Damus
Peter Todd · 2w
https://www.techradar.com/pro/maybe-its-not-science-fiction-solar-panels-are-causing-rainwater-to-fall-in-one-of-the-driest-places-on-earth “The researchers modeled solar panels as nearly black sur...
Jesse  profile picture
The weather mechanism may be dubious, but the energy absorption claim is not.

PV panels will absorb most of the solar energy, literally why they look black. A small percentage of that is converted into electricity and the rest is released as heat either through convection or radiation back to the surroundings. So a local warm zone above the panels is very likely.

Whether it's enough to affect the weather is another matter altogether.

1
Peter Todd · 2w
"A small percentage" As I said, it's about 15% to 25%. Making the 95% claim in the article obviously wrong. It's a trivial thing to get right. Solar will of course turn a higher % into heat than many highly reflective surfaces. So the overall concept may work. But not with the numbers quoted.