Two-axis Tracking Systems Research Articles

Techno-economic and environmental analysis of a grid-connected rooftop solar photovoltaic system in three climate zones

Abstract This study aims to fill a gap in research on technical-economic and environmental assessments of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) panels for residential electricity supply. To combat this, a study examines the feasibility of grid-connected rooftop solar PV systems in three cities. Using PVsyst software, technical, economic, and environmental factors were analyzed, including energy injected into the grid, net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), levelized cost of energy (LCOE), and life cycle emissions. It is concluded from this study that PV power plants are technically, economically, and environmentally feasible for all three climate zones, but cold zone with the highest annual production of 10.66 MWh, the highest NPV ($5449.47), the highest IRR (14.28%), and the lowest LCOE ($0.063/kWh) is the most appropriate place to set up a PV power plant (Scenario 1: No tracking system). Furthermore, using horizontal (Scenario 2), vertical (Scenario 3), and two-axis tracking (Scenario 4) systems instead of the no-tracking system (Scenario 1) increases the amount of electricity injected into the grid by 7.56%, 24.67%, and 36.35%, respectively. According to life cycle emission, the annual production of 10.66 MWh by the 5 kW power plant installed in cold zone will prevent 102.02 tons of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere (Scenario 1: No tracking system). To remove financial obstacles and increase the viability of renewable energy, the government must provide financial incentives, lower the cost of equipment, and enact strong renewable energy legislation.

Maximization of Solar Radiation for Fixed and Tracking Surfaces in Antalya Province of Türkiye

Solar energy has gained increasing importance in today's world and become a viable primary energy source in the recent decade. Solar radiation obtained by the solar surface is highly affected by its orientation, azimuth, and tilt angles. Therefore, in this study, the performances of the fixed-axis system, one-axis, and two-axis solar tracking systems are investigated to enable maximal solar radiation in solar systems to be installed in Antalya by using climatic and latitude data provided by NASA. Furthermore, the optimal tilt angles are determined by examining the values of angles for which the total solar radiation falling on the tilted surface is maximal. The case study and measurement data investigations are conducted for the four districts of Antalya. The obtained radiation values throughout the year for one-axis and two-axis solar tracking systems are compared to an annual fixed system for evaluating the existing solar potential in Antalya province. Besides all these, solar system cost analyses including the average payback period for residential, commercial, and large-scale solar systems based on LCOE are investigated. The proposed methodology can be implemented for performance and cost analysis of the solar potential in a certain location of Türkiye and extended to any place in the world.

Evaluation of solar tracking systems applied to small-scale photovoltaic systems: a review

This work evaluates solar tracking systems in application to small-scale photovoltaic systems. To do this, these systems are divided into two subsystems: one-axis solar tracking subsystem and two-axis solar tracking subsystem. Each is explored for its suitability as a suitable technology for small-scale application, defined by meeting a set of seven attributes. A specialized literature review process was developed specifically to present the potential of each subsystem evaluated, through an evaluation matrix. The analysis of solar tracking technologies and attributes was carried out through the formal concept analysis methodology. To facilitate the processing of information, a free access tool called concept Explorer is used. The analysis carried out shows that two-axis solar tracking systems are the most promising option as they meet a greater number of attributes than single-axis tracking systems. The applied methodology has proven to be useful for the evaluation of renewable technologies and serves as a reference, to carry out analyzes that group and link different alternatives as a model for evaluating a deterministic set of attributes.

Retrofit analysis of historical buildings to net-zero energy: Case study of the Ain village, Saudi Arabia

Renovating disused heritage buildings to serve new functions is an effective approach to preserve their architectural value. In this study, an analysis approach and associated results of converting an unused ancient village located in the south-western part of Saudi Arabia to a net-zero energy hotel complex are presented. Energy efficiency and on-site power generation measures are evaluated as retrofit measures for the Ain village based on a series of sensitivity analyses. Four levels of retrofits are proposed with and without the addition of thermal insulation to exterior walls and roofs. All the considered measures are considered non-intrusive and should not negatively affect the visual character of the historic village. The analysis results indicated that energy retrofit measures excluding thermal insulation can reduce the total Ain village energy consumption by 47% relative to the baseline case when the buildings are converted to hotel spaces. Deploying a fixed PV system with a capacity of 206 kW on-site can achieve net zero energy status for the retrofitted village. However, lower PV capacities would be needed to achieve net zero energy status for the Ain village when utilizing one-axis and two-axis tracking systems.

Holographic low concentration optical system increasing light collection efficiency of regular solar panels

Conventional photovoltaic (PV) modules (exclude interdigitated back contact modules) with silicon or gallium arsenide PV cells often have significant inactive module surface area. This results from wafer cutting techniques and metal contacts that reduce the module’s collection area and the resultant power conversion efficiency. A holographic light collector (HLC) combining a low-cost holographic optical element and a diffuser into conventional PV modules is proposed and evaluated to collect the solar illumination over the inactive module area. The angular tolerance and extra annual energy yield (EY) of the HLC are analyzed. It is found that improvements in EY of 4.5%, 4.1%, and 3.8% can be obtained when PV panels are deployed with two-axis tracking systems, single-axis tracking systems, and without tracking systems, respectively.

A European Assessment of the Solar Energy Cost: Key Factors and Optimal Technology

Solar energy has become one of the most important sources of energy all around the world. Only in the European Union, between 2010 and 2019, solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation capacity increased from 1.9 to over 133 GW. Throughout this work, an economic analysis of the production of photovoltaic solar energy utility scale facilities is performed, previously defining some theoretical concepts relating to electricity generation by means of photovoltaic modules, as well as commenting on studies that have inspired the project. In order to carry out this economic analysis, the locations of twenty capital cities within European Union countries are selected, in order to estimate their yearly solar PV energy produced under specific conditions. The Levelized Costs of Energy (LCOE) is calculated with the goal of comparing the profitability of each photovoltaic tracking technology: fixed, one-axis tracking systems (vertical or inclined) and two-axis tracking systems; including LCOE maps country-wise for each technology. A sensitivity analysis is also presented, in order to evaluate the significance and impact of the main variables involved in the analysis. The results show that one-axis tracking systems are the best option in all countries, reducing LCOE by more than 20% when compared to two-axis tracking system. The impact of wages is also significant. In higher latitudes, in most cases, wages also increase, hence the LCOE is higher and consequently less interesting for a potential investor.

Impact of One- and Two-axis Solar Tracking on Techno-Economic Viability of On-Grid PV Systems: Case of Burnoye-1, Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is currently committed to develop its renewable energy resources. In 2012, the government introduced a low-carbon energy strategy to reduce the production of air pollutants, including anthropogenic CO2e, and to increase the share of clean energy up to 50% of total consumption by 2050. As a contribution to this strategy, this paper presents a comparison in techno-economic performance of three scenarios. The differentiation will be between currently implemented fixed-slope on-grid PV power plants in Kazakhstan and proxy similar solar parks using one- or two-axis solar tracking systems. This paper aims to determine to what extent the more effective, but more expensive tracking systems might be a suitable standard in future PV power stations in the country. For this purpose, the existent fixed-slope 50 MWp Burnoye-1 commercial solar power plant located in Jambyl region, Kazakhstan, is used as a benchmark. As expected, solar panels with tracking systems produce more electricity year-round compared to those with fixed slopes. In comparison, one- and two-axis tracking systems led almost to the same amount of electricity export to the grid. Furthermore, despite the proxy PV power stations with one- and two-axis tracking technology could reduce around 10 ktCO2e emissions per year. This 25 to 29% and 33 to 33% ratio of extra-cost to extra-energy production, respectively, made both tracking scenarios not economically competitive compared to fixed panels. Nevertheless, if a tracking system has to be considered to further reduce GHG emissions and add extra annual electricity generation using current installed capacity of Burnoye-I, our results demonstrated that one-axis tracking should be preferred above two-axis system.

A Study on Implementation of PV Tracking for Sites Proximate and Away from the Equator

The performance of photovoltaic (PV) system depends upon the orientation and the site climatic conditions. Solar PV tracking systems align the modules perpendicular to the incoming solar radiation. In this paper, six locations with latitudes 0° through 55° were selected to investigate the PV system performance using single-axis (horizontal and vertical) and two-axis tracking systems compared to the fixed south-oriented PV system. It was found that single-axis (vertical axis) tracker optimally tilted is the most promising for sites near the equator and achieves around 19% more energy output over the fixed south-oriented solar panel system. Moreover, it is considered simpler compared to the two-axis tracking system. It is true that the two-axis tracking system could harvest around 4% more energy than the vertical axis tracker optimally tilted system for sites near and far from the equator. However, such increase in energy may not sound feasible as the two-axis system is consuming more power for tracking and considered more complicated compared to the vertical axis tracking system. The novelty of this work is that, it introduces a new concept for the optimum tilt for the single-axis (vertical axis) tracking system.

Concentrated solar power: Recent developments and future challenges

With the mass-manufacture and resulting low cost of silicon photovoltaics driven by Western government subsidy schemes and large-scale manufacturing, concentrated solar power for electricity generation is now at a turning point. The present cost of mirrors, lenses, support structure and plant for concentrated solar thermal power, and of the high-efficiency multi-junction cells, concentrating optics and two-axis tracking systems for concentrated photovoltaic power, has made operational concentrated solar power plants uncompetitive in most scenarios. This is changing the shape of optics as well as the materials from which they are constructed and the size of the components used. We aim to highlight the current research that is being carried out to reduce the cost of concentrated solar power and concentrate on the long-term potential for cost reduction of both concentrated solar power technologies. This review concentrates first on optical and thermodynamic fundamentals, and the technology choices imposed by real world materials. We then review the broad categories of optical concentrators. Developments in solar thermal power generation and heat and thermochemical storage are discussed before briefly describing recent research on thermoelectric generation. Recent trends in concentrated photovoltaics are summarised, and we conclude by considering the present situation for concentrated solar power in the context of mass-market silicon photovoltaics.

Minimization of Electrical Losses in Two-Axis Tracking PV Systems

In this paper, approximate analytical expressions for the power duration curve, the optimum inverter size, the annual energy losses in dc and ac cables, the annual energy losses in the step-up transformer, and the optimum transformer size have been derived for photovoltaic plants mounted on two-axis tracking systems in any European location and of any size. The derived analytical expressions contain only a few unknown parameters, which can be easily estimated from freely available climate data or data provided by the equipment (inverters or transformer) manufacturer. The analytical expressions can be a valuable tool for the design engineers for comparing-from the energetic point of view-different inverter types, cable cross sections, and transformer sizes without having to perform multiple detailed simulations, as the current practice is. The accuracy of the results obtained by the derived analytical expressions was tested against results obtained by detailed mathematical calculations. Furthermore, the model for the PDC and the expression for the annual energy losses on the three-phase cables are verified by comparison with measurements taken from a real photovoltaic installation during the past entire year.

One sensor방식의 추적식 PV System

본 논문에서는 태양과 태양전지 모듈이 법선을 이루도록 기존에 태양의 방위각 및 고도각을 제어하는 양축 추적시스템에 2개의 센서를 사용하였던 Double-sensor방식에서 1개의 센서로 방위각 및 고도각을 제어할 수 있는 One-sensor방식의 양축 추적시스템을 제안하였다. 그리고 제안한 추적시스템을 제작하여 시스템의 실제 운전을 실행하였다. 제안한 추적시스템은 1개의 센서를 이용하여 태양이 항상 법선을 이루면서 태양전지 모듈에 입사되게 제어하기 위해 방위각과 고도각을 제어하는 양축 추적시스템이다. 실험결과 가장 효율적인 운전과 불필요한 구동부의 동작을 방지하여 전력소모를 감소할 수 있었으며 고정식에 비해 본 논문에서 제안한 One-sensor방식의 양축 추적시스템이 약 23[%]의 발전효율이 증가함을 확인 할 수 있었다. 태양을 추적하여 더 많은 햇빛을 받게 하여 태양전지의 효율을 높이기 위하여 행해진 추적장치는 대형 방식에 많은 연구가 진행되어 왔다. 따라서 본 논문의 태양위치추적의 모니터링 시스템을 구축하여 지속적인 발전효율에 대한 실용화 연구를 통해 태양광발전시스템 보급에 큰 역할을 할 것이라 기대된다. While traditional two-axis tracking systems with double sensors had been using two sensors to control azimuth and elevation angle of the sun so that a solar cell module would make a normal line with the sun, this paper proposed a new two-axis system that can achieve the same performance with only one sensor in it. It is Two-axis tracking system that control azimuth and elevation to control to be reduced for solar cell module as proposed tracking system uses 1 sensors and the sun always forms normal. Two-axis tracking system of one sensor method that propose in paper that could reduce electric power consumption and sees than fixed type preventing action and the most efficient driving and needless drive could confirm that generation efficiency of about 23 [%] increases. To heighten efficiency of solar cell doing to receive more sunlights chasing the sun, done tracking device have proceeded a lot of studies in large size way. Therefore, is expected that will do big part in the sun tracking supply through utility study about persistent generation efficiency constructing monitoring system of the sun tracking of this paper.

Advances in solar thermal electricity technology

Various advanced solar thermal electricity technologies are reviewed with an emphasis on new technology and new market approaches. In single-axis tracking technology, the conventional parabolic trough collector is the mainstream established technology and is under continued development but is soon to face competition from two linear Fresnel reflector (LFR) technologies, the CLFR and Solarmundo. A Solarmundo prototype has been built in Belgium, and a CLFR prototype is awaiting presale of electricity as a commercial plant before it can be constructed in Queensland. In two-axis tracking technologies, dish/Stirling technologies are faced with high Stirling engine costs and emphasism may shift to solarised gas micro-turbines, which are adapted from the small stationary gas turbine market and will be available shortly at a price in the US$1 ppW range. ANU dish technology, in which steam is collected across the field and run through large steam turbines, has not been commercialised. Emphasis in solar thermal electricity applications in two-axis tracking systems seems to be shifting to tower technology. Two central receiver towers are planned for Spain, and one for Israel. Our own multi-tower solar array (MTSA) technology has gained Australian Research Council funding for an initial single tower prototype in Australia of approximately 150 kW(e) and will use combined microturbine and PV receivers. Non-tracking systems are described of two diverse types, Chimney and evacuated tubes. Solar chimney technology is being proposed for Australia based upon German technology. Air is heated underneath a large glass structure of about 5 km in diameter, and passes up a large chimney through a wind turbine near the base as it rises. A company Enviromission Ltd. has been listed in Australia to commercialise the concept. Evacuated tubes are growing rapidly for domestic hot water heating in Europe and organic rankine cycle engines such as the Freepower 6 kW are being considered for operation with thermal energy developed by evacuated tube and trough systems. These may replace some PV in medium sized applications as they offer potential for inexpensive pressurised water storage for 24 h operation, and backup by fuels instead of generators. In the medium term there is a clear trend to creation of smaller sized systems which can operate on a retail electricity cost offset basis near urban and industrial installations. In the longer term large low cost plants will be necessary for large scale electricity and fuels production. Retrofit central generation solar plants offer a cost effective transition market which allows increased production rates and gradual cost reduction for large solar thermal plant. In the paper the author describes current funding systems in Europe, Australia, and the USA, and makes suggestions for more effective programmes of support.

Human Performance in Single and Two-Axis Tracking Systems

A compensatory tracking experiment was performed on single and uncoupled two-axis tracking systems to determine the effects of training on model parameters of the human operator as well as one-two-axis differences in tracking performance. The plant dynamics were identical in both the single-axis system and the symmetrical two-axis system. Second-order dynamics consisting of a pure integration and first-order lag were used. Task difficulty was varied by changing the magnitude of the lag time constant and the frequency bandwidth of the input disturbance. Linear second- order describing functions, obtained by a model matching technique, were used to model the operator's performance.