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A new study from India shows the benefits of installing fixed-tilt PV systems with low angles in regions with high summer charging demand, such as India. Scientists say that although PV systems with low tilt angles may not achieve maximum energy efficiency or lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE), they can reduce reliance on expensive electricity from the grid during periods of high demand. .
A group of scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur have developed a novel model of optimal PV installation angles in regions with high summer charging demand such as India and have found that low tilt angles offer a number of advantages.
“The study suggests that installing photovoltaic solar panels with lower tilt angles can significantly increase electricity generation during the high-demand summer months in India, up to 8% more than the optimal tilt,” he told pv . magazine the corresponding author of the research, Saikat Ghosh. “The results indicate that lower PV tilts are suitable for India, leading to higher generation during summer and potentially mitigating electricity, coal and water crises.”
According to Ghosh, the proposed methodology is also suitable for countries of similar latitudes, both in the northern and southern hemispheres, especially if the load demand in summer is higher than in winter due to the greater use of air conditioners.
“Every summer, India suffers from a power crisis due to increased air conditioning load,” explains Ghosh. “Lower PV slopes not only increase summer generation, but also reduce row spacing requirements, allowing more PV panels to be installed on less surface area. I have seen that installers often waste a lot of space by installing PV systems with a high inclination, which requires greater spacing between rows and reduces generation when the country faces an electricity crisis. Therefore, a lower slope approach can help align PV generation with the electricity demand pattern.”
In the study “ Maximizing PV generation with lower tilt angles to meet high summer electricity demand on the Indian electricity grid ” Published in Energy for Sustainable Development , Ghosh and colleagues explain that in PV systems deployed in low- or mid-latitude regions with high summer load demand, such as India, the titer angles are typically equal to the latitude angle of the region to achieve the highest solar energy generation performance.
"However, this orientation, although it maximizes the solar irradiance that falls on the photovoltaic plane of the array (POA, for its initials in English) during the winter, relatively reduces the irradiance of the POA in summer, which translates into a generation of relatively lower electricity from the fixed tilt PV system at the time when India experiences its peak electricity demand,” they explained. “Lower PV tilt can increase plant ground cover ratio (GCR) and power density, resulting in greater economic benefits.”
The team ran a series of simulations and analyzed the performance of a 100 kW model PV system in four Indian locations: Chandigarh, Bhadla, Kolkata and Kurnool. Solar resource data from the National Solar Radiation Database of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NSRDB-NREL) and energy market data from Indias energy trading platform, Indian Energy Exchange Limited (IEX) were used. It also used the System Advisor Model (SAM) to model hourly energy performance and PVsyst to evaluate the impact of shading between rows.
The analysis showed that PV systems deployed with a low tilt angle can achieve higher solar power generation during summer. “For example, with a PV tilt of 10 degrees in April, generation with respect to latitude tilt is 0.2% higher at Chandigarh, while it is 1% higher at the other three sites,” The academics highlighted, noting that photovoltaic energy generation was also higher in the early morning and late afternoon. “The performance improvement is smaller in early April, when power demand is relatively moderate.”
They also found that a tilt angle of 10 degrees also increased power generation by 5.9%, 6%, 4.1% and 2.4% in Chandigarh, Bhadla, Kolkata and Kurnool, respectively, compared to the angle of inclination of latitude in May. “In June, the increase is 7.8%, 8.5%, 5.4% and 3%; in July, 6.7%, 7.2%, 4.6% and 2.6%, and in August, 3%, 3.3%, 2.4% and 1.4% in the same places ", they added.
The scientists also explained that although PV systems with low tilt angles may not achieve maximum energy efficiency or lowest levelized cost of energy (LCOE), they can reduce dependence on expensive electricity from the grid during periods of high demand.
“In addition, lower tilt angles would allow for a higher density of PV modules in a fixed-tilt PV system, so the plant GCR and power density can increase by around 40-50%,” they conclude. . “In the study, it has been shown that although PV tilt equal to latitude angle leads to the lowest LCOE, as lower PV tilt allows for higher GCR, lower tilts are more economically beneficial.” |
