Selection of a suitable system (fixed or tracking) for photovoltaic application at any location in India
Student name: Mr Arun Kumar Marndi
Guide: Prof R L Sawhney
Year of completion: 2013
Host Organisation: Water & Renewable Energy IC, L&T Construction, Chennai
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Milan Kumar
Abstract: Ground measured monthly mean daily solar radiation data for 23 IMD stations spread across
India was utilized with Perez model of Solar Radiation to calculate solar irradiance incident
on inclined surfaces. Simulation was done using Microsoft Excel and VBA Macros. The
annual optimized tilt angles for maximizing total annual solar radiation captured by a fixed
south facing photovoltaic collector have been suggested in the study. It was found that the
optimized tilt angle for locations in India is around Latitude+5°. However, the percentage
gain in annual radiation by implementing optimized tilt varies with site latitude and weather
condition.
Annual solar radiation was simulated for seasonal tilt arrangement (3 tilts/ year, 4 tilts/
year and 12 tilts/ year), Azimuth Tracker (seasonal tilt adjustment) and Horizontal Single
Axis Tracker (HSAT). The percentage gain in annual radiation with seasonal adjustment of
south facing collector was not found to be more as compared to yearly optimized tilt angle for
most of the locations. Percentage gain in total annual radiation for Azimuth tracker with
seasonal adjustment was found to be less as compared to optimized fixed tilt azimuth tracker.
Different tracking angle limit of HSAT currently available in market was found to have a
minor effect on the total solar radiation collected. HSAT was found to be suitable for lower
latitudes i.e. less than around 15° and azimuth tracker was found to be suitable for other
locations.
Rating of six HSAT currently available in market has been done based on mechanical
parameters and a simple seasonal tilt arrangement has been suggested with fixed 3 tilts per
year adjustment.
Keywords: Optimum Tilt, Solar Tracking, Perez, Tracker Comparison, Irradiation model,
Single Axis Tracker, Azimuth Tracker
