Facing panels

[Battdad89]

Hey! So walking around this morning on the farm as the sun was coming up. Would it make sense to face panels south east and south west like a V almost or plant them in line facing south? I have 1 acre for these so lots of room.

 

[Supervstech]

Southeast gets morning sun earlier, but loses afternoon sun earlier... reverse for southwest...

So, full tracking, angle tracking, daylight tracking, or south, in order of maximum output...

 

[Battdad89]

Im putting in 8000 watts of panels. So I was thinking of splitting them in two on angles like a V. Next year ill add another 8000 watts. I was just curious. I think I will just have them pointing south.

 

[offgriddle]

Hey! So walking around this morning on the farm as the sun was coming up. Would it make sense to face panels south east and south west like a V almost or plant them in line facing south? I have 1 acre for these so lots of room.

I went out on a mid winters day and faced and angled mine for the noontime sun and that's where I leave
them year round. ?

 

[tictag]

Obviously tracking a perpendicular angle to the sun is always going to yield the best results but this can be difficult to achieve practically. I would suggest that overall you would not achieve much, if any, additional output positioning your array so and, in addition, you will likely require two SCCs, one for each 'direction', else suffer partial shading dragging your total output down.

 

[offgriddle]

Obviously tracking a perpendicular angle to the sun is always going to yield the best results but this can be difficult to achieve practically. I would suggest that overall you would not achieve much, if any, additional output positioning your array so and, in addition, you will likely require two SCCs, one for each 'direction', else suffer partial shading dragging your total output down.

Once upon a time, a solar guru told me that the energy used in operating a tracking motor required the equivalent energy produced by one solar panel. Do you concur?

 

[tictag]

I have no practical experience of this but I would find that difficult to believe; I mean stepper motors don't consume inordinate amounts of energy and the associated electronics would be relatively minuscule, and they don't move very much or very quickly. But, honestly, I don't know.

 

[svetz]

...Would it make sense to ... [panel configuration ideas]...

SAM is a great tool for playing around with those types of questions and quickly churning out the $ over the life cycle of the panels for your configuration. For example, regarding the Tracker....

Flat, Single, and Dual-Axis
Quick comparison from SAM...

7.8kW Array @ Key Largo	Annual kWh predicted for 23 340W LG panels	Equivalent # panels for ~12190 kWh
fixed tilt (10°)*	12,190	23
1 axis tracker (10°)	14,415	20
2 axis tracker	17,896	16

So, for the given location/weather, a dual axis tracker with 5 less panels could provide the same output as a poorly configured array. It won't tell you how much power or maintenance it takes to keep tracker running though.

*Note that 10° is sub-optimal for the latitude but optimal for hurricane force winds (flat to the roof), so the two-axis tracker takes a big jump.

 

[Battdad89]

SAM is a great tool for playing around with those types of questions and quickly churning out the $ over the life cycle of the panels for your configuration. For example, regarding the Tracker....

Flat, Single, and Dual-Axis
Quick comparison from SAM...

7.8kW Array @ Key Largo	Annual kWh predicted for 23 340W LG panels	Equivalent # panels for ~12190 kWh
fixed tilt (10°)*	12,190	23
1 axis tracker (10°)	14,415	20
2 axis tracker	17,896	16

So, for the given location/weather, a dual axis tracker with 5 less panels could provide the same output as a poorly configured array. It won't tell you how much power or maintenance it takes to keep tracker running though.

*Note that 10° is sub-optimal for the latitude but optimal for hurricane force winds (flat to the roof), so the two-axis tracker takes a big jump.

This is super cool! Thank you. I will play around with this.

 

[svetz]

SAM is pretty deep / complex... I suggest watching some of the video tutorials on topics. But if you have questions just ask (there's another thread on SAM here that might work for that).

 

[offgriddle]

This is more precise than simply looking at the sun at high noon apex and adjusting azimuth X axis and elevation Y axis with an ammeter in line to adjust for maximum current, or, having someone within earshot or on walkies talkies to call out maximum meter readings from the SCC.

 

[svetz]

Looks well grounded to itself anyway....