Feasibility of Solar Tracking System for PV Panel in Sunbelt Region

Abstract

In the study of the feasibility of solar tracking systems for crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels in hot and cold regions, it is argued recently that a tracking system is not necessary for sunbelt countries owing to the overheating that results from excessive exposure to solar irradiance. This conclusion has been formulated based on a mathematical model, which in turn is based on the assumption that the PV module temperature can be calculated using an empirical relation of this temperature to ambient temperature, available solar irradiance, and nominal operation cell temperature (NOCT). To support this conclusion, it is claimed that the mathematical model is validated experimentally. However, this assumption is vague and widely used in the literature. The objective of the present work is to reevaluate the above-mentioned assumption and to discuss the results deriving from it. It is shown experimentally in the present work that the above-mentioned assumption overestimates the PV module temperature. At a solar irradiance of 900 W/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> , ambient temperature of 25 °C, and wind speed of 5 m/s, the measured PV module temperature is lower than the value calculated based on the mentioned assumption by 29.26%.