I have tried various iterations of heating panels electrically without luck. I have embedded heat tapes in insulation applied the the backs etc. Takes an enormous amount of energy to heat the panels that way. Had some luck with CO2 powered spray of deicing fluid. No luck with pumps as they would not pump the viscous fluid. The spray foam really did work the best. The deicing fluid is a zero electrical energy method of clearing them too.
I wonder if the Alaskan company was using a thermo-solar panel and deiced using stored heated fluid? From: Jaime Solorza Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 6:00 PM To: Animal Farm Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Tower Cameras The tech from an Alaskan company told me they started putting panels behind sun facing panels and using reflections off snow and ice to generate power for heater to keep main panels clean....didn't get more details ....wish I had On Dec 22, 2015 3:52 PM, "Dan Petermann" <[email protected]> wrote: We are looking for tower cameras to monitor our solar sites. We just want to be able to tell if we need to send someone out to clear off the snow. Any recommendations? The cheaper the better but they must work in the cold.
