IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v153y2020icp280-289.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimizing the inclined field for solar photovoltaic arrays

Author

Listed:
  • Rehman, Naveed ur
  • Uzair, Muhammad

Abstract

Existing studies are focused on maximizing the solar energy collection by photovoltaic modules installed on a flat (horizontal) field. This paper presents an analytical model, which considers the tilt angle of the field along with the modules and evaluates the direct solar energy accumulation within a given time period. Validation of the model is performed by comparing the results with measurements obtained from a computer-aided 3D model. Then, various applications of the model are demonstrated for optimizing field and module tilt angles. The simulations were performed at a virtual site in Auckland (New Zealand; latitude: ∼36.86⁰S). For the given dimensions of the field and the modules, the results showed that nearly horizontal modules collect 35% more energy than when they are at the latitude angle. If they are tilted at the latitude angle, increasing the inclination angle of the field above 16⁰ increases energy collection by 48%. A contour plot of energy collection over the specified ranges of tilt angles was developed to help designers choose the best possible combinations. Finally, the monthly and seasonal energy collections are also presented for modules fixed on an inclined field, tilted at latitude angle.

Suggested Citation

  • Rehman, Naveed ur & Uzair, Muhammad, 2020. "Optimizing the inclined field for solar photovoltaic arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 280-289.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:153:y:2020:i:c:p:280-289
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.02.028
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120302147
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2020.02.028?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rehman, Shafiqur & Bader, Maher A. & Al-Moallem, Said A., 2007. "Cost of solar energy generated using PV panels," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 11(8), pages 1843-1857, October.
    2. Mehleri, E.D. & Zervas, P.L. & Sarimveis, H. & Palyvos, J.A. & Markatos, N.C., 2010. "Determination of the optimal tilt angle and orientation for solar photovoltaic arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 2468-2475.
    3. Yakup, Mohd Azmi bin Hj Mohd & Malik, A.Q, 2001. "Optimum tilt angle and orientation for solar collector in Brunei Darussalam," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 223-234.
    4. Morcos, V.H., 1994. "Optimum tilt angle and orientation for solar collectors in Assiut, Egypt," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 291-298.
    5. Shariah, Adnan & Al-Akhras, M-Ali & Al-Omari, I.A., 2002. "Optimizing the tilt angle of solar collectors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 587-598.
    6. d'Alessandro, Vincenzo & Di Napoli, Fabio & Guerriero, Pierluigi & Daliento, Santolo, 2015. "An automated high-granularity tool for a fast evaluation of the yield of PV plants accounting for shading effects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 294-304.
    7. Ibrahim, D., 1995. "Optimum tilt angle for solar collectors used in Cyprus," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 6(7), pages 813-819.
    8. Jafarkazemi, Farzad & Saadabadi, S. Ali, 2013. "Optimum tilt angle and orientation of solar surfaces in Abu Dhabi, UAE," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 44-49.
    9. Kacira, Murat & Simsek, Mehmet & Babur, Yunus & Demirkol, Sedat, 2004. "Determining optimum tilt angles and orientations of photovoltaic panels in Sanliurfa, Turkey," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1265-1275.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Moreira, Hugo Soeiro & Lucas de Souza Silva, João & Gomes dos Reis, Marcos Vinicios & de Bastos Mesquita, Daniel & Kikumoto de Paula, Bruno Henrique & Villalva, Marcelo Gradella, 2021. "Experimental comparative study of photovoltaic models for uniform and partially shading conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 58-73.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hafez, A.Z. & Soliman, A. & El-Metwally, K.A. & Ismail, I.M., 2017. "Tilt and azimuth angles in solar energy applications – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-168.
    2. Ullah, Asad & Imran, Hassan & Maqsood, Zaki & Butt, Nauman Zafar, 2019. "Investigation of optimal tilt angles and effects of soiling on PV energy production in Pakistan," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 830-843.
    3. Bakirci, Kadir, 2012. "General models for optimum tilt angles of solar panels: Turkey case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 6149-6159.
    4. Chang, Tian Pau, 2009. "The gain of single-axis tracked panel according to extraterrestrial radiation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(7-8), pages 1074-1079, July.
    5. Kaddoura, Tarek O. & Ramli, Makbul A.M. & Al-Turki, Yusuf A., 2016. "On the estimation of the optimum tilt angle of PV panel in Saudi Arabia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 626-634.
    6. Rehman, Naveed ur & Uzair, Muhammad & Allauddin, Usman, 2020. "An optical-energy model for optimizing the geometrical layout of solar photovoltaic arrays in a constrained field," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 55-65.
    7. Yadav, Amit Kumar & Chandel, S.S., 2013. "Tilt angle optimization to maximize incident solar radiation: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 503-513.
    8. Maatallah, Taher & El Alimi, Souheil & Nassrallah, Sassi Ben, 2011. "Performance modeling and investigation of fixed, single and dual-axis tracking photovoltaic panel in Monastir city, Tunisia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(8), pages 4053-4066.
    9. Benghanem, M., 2011. "Optimization of tilt angle for solar panel: Case study for Madinah, Saudi Arabia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 1427-1433, April.
    10. Mohammadi, Kasra & Khorasanizadeh, Hossein, 2015. "A review of solar radiation on vertically mounted solar surfaces and proper azimuth angles in six Iranian major cities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 504-518.
    11. Le Roux, W.G., 2016. "Optimum tilt and azimuth angles for fixed solar collectors in South Africa using measured data," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA), pages 603-612.
    12. Chang, Tian Pau, 2009. "Performance study on the east–west oriented single-axis tracked panel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1530-1538.
    13. Koussa, M. & Cheknane, A. & Hadji, S. & Haddadi, M. & Noureddine, S., 2011. "Measured and modelled improvement in solar energy yield from flat plate photovoltaic systems utilizing different tracking systems and under a range of environmental conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(5), pages 1756-1771, May.
    14. Ramez Abdallah & Adel Juaidi & Salameh Abdel-Fattah & Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro, 2020. "Estimating the Optimum Tilt Angles for South-Facing Surfaces in Palestine," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-29, February.
    15. Khatib, Tamer & Mohamed, Azah & Sopian, K., 2012. "A review of solar energy modeling techniques," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2864-2869.
    16. Haixiang Zang & Mian Guo & Zhinong Wei & Guoqiang Sun, 2016. "Determination of the Optimal Tilt Angle of Solar Collectors for Different Climates of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(7), pages 1-16, July.
    17. Oh, Myeongchan & Kim, Jin-Young & Kim, Boyoung & Yun, Chang-Yeol & Kim, Chang Ki & Kang, Yong-Heack & Kim, Hyun-Goo, 2021. "Tolerance angle concept and formula for practical optimal orientation of photovoltaic panels," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 384-394.
    18. Yadav, S. & Panda, S.K. & Tripathy, M., 2018. "Performance of building integrated photovoltaic thermal system with PV module installed at optimum tilt angle and influenced by shadow," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 11-23.
    19. Miguel Ángel Pardo & Héctor Fernández & Antonio Jodar-Abellan, 2020. "Converting a Water Pressurized Network in a Small Town into a Solar Power Water System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-26, August.
    20. Xiaoyang Song & Yaohuan Huang & Chuanpeng Zhao & Yuxin Liu & Yanguo Lu & Yongguo Chang & Jie Yang, 2018. "An Approach for Estimating Solar Photovoltaic Potential Based on Rooftop Retrieval from Remote Sensing Images," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-14, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:153:y:2020:i:c:p:280-289. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.