Interactive simulation showing the energy yield for 6 types of mounting systems: Fixed and five different sun trackers.
Important: Install the CDF Player Plug-in prior to run this simulation.
Results
- The six types of mounting systems are: Full (2-axis) trackers, Vertical Axis Trackers (VAT), Polar Trackers, Horizontal Axis Trackers (HAT-NS) with axis in North-South direction, Fixed, and Horizontal Axis Trackers (HAT-EW) with axis in East-West direction
- A full tracker can yield up to 70% more energy than fixed system
- Horizontal Trackers East-West does not yield significantly more energy than fixed arrays.
- Horizontal Trackers North-South are more effective at lower latitude.
- VAT and polar trackers are only 5% less efficient than full trackers
- Selecting optimum panel tilt is critical to annual system performance of VAT, Polar trackers and fixed array
EcoSmart uses computer programs developed in-house to optimize tracker systems and panel tilt with actual weather/ solar data
Technical Notes
- Trackers only improve direct energy yield and have not much effect on diffuse solar radiations
- The simulation uses typical direct / diffuse ratios
- The simulation is for an ideal clear, cloud-free day.
- Actual output based on real irradiation will differ from this simulation.