Comparison of the horizontal single axis tracker vis-a-vis fixed tilt W.R.T. the energy yield and financial parameters
Student name: Mr Vaquas Qureshi
Guide: Prof R L Sawhney
Year of completion: 2013
Host Organisation: APCA Power Pvt. Ltd.
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Ashish Kumar
Abstract: Hourly Global horizontal & Diffused irradiance have been utilized from APCA Radiation
Model to calculate the incident irradiance on fixed tilt surface & surface tracking sun using
Horizontal Single Axis Tracker (HSAT). These hourly irradiance values are used to calculate
the net energy injected into the grid for a given PV system employing given PV modules,
string monitors, & inverter at the DC side & Air circuit breakers, transformers (including
Current & Potential Transformers) & ring main unit at the AC side. Transmission loss of 2%
has been assumed at the AC side.
Microsoft excel has been used to calculate these values & this exercise has been done for 14
locations across India. Most of these locations are the part of the 51 sites chosen for Solar
Resource Radiation Assessment (SRRA) .The net energy injected into the grid is used to
calculate the revenue, Profit After Tax (PAT), NPV, IRR & other financial parameters.
A comparison of these parameters has been done w.r.t increasing latitude across the country.
Appreciable gain in irradiance over fixed tilt has been found at lower latitudes. Also the
locations with higher beam irradiance percentage (of Global horizontal irradiance) achieve
higher gains vis-Ã -vis fixed tilt. In financial analysis, the average tariff from the previous
phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) has been used for calculating
financial parameters.
The annual revenue from energy injected into grid, debt ratio, O & M expenses& tax rates
are used to calculate parameters like Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
and Payback Period etc. For most of the locations, it is observed that HSAT enhanced the
IRR by at least 1% & reduced the payback period by at least one year.
Key words: HSAT, Incident Irradiance, Fixed Tilt, IRR, Payback Period
