Effect of roof-mounted solar panels on the wind energy exploitation on high-rise buildings

Abstract

The analysis of the wind flow around buildings is of great interest in the field of renewable energies. This work presents an investigation of the effects of roof-mounted solar panels on the wind flow on building roofs, from the point of view of the wind energy exploitation. CFD simulations of the wind flow around an isolated building are performed with OpenFOAM. The simulations are compared with two wind tunnel experiments for validation: an isolated building and an array of solar panels. The wind flow on an empty roof is compared with roof-mounted solar panels cases. The solar panels are tested with tilt angles of 10° and 30°, the most adequate inclination for solar panels in the Mediterranean region. The analysis is carried out both quantitatively and qualitatively. The full-scale building results are compared with a reduced-scale model and scaling issues are reported. The most adequate wind turbine for each roof region is suggested.