The Effect of Walls on the Sky View Factors of Photovoltaic Systems

Joseph Appelbaum () and Assaf Peled
Additional contact information
Joseph Appelbaum: School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo 6997801, Israel
Assaf Peled: School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo 6997801, Israel

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Photovoltaic collectors deployed in multiple rows and near the structure’s walls are obscured from the receiving part of the diffuse skylight. Obscuring part of the diffuse skylight to the collectors decreases the incident diffuse radiation and thus, results in diffuse radiation losses. These losses are associated with the sky view factors. The inter-row diffuse radiation losses are associated with the sky view factor of the collector, and the wall diffuse radiation losses are associated with the sky view factor caused by the wall. The purpose of the present study is to develop mathematical expressions and a methodology for sky view factors of PV systems installed near obscuring walls. The study investigates the effect of the wall height, distance of the wall to the collectors, and collector and wall azimuth angles, on the sky view factors. The study may assist the PV system designer in assessing the contribution of the incident diffuse radiation to the generated electric energy of PV systems installed near obscuring walls. The simulation results indicate that the overall range of the sky view factor variation may be quite noticeable, between 0.97 (without the presence of a wall) and 0.78 (with the presence of a wall), for the parameters used in the study.

Keywords: walls near PV systems; sky view factors; collector azimuth; inter-row spacing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/6/1461/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/6/1461/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:6:p:1461-:d:1613795

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().