Journal of Solar Energy Research

Determination of the Optimal Tilt and Azimuth Angle for a Solar Tracking System considering Different Climatic Conditions

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Port Harcourt

2 Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Port Harcour

Abstract

One of the major challenges faced in photovoltaic technology is the ability to harvest as much energy as possible from the sun. The peculiarity in geographic location and the sun’s movement has made it difficult to get maximum irradiation from the sun. The aim of this study is to improve the efficiency of photovoltaic power generated by optimizing the altitude and azimuth of a square meter PV module and also, develop an algorithm that helps the panel to track the position of the sun for optimum power generation. University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria was used as the location chosen for this study. The results obtained present the Optimal Angles and Maximum Irradiation for 2015 to 2019. For example the optimal tilt angle for a year 2019 was 6o with a maximum irradiance of 1.62×103 Wh/m2. The azimuth angle varied from 316o to 334o. The contribution of this study, is that the calculated optimal tilt angle considered all the three components of the irradiance: diffuse, direct and albedo irradiance. The obtained optimal tilt and azimuth angles were then used to design both fixed and dual axis maximum power point tracking system. Thereafter, comparative analyses for both systems were conducted considering four significant climatic days: (1) The Winter Solstice (2) Summer Solstice (3) Vernal and (4) Autumnal Equinoxes:

Keywords

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Journal of Solar Energy Research
Volume 7, Issue 3
July 2022
Pages 1073-1080