Investigating the Impact of Tilt Angle, Orientation, and Configuration on PV System Performance Using PVSyst Software

Abstract

This paper introduces a comprehensive investigation on the performance of on-grid 2.7kWp residential scale PV system in Baghdad location with aid of PVSyst software simulation. The study focused on the impact of a wide range of PV tilt angles, orientations, and various configurations on the productivity of the system. Such comprehensive study was never investigated in literature over Baghdad city before, up to our knowledge. In this simulation, azimuth angle is varied from -90° to 90° with a constant 30° tilt angle, then tilt angle varied from 0° to 90° with a constant 0° azimuth angle. Results revealed that the 30° tilt angle with 0° azimuth angle is giving the best PV performance among all other angles. It is also shown that small change in azimuth (up to 30°) has unnoticeable effect on the PV performance. The study concluded that small offset in azimuth is considered acceptable from the design side of view. It is also noticed that small tilt angles boost the productivity in summer months, while large tilts boost the productivity in winter months. But the optimum angle that gives the highest productivity over the whole year is 30°. These results are explained by the sun latitude throughout the months of the year. In addition, 2-seasons method configuration showed a better performance compared to all of the fixed configurations with an increase in energy production of ~5%. However, the best performance was obtained with the tracking configuration with energy production of 25% more than all of other configurations.