TY - GEN
T1 - Optimization of fixed PV panel “tilt” angles for maximal energy harvest considering year-around sky coverage conditions
AU - Gwesha, Ammar Omar
AU - Alfulayyih, Yasir Mohammed
AU - Li, Peiwen
N1 - Funding Information:
Authors would like to acknowledge the significant help of National Climatic Data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for providing the detailed weather data including sky coverage conditions of each day collected from 2008 to 2017 at the measuring station located in Tucson International Airport, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 ASME.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - In order to maximize the electrical energy harvested by photovoltaic panels in a setup with fixed angles, it is important to get the angle optimized. In the present work, sunlight availability or sky coverage conditions of year-long period based on ten years’ data are counted in the modeling to optimize the PV panel tilt angles targeting for the maximal energy in a year. The analysis uses precise sunray calculation models. The energy harvested in every 6 minutes by a PV panel is summated for the daily time period from sunrise to sunset when the sun elevation angles are above 5 degree, with the sky-coverage factor multiplied. The results show that the annual solar energy received by a PV solar panel tilted with a fixed angle equal to the local latitude (at Tucson AZ, USA) could reach 2297 kWh/m2 under 10-year averaged sky coverage conditions. However, the gain in the yearly solar energy harvest is expected to be about 4.28%, 7.06%, and 8.42% higher if a PV panel is inclined optimally according to two-season, four-season, and monthly adjustments, respectively, compared to the optimized life-long fixed angle.
AB - In order to maximize the electrical energy harvested by photovoltaic panels in a setup with fixed angles, it is important to get the angle optimized. In the present work, sunlight availability or sky coverage conditions of year-long period based on ten years’ data are counted in the modeling to optimize the PV panel tilt angles targeting for the maximal energy in a year. The analysis uses precise sunray calculation models. The energy harvested in every 6 minutes by a PV panel is summated for the daily time period from sunrise to sunset when the sun elevation angles are above 5 degree, with the sky-coverage factor multiplied. The results show that the annual solar energy received by a PV solar panel tilted with a fixed angle equal to the local latitude (at Tucson AZ, USA) could reach 2297 kWh/m2 under 10-year averaged sky coverage conditions. However, the gain in the yearly solar energy harvest is expected to be about 4.28%, 7.06%, and 8.42% higher if a PV panel is inclined optimally according to two-season, four-season, and monthly adjustments, respectively, compared to the optimized life-long fixed angle.
KW - Best prediction
KW - Local weather statistics
KW - Optimization
KW - PV panel angles
KW - Solar energy
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U2 - 10.1115/IMECE2019-10391
DO - 10.1115/IMECE2019-10391
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85078697760
T3 - ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE)
BT - Energy
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
T2 - ASME 2019 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2019
Y2 - 11 November 2019 through 14 November 2019
ER -