Energy, exergy, economical and environmental analysis of photovoltaic solar panel for fixed, single and dual axis tracking systems: An experimental and theoretical study

• Published in: Case studies in thermal engineering Vol. 51; p. 103635
• Main Authors: Alomar, Omar Rafae, Ali, Omar Mohammed, Ali, Bashar Mahmood, Qader, Veen S., Ali, Obed M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 01.11.2023
• Subjects: Economic and environment analysis; Exergy; Photovoltaic; Single- and dual-axes tracking systems; Solar
• ISSN: 2214-157X; 2214-157X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.csite.2023.103635

This investigation focuses on energetic, exegetic, economical and environmental analysis of PV solar system using fixed, single- and dual-axes tracking systems under climatic weather of Zakho city/north of Iraq. Experiments are carried out on 5th September 2022. The energy and exergy analyses are used to predict the performance of three solar panels. The theoretical work includes technical, economical and environmental analysis of proposed 1 MW PV solar power plant are presented using similar characteristics of the experimental data of hourly meteorological climatic conditions during 2022. The findings display that the tracking systems have significant influences on 4–E performances. The experimental results displayed that electrical output power gain and thermal exergy output are increased when using tracking systems, where the exergy losses for single- and dual-axes tracking systems are decreased as compared to fixed solar plane. The maximum improvements in the electrical output power gain of PV solar panels using dual– and single–axes tracking systems are nearly reached to 40 % at 8 a.m., 13 % (for single) and 20 %(for dual) at 12 p.m. and 30 % at 17PM as compared to fixed solar panel. The theoretical results display that the yielded produced energy for single- and dual-axes are increased by 16.5 % and 25.5 %, respectively, as compared to fixed panel. The economic findings display that the cost of energy for single-axes, dual-axes and fixed tracking systems are 4.89, 4.41 and 8.26, respectively. Finally, the use of tracking systems reduces the CO2 emission about 4000–4500 tCO2 annually.