Assessment of the Energy Gain of Photovoltaic Systems by Using Solar Tracking in Equatorial Regions

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Freddy Ordóñez ◽  
Carlos Morales ◽  
Jesús López-Villada ◽  
Santiago Vaca

Solar tracking is a major alternative to increase the electric output of a photovoltaic (PV) module, and therefore, improves the global energy collected by PV systems. Nonetheless, solar-tracking PV systems require more resources and energy than static systems. Additionally, the presence of cloudiness and shadows from near buildings may reduce the profitability of these systems. Therefore, their feasibility must be assessed in order to justify their application. In equatorial latitudes, the sun's movement through the sky is in the zenith East–West axis. It may be advantageous, since the best tilt in such latitudes is the horizontal. In these terms, the main objective of this research is to numerically assess the performance of a PV array with solar tracking and under typical operation conditions in equatorial latitudes. For this, the assessment of the solar resource in Quito was analyzed in first place. Then, the comparison between three solar arrays was studied to evaluate the feasibility of solar tracking (two-axes tracking, horizontal one-axis tracking, and horizontal fixed). Additionally, the impact of cloudiness and shadows in the system was analyzed. The results showed that the horizontal one-axis tracking is the most beneficial option for equatorial latitudes as the two-axes tracking system only surpasses the gains of the one-axis tracking marginally. Furthermore, the use of a strategy to place the PV modules horizontally in cloudy conditions seems to be marginally advantageous. Finally, the shadows created from neighboring buildings in the East and West of the system may reduce considerably the solar irradiation on the PV-array (not the ones in the north and south).

Author(s):  
Ravindra Pratap Singh

Nowadays the demand for energy increased rapidly duo to escalating population and global technological development. Consequently, the focus on non-conventional energy sources is increasing rapidly due to change in climates and unhealthy environment caused by fossil fuels. Solar energy is vital to fulfill this growing need of clean energy. The performance of the photovoltaic (PV) technology used for capturing sun’s radiation is directly affected by solar irradiation. The optimum performance of the PV systems would be possible if the solar panel is always orientated towards the direction of maximum radiations of sun. Hence, in order improve the performance of the PV, tracking of maximum radiation of the sun is extremely important. In this experimental study, solar tracking is done using a single axis solar sun tracker which not only provides accurate but also cost efficient solar sun tracking in comparison with an existing stationary system of same capacity. The results show that a single axis solar tracking systems have generated approximately 28.3% more compared to static systems and is also found to be more economic than a solar tracking system which uses microcontroller.


Author(s):  
Robert H. Ellison

Prompted by the convulsions of the late eighteenth century and inspired by the expansion of evangelicalism across the North Atlantic world, Protestant Dissenters from the 1790s eagerly subscribed to a millennial vision of a world transformed through missionary activism and religious revival. Voluntary societies proliferated in the early nineteenth century to spread the gospel and transform society at home and overseas. In doing so, they engaged many thousands of converts who felt the call to share their experience of personal conversion with others. Though social respectability and business methods became a notable feature of Victorian Nonconformity, the religious populism of the earlier period did not disappear and religious revival remained a key component of Dissenting experience. The impact of this revitalization was mixed. On the one hand, growth was not sustained in the long term and, to some extent, involvement in interdenominational activity undermined denominational identity; on the other hand, Nonconformists gained a social and political prominence they had not enjoyed since the middle of the seventeenth century and their efforts laid the basis for the twentieth-century explosion of evangelicalism in Africa, Asia, and South America.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 613-619
Author(s):  
Li Kong ◽  
Yunpeng Zhang ◽  
Zhijian Lin ◽  
Zhongzhu Qiu ◽  
Chunying Li ◽  
...  

Abstract The present work aimed to select the optimum solar tracking mode for parabolic trough concentrating collectors using numerical simulation. The current work involved: (1) the calculation of daily solar radiation on the Earth’s surface, (2) the comparison of annual direct solar radiation received under different tracking modes and (3) the determination of optimum tilt angle for the north-south tilt tracking mode. It was found that the order of solar radiation received in Shanghai under the available tracking modes was: dual-axis tracking > north-south Earth’s axis tracking > north-south tilt tracking (β = 15°) > north-south tilt tracking (β = 45) > north-south horizontal tracking > east-west horizontal tracking. Single-axis solar tracking modes feature simple structures and low cost. This study also found that the solar radiation received under the north-south tilt tracking mode was higher than that of the north-south Earth’s axis tracking mode in 7 out of 12 months. Therefore, the north-south tilt tracking mode was studied separately to determine the corresponding optimum tilt angles in Haikou, Lhasa, Shanghai, Beijing and Hohhot, respectively, which were shown as follows: 18.81°, 27.29°, 28.67°, 36.21° and 37.97°.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 72-81
Author(s):  
Peter Wood

In April, 1845, the Rev. Richard Taylor passed through the area of the North Island now marked by the town of Levin. At this time, he described Lake Horowhenua as being of singular appearance for the small storehouses built over the water on poles. As was his predilection, Taylor made a drawing of the lake huts, a version of which was belatedly included in the second edition of his most important literary contribution, Te Ika-a-Māui (1870). This image would have remained as little more than a questionable curiosity was it not for Messrs Black Bros who, in the course of exploring the lake bed for Māori artefacts in 1932, legitimised Taylor's observation with their discovery of the submerged architectural remains of an aquatic hut. Nonetheless, almost a century after Taylor's original diary entry, GL Adkin, writing for The Journal of the Polynesian Society, lamented the neglect shown toward these remarkable structures, and which he cited as just one example of the "tantalising gaps" in the recorded history of Māori custom and culture. Sadly, it is well beyond the scope of this research to properly redress the historical neglect shown toward lake pātaka. What I do wish to do is to link these structures to an event on the shores of the Lake of Zurich, Switzerland, when Dr Ferdinand Keller noticed some half-submerged piles in 1854. Upon these remains Keller made a great, if erroneous, case for primitive "pile-work habitations" in the Swiss lakes. The impact of this argument cannot be understated. It became the privileged model for architectural origins in the German and French parts of Switzerland, and by the 1890s it was a part of standard teaching texts in Swiss schools, where it was firmly inculcated into the curriculum at the time that Charles Edouard Jeanneret was a child. This in turn has led Vogt to suggest that, in Keller's "dwellings on the water," Le Corbusier found a Primitive Hut typology that underpinned all his architectural thinking, and which is made most explicit in his principled use of piloti. What makes this all the more involved is that Keller, in searching for examples to visualise the construction of the Swiss lake dwellings, turned to the Pacific (which he categorised as at a developmental stage of architectural evolution akin to early Europe). In this paper I identify the exact etching by Louis Auguste de Sainson that Keller took for direct influence. The problem, however, is that de Sainson depicted a conventional whare built on land, and Keller transposed it to the water. So we have on the one side of this paper an authentic lake whare that is all but forgotten, and a famed European lake-hut that is all but Māori, and between the two is the figure of Le Corbusier who may or may not have unknowingly based one on his major innovations on influences found in the pātaka of Lake Horowhenua.


2015 ◽  
Vol 793 ◽  
pp. 353-357
Author(s):  
F.S. Abdullah ◽  
H.M. Nuhafiz ◽  
O. Mardianaliza ◽  
A. Yusof ◽  
Noor Anida

Solar tracker is a device that detects the movement of the sun. Solar tracker receive maximum sun ray in order to produce the maximum power supply by the photovoltaic (PV) panels system. It also depends on the environment factor such as solar irradiation and temperature of the panels. This paper presents the development of the automatic solar tracking system, the construction of the sensor circuit, programming of the control system and also its performance analysis. This automatic solar tracking system is designed with an electronic circuit control using PIC that can trigger the dc motors when the LDR sensors detect sunlight. DC motor will move vertical and 360 ̊ horizontal to increase efficiency of sunlight to the solar panel. Solar panel for the project gets power supply from the battery. The battery will be charged using power from the solar panel.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raúl Gregor ◽  
Yoshihiko Takase ◽  
Jorge Rodas ◽  
Leonardo Carreras ◽  
Derlis Gregor ◽  
...  

The smart grid and distributed generation based on renewable energy applications often involve the use of information and communication technology (ICT) coupled with advanced control and monitoring algorithms to improve the efficiency and reliability of the electrical grid and renewable generation systems. Photovoltaic (PV) systems have been recently applied with success in the fields of distributed generation due to their lower environmental impact where the electrical energy generation is related to the amount of solar irradiation and thus the angle of incident ray of the sun on the surface of the modules. This paper introduces an integration of ICTs in order to achieve the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) using a biaxial solar tracking system for PV power applications. To generate the references for the digital control of azimuth and elevation angles a Global Positioning System (GPS) by satellites is used which enables acquiring the geographic coordinates of the sun in real-time. As a total integration of the system a communication platform based on the 802.15.4 protocol for the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is adopted for supervising and monitoring the PV plant. A 2.4 kW prototype system is implemented to validate the proposed control scheme performance.


2013 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hadi Nabipour Afrouzi ◽  
Saeed Vahabi Mashak ◽  
Zulkurnain Abdul-Malek ◽  
Kamyar Mehranzamir ◽  
Behnam Salimi

Renewable energy plays an important role in the national energy policy especially in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For a photovoltaic (PV) system, one important consideration is the cost of the system. One needs to select the best PV array from a range of selection, that is, the one which is the most efficient and with a best price. This article illustrates a method to compute the size and cost of a required PV array, and then after to compute the required battery for the case of a photovoltaic building in Malaysia. The computation is simulated using Matlab integrated with suitable mathematical equations. The generated current and power of the PV array are calculated for daily solar irradiation in Malaysia. The computation enables the user to quickly compute the initial cost needed to be spent if a given PV system is to be installed. A typical building requiring 12 kWh daily energy with 6 kW peak demand load was shown to need at least 114 solar modules at a cost of about RM53k. It is noted that the main cost of the whole PV system is mainly contributed by the cost of the chosen PV array. Hence, the right choice of a PV module is vital in achieving the minimum cost.


2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulina Sawicka-Chudy ◽  
Maciej Sibiński ◽  
Marian Cholewa ◽  
Ryszard Pawełek

The world energy consumption has exhibited high growth over the last several decades. Alternative energy sources like photovoltaic (PV) systems generate electricity, reduce pollution air, and have little environmental impact. The commonly used fixed-tilt solar panels, however, have low efficiency and high production cost. Thus, it takes a long time to obtain a return on the investment. Solar trackers increase the efficiency of PV systems and are therefore more attractive from a financial point of view. In order to design tracking systems that will be efficient, it is necessary to analyze the results during various periods during the year and over their lifespan. Thus, we performed a comparative study between fixed-tilt panels and the tracking system installed in Lodz, Poland. Fixed-tilt panels are at normal to the Earth's surface (90 deg from horizontal plane) and are attached to a building façade, azimuth 180 deg (S direction) with 15 cm ventilation gap so slight efficiency drop may be presumed. We performed short- and long-term analyses of the solar tracking and fixed-tilt systems, which allowed us to conclude that the panels tracking the sun had an additional gain of energy during the year as compared to the fixed-tilt panels. During some months, however, the solar tracking system did not produce as much energy as the fixed-tilt, vertically positioned panels. These results might be useful in designing and constructing solar tracking PV systems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 01024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riadhi Fairuz ◽  
Eko Adhi Setiawan ◽  
Ikhsan Hernanda

Future electricity tariffs are expected to increase. To overcome this condition, arise the idea how the residential can generate its own electricity by exploiting the potential of solar energy. However, there are some constraints in its implementation due to the difference of the initial cost and sales from solar PV systems in various region of Indonesia. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of initial cost on the levelized cost of energy from the system. This study uses the calculation of Levelized Cost of Energy (LCoE) and economic feasibility analysis through the calculation of net present value with net metering scheme. Manado is the most optimal city to implement this system. The initial cost will affect to the LCoE, the high initial cost can be covered by the amount of cash flow generated by the system which has huge solar irradiation potentials.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ichaou Mounirou

We propose in this paper a methodology based on the vector error correction (VCE) model. This modeling approach makes it possible to use a large database to model the impact of agricultural mechanization on cropland in Benin. The results of the VEC model estimates confirm a positive relationship between agricultural mechanization and the areas planted of paddy rice, millet and yams. Moreover, the findings suggest that agricultural mechanization is still far to boost the land uses of cotton, maize and cassava, despite the importance of cotton in the Beninese economy on the one hand, and the key roles of maize and cassava in diet in Benin, on the other hand. Agricultural mechanization is far from being a reality in Benin's agricultural sector to the extent that public agricultural investments are below the Maputo agreements (Note 1). An effective agricultural mechanization must opt for cereals whose investments in agricultural machinery are less expensive compared to cotton. This strategy of agricultural mechanization makes it possible to better ensure food security, unlike the intensive cotton production, whose terms of trade are always unfavorable and dependent on subsidies from the North.


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