Improved orientation strategy for energy-efficiency in photovoltaic panels

This paper presents an improved orientation strategy for energy-efficiency in photovoltaic (PV) panels. Conventionally, PV panels are tilted with the site's latitude angle or the difference between the latitude angle and the solar declination angle. A monthly-based orientation strategy has been proposed and analyzed in this study. The proposed strategy implies that the PV panels are tilted with the monthly-based angle that achieves the maximum incident radiation. Furthermore, the impact of using the proposed orientation strategy and three conventional strategies on the produced power and on the PV system design features has been investigated in detail. A Japanese city (Fukuoka) and an Egyptian city (Al-Kharijah) have been considered as locations for the PV power system installation. The results showed that the proposed strategy achieved an increase in the power produced from the PV power systems at the two different sites, and consequently the required solar cells area can be saved. Therefore, the cost of the PV power system components can be reduced including the solar cells area and the land area.