Piggybacking this thread with related question about aeration: I have a new pond in NY that I plan to stock this spring and thinking about solar aeration (no local power feed). Will a solar system, without batteries, be effective at keeping the ice open throughout winter? TIA.
We really get very little sun in our area between Dec and Feb due to the lakes. To get enough energy in the winter to keep the ice open is expensive as you need enough panels and large enough storage. Then the snow on the panels doesn’t help much either. This winter I barely generated anything with the house solar through January. A combination of wind based and a smaller solar may do it.
