INVESTIGATION OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF POLYCRYSTALLINE SILICON SOLAR MODULES IN RELATION TO THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL ORIENTATION AND TILT ANGLE

Abstract

Investigation of the polycrystalline solar modules energy efficiency in relation to their tilt angle and geographical orientation in the real meteorological conditions are presented in this paper. The experimental system comprises five polycrystalline silicon modules, with single power 50 Wp, three of which are placed vertically and oriented towards the East, South and West, respectively, the fourth is horizontal, while the fifth is oriented toward the South at the angle of 33o (optimally inclined solar module). The measurement period was from 01 August to 01 December, 2014. The optimally inclined solar module generated the most of total monthly energy for all four months. The most of total monthly energy was generated in August, by the optimally inclined solar module (6.07 kWh), horizontal solar module (5.69 kWh), the vertical solar module oriented toward the East (2.42 kWh) and the vertical solar module oriented toward the West (2.52 kWh), respectively. Energy efficiency of optimally inclined solar module for the entire measurement period was 14.27%, 11.41% for the horizontal, 10.37% for the South, 5.79% for the East and 5.23% for the West module. The obtained results can be used in modern architecture, for the application of the solar modules as roof and facade elements.