morning with the panel in evening position facing away from the morning sun.

Hello @@Tore_Lund , yes, i saw something like that with a 3D printed object and it worked with shadow or no shadow. But the mirror adjustment will complicate that and clouds or bad weather will be maybe a problem. The ESP32 is very cheap and not difficult to use.

@@wizzardrincewind9458 It is just me, I think analog first. But true, anything the slightest more complex and you are better off with an ESP. Clouds or varying intensity, is not a problem with an analog circuit, You adjust the hysteresis of the comparator, so it won't hunt or oscillate but only react very slowly to changes.

Hello @@Tore_Lund , if you can solve a problem by thinking and dont using a computer, it is the better way. To make things works easy is a good thing and is the thinking of a engineer.

heating water directly is useless. you can 3~6X the energy to convert it to electricity and using a heat pump then just heating water directly

@@SupremeRuleroftheWorld It's hardly useless. A heat pump adds a LOT of cost and complexity for that added efficiency. Heating water directly is a very simple, cheap and robust way to directly use what would otherwise be waste heat.

@@bradley3549 its actually useless to do it "cheap". looking at the startup cost only is breathtakingly shortshighted.

@@SupremeRuleroftheWorld What you missed in the original comment was 'due to the additional heat'. These solar panels aren't made to get 3x the luminosity that comes with reflectors which can damage the solar panel pretty quickly in a warm climate. You'd need to cool the panels effectively to prevent additional costs of replacing the panels much sooner than their original lifespan.

@@charlielarson1350 as panel makers state how much energy they lose due to heat in most of their datahseets (its not much) its nothing buy economical to even consider cooling and maintaining that whole setup. just eating that little (because it is little) reduction in lifespan is FAR more economical then dicking around with a cooling setup for an entire roof for 30 years. do you know how i know that it does not make economic sense? because if it did large solar parks would be using that already.

I live in the desert and I don't need reflectors or fresnel lenses here as it might start a fire. I actually use the opposite a filter film and back the panels and seal between them with a silicone paste I then mix with fine aluminum dust and apply generously otherwise the panels will degrade and fuse within a few months. I also used custom spacers in the joining this puts a 10 degree slope on each panel arranged in a tiled repeated pyramid pattern. This simple trick increases your surface area which allowed me to add about four to six more 250 watt panels on my roof or about 1 to 1.5kw of additional power generation. I wouldn't go above 15 degrees being the extreme on the tiling rise 10-12 degrees is probably good to avoid any shading power loss. If you do this also assume for wind deflection around the edges of your setup since they are no longer flat using flashing around the edges to direct the incoming air over the panels. Little extra work but it's worth doing.

automated closure from a wind indicator and weather service.

@@steveturcotte7435 Maybe but motors are heavy, the system relatively complex and still not much protection to sudden gusts. Weather service implies reliable data connectivity (and reliable local forecast!). Just easiest, I think, for manned situations or where mirrors can be protected from wind somehow. Easily removable mirrors would enable the option of unmanned operation without enhanced output and the enhanced situation described here. One simple solution might be to fold the mirrors behind the panel, but then the panel is left unprotected in transit.

1 disadvantage is that each strip would require it's own rigid frame (more weight). If the system has a permanent location, that wouldn't be an issue, other additional base framing.

@@gcrady - using a single T-beam for each strip should do the trick. Now let’s wait for the sound that 'harp' is creating under windy conditions ;o)

@@gcrady They can be built up of segments with perpendicular stabilising rods to keep them rigid.

Those wavelengths in consumer panels are absorbed with the other wavelengths already. It's how they can generate electricity on cloudy days. Not saying it wouldn't work but with the amount of extra components that would work against the systems reliability, for a consumer are the efficiencies gained worth the extra complexity? All light that is absorbed into a material normally converts into heat without the need of a prism that will eventually degrade just like the normal pv cells would. Even if you made it so the system heated your water in your home directly, as soon as the hot water tank was full all that energy potential in the square footage where you placed your thermal generator would be lost when not using the hot water. A normal cell would charge a battery and if hooked on the grid the extra when not in use might get money back from your power provider. If you want heat there are geothermal systems that u can burry beneath the frost line (4-10ft) that uses glycol, ground circulator pumps, and heat pumps to concentrate heat where you want it. They look like a web of pipes you burry under your lawn with a heat pump where your furnace would be and a circulator pump driving it all. They can be powered by a normal pv array. Sadly these systems can be incredibly expensive due to the inflated labor costs to install the pipes, and any mistakes that can be easily overlooked while planning for the head pressure requirements. So you normally want a professional to design the system, but if you have the high start costs, can do a heated floor garage without air locking it, know how to calculate and add up head pressure requirements for a pump system, and are willing to dig up your lawn with some heavy equipment, one organized and efficient person could easily install one in a summer for their home. Just make sure you select pipes that won't rot out to quick. Which is a learning project in itself because you probably want some underground coating for it to last longer. You don't see many of these systems though because a lot of companies who thought they could get the math right couldn't and so that plus cutting corners trying to get to the next job and there are a lot of horror stories around the technology. There are no cutting corners with this system because it will equal reliability problems. That and shitty plumbed pipes leaking somewhere in the web is a nightmare to fix and find as you wonder where all that air is coming from. If designed and plumbed properly they are extremely simple and reliable systems where literally the only moving parts in the whole system are the circulator pump, the heat pump, and the valves controlling the flow into the heat pump. Sad it isn't used in conjunction with solar and wind more often especially with todays political climates and the price of fossil fuels.

@@randoedits6906 Id say that the main advantage of taking heat away from the panel is increasing its efficiency and maybe lifespam, even if you cant make use of it it's still better to waste that heat away from your other components that are sensitive to heat. But sure, the added complexity is probably not worth the trouble for consumer use

@@joey_f4ke238 You're not wrong, it's just the physics of how heat moves means it will be a small effect that still can't protect the surface where the sunlight hits its directly. The photons themselves degrade it even if we could take the effects of heat away completely. But the heat is a byproduct of the light hitting the surface exciting the material. It's the reason you don't really see cooling systems like that for them. This channel actually has a video on how heat moves around I just can't remember the title. It's there though.

@@randoedits6906 Deep thinking, keep doing that but I feel the need to contest a few of your points, Not all wavelenghts, or frequencies depending on how you want to look at it, are effective at converting to a flow of electrons in a given solar panel. The last thing you want to do in a solar panel is to absorb solar energy and convert it to heat. Admittedly, I do not know which wavelenghts are best captured by any particular solar cell. But suffice it to say that whatever wavelenghts are not converted into a flow of elecrons in the panel you have, you would rather be reflected 100% or transmitted 100% or else just like everything else, it's all heat in the end. And I hope you are aware by now, that elevated junction temperature is not good for the conversion efficiency of any solar cell. If you cant make a flow of electrons out of it, let it pass right on through or bounce it off. Hmmm

​@@laserflexr6321 Not sure where you picked up that I think heat is good for the transmission of electricity? Heat will increase the resistance in the system meaning you would lose power generated. I did make a generalization of the frequencies when I said they already use them all, but that is because as you have pointed out the other frequencies don't do as well at creating electricity and only increase heat reducing efficiency so are designed to reflect off. There are different cells you could use for those different wavelengths but now you need the extra surface area as the different cells can't physically exist in the same space. Yeah there are see through cells they plan to make windows with you could try stacking, but that technology is pretty new, and I don't think the tech has gotten there. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure at the end of the day your consumer panels are going to have the best efficiency when you factor the square footage the different systems physically cover (excluding the future tech of clear panels) depending where you are in the world. Also if I am wrong what is the cost of such a system and how reliable would it be? Those two points are the main reason we don't see crazy solar arrays everywhere vs fields of pv panels or wind farms. As it stands right now consumer panels are guaranteed to pay for themselves before they fail and if they don't you claim the warranty. Sure there are those experimental power plants that use mirrors and prisms, and they work to a degree, but for a consumer it makes little sense when you think of how complicated those systems are and the fact the prism degrades. For simplicities sake say you have one 1ft x1ft consumer panel, giving you power @ 60% efficiency. Then compare to this array of other cells that absorb the different frequencies, and get 100%. But now your system takes up 2-3x the area but still only is processing a 1 square foot of sunlight. Would you rather take 2 square feet to process 1 square foot of light at 100%? Or would you rather take up one square foot and process 60% of the 1 square foot of light? The panel's efficiency isn't the only efficiency you need to plan around. Is it an efficient use of space? Are the materials being used efficient vs the expected lifetime of the panel and what it will generate?

In a situation where the arrangement shown would overheat the solar panel, consider making the mirrors half as wide so they meet in the center when closed. This would still produce extra power and provide protection for the solar panel when closed. - If the full size mirrors boost the output to 4X, the mirrors are adding 3X to the normal output; therefore, mirrors half the size should add 1.5X to the normal output, yielding a total output 2.5X of what the the panel would produce on its own. That’s actually a better return per dollar spent on the upgrade than with full size mirrors. (You get 62.5% of the power boost of full size mirrors for only 50% of the cost.)

Thanks and welcome!