Performance comparison between fixed panel, single-axis and dual-axis sun tracking solar panel system

Abstract

Solar energy is one of the most reliable alternative energy source in this modern era. Thousand researches on improving the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) system are ongoing to make it more competitive among all other available renewable energy sources. Photovoltaic panels are used to collect solar energy and convert it into electrical energy. But these photovoltaic panels are inefficient as they are fixed only at a particular angle. But we can easily overcome this problem by using sun tracking solar panel system. Solar tracking system is one of the best aupproach to harvest more solar energy from PV system compared to fixed panel system. Solar tracker follows the position of the sun throughout the day from east to west in a daily and seasonal basis. This paper presents the performance comparison between fixed panel, single-axis and dual-axis sun tracking solar panel systm. On the basis of solar irradiance, output power and total energy have been calculated for three different solar panel system throughout a year including every single month. Moreover, this paper contains graphical comparison of output power and total energy for three different systems and also for different months including various seasons.