Advances in solar photovoltaic tracking systems: A review

Nadia AL-Rousan, Nor Ashidi Mat Isa and Mohd Khairunaz Mat Desa

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018, vol. 82, issue P3, 2548-2569

Abstract: Solar photovoltaic technology is one of the most important resources of renewable energy. However, the current solar photovoltaic systems have significant drawbacks, such as high costs compared to fossil fuel energy resources, low efficiency, and intermittency. Capturing maximum energy from the sun by using photovoltaic systems is challenging. Several factors that affect the energy output of such systems include the photovoltaic material, geographical location of solar irradiances, ambient temperature and weather, angle of sun incidence, and orientation of the panel. This study reviews the principles and mechanisms of photovoltaic tracking systems to determine the best panel orientation. The tracking techniques, efficiency, performance, advantages, and disadvantages of simple tracking systems are compared with those of state-of-the-art tracking systems. Diverse types of solar tracking systems based on their technologies and driving methods will be presented and categorized.The future trends of tracking systems are also highlighted.

Keywords: Photovoltaic; Passive solar tracking; Active solar tracking; Sensor driver; Microprocessor driver; Open-closed loop driver; Intelligent driver; Efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:rensus:v:82:y:2018:i:p3:p:2548-2569

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DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.09.077

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