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Balancing the shading impact in utility-scale dual-axis tracking concentrator photovoltaic power plants

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  • Rodrigo, P.M.

Abstract

Nowadays, the growth of concentrator photovoltaic technology is limited because of a levelised cost of energy higher than conventional photovoltaic technologies. For this reason, the new concentrator photovoltaic power plants need to be optimised in all their aspects. The existing studies on optimum layout and tracker spacing for these plants have not delved deeply into this complex issue. In this paper, a concentrator photovoltaic power plant model that takes into account the main factors influencing the energy generation, including self-shading between sun trackers, is developed and, an approach based on balancing the revenue loss due to shading with wiring and land costs is proposed. Different climatic conditions, technical and, economic parameters are analysed to find optimal configurations. The results indicate that the ground cover ratio decreases with increasing annual direct normal irradiation and increasing latitude. Apart from these, the main factors influencing the optimum layout are in order of importance: land cost, revenue per generated kWh, CPV module efficiency, nominal string voltage, tracker aspect ratio, wiring cost, angle of rotation of the plant and, plant X displacement. We found rhomboid configurations better than rectangular and checkerboard in three out of five analysed cases.

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  • Rodrigo, P.M., 2020. "Balancing the shading impact in utility-scale dual-axis tracking concentrator photovoltaic power plants," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:210:y:2020:i:c:s036054422031598x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118490
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ahmad, Riaz & Murtaza, Ali F. & Sher, Hadeed Ahmed, 2019. "Power tracking techniques for efficient operation of photovoltaic array in solar applications – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 82-102.
    2. Talavera, D.L. & Pérez-Higueras, P. & Ruíz-Arias, J.A. & Fernández, E.F., 2015. "Levelised cost of electricity in high concentrated photovoltaic grid connected systems: Spatial analysis of Spain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 49-59.
    3. Rodrigo, P. & Velázquez, Ramiro & Fernández, Eduardo F. & Almonacid, F. & Pérez-Higueras, P.J., 2016. "Analysis of electrical mismatches in high-concentrator photovoltaic power plants with distributed inverter configurations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 374-387.
    4. Rodrigo, P. & Gutiérrez, S. & Velázquez, Ramiro & Fernández, Eduardo F. & Almonacid, F. & Pérez-Higueras, P.J., 2015. "A methodology for the electrical characterization of shaded high concentrator photovoltaic modules," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 768-777.
    5. Fernández, Eduardo F. & Pérez-Higueras, P. & Almonacid, F. & Ruiz-Arias, J.A. & Rodrigo, P. & Fernandez, J.I. & Luque-Heredia, I., 2015. "Model for estimating the energy yield of a high concentrator photovoltaic system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 77-85.
    6. Rodrigo, P. & Fernández, Eduardo F. & Almonacid, F. & Pérez-Higueras, P.J., 2013. "Outdoor measurement of high concentration photovoltaic receivers operating with partial shading on the primary optics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 583-588.
    7. Rodrigo, P.M. & Talavera, D.L. & Fernández, E.F. & Almonacid, F.M. & Pérez-Higueras, P.J., 2019. "Optimum capacity of the inverters in concentrator photovoltaic power plants with emphasis on shading impact," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
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    Cited by:

    1. Badr, Farouk & Radwan, Ali & Ahmed, Mahmoud & Hamed, Ahmed M., 2022. "An experimental study of the concentrator photovoltaic/thermoelectric generator performance using different passive cooling methods," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 1078-1094.
    2. Philippe Camail & Bruno Allard & Maxime Darnon & Charles Joubert & Christian Martin & João Pedro F. Trovão, 2023. "Overview of DC/DC Converters for Concentrating Photovoltaics (CPVs)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Saura, José M. & Chemisana, Daniel & Rodrigo, Pedro M. & Almonacid, Florencia M. & Fernández, Eduardo F., 2022. "Effect of non-uniformity on concentrator multi-junction solar cells equipped with refractive secondary optics under shading conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PC).

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