Sacrifice for Winter Solar power

This is my hosta garden. All the hostas are underground at this time of the year so the garden looks quite bare. With the sun so much lower in the sky the rhododendron that provides shade for the hostas in the Summer was cutting out too much sunlight onto the solar panels so reluctantly I had to agree to have the tree reduced in height. The guys got stuck in and really cut it back. There are some leaves on the back side of the tree and I am hopeful it will regrow sufficient leaves in the Spring to shelter the hostas from the worst of the sun. Below is what the garden looked like when the hosts were up and the tree in its original state.