Investigation of the effect of the orientation of photovoltaic panels on power generation

Nowadays, the rapid development of the technology also increases the amount of the energy needed. Due to the negative effects of the fossil fuels on the environment, the use of renewable energy sources in electricity generation is increasing day by day. Photovoltaic (PV) panels are one of the leading methods of obtaining electrical energy from solar energy, which is one of the renewable energy sources. Many studies are carried out to increase the efficiency of PV panels. There are many factors that affect the panel efficiency. One of these factors is the angle that the sun's rays make with the PV panel surface. The steeper this angle value is, the higher the electrical energy produced from the PV panel. In this study, the energy production losses of panels that do not receive the sun's rays perpendicularly at sunrise and sunset times in panels without solar tracking system are analyzed. The energy increases produced by the panels, which are permanently positioned in the southern direction in the Northern Hemisphere, are analyzed when the sun rays are perpendicular at sunrise and sunset times. The most suitable days for the measurements to be carried out in cloudless weather conditions were determined according to the meteorological data For this study, measurements were made with three panels positioned at the optimum angle, oriented east, west and south, and the energy produced was compared. It is seen that the panel, which is considered to be turned to the direction where solar radiation is high, can produce approximately 32% to 25% more energy than the panel facing the fixed south direction. With the simulation program, it was calculated that for the whole year, the panel positioned at the seasonal optimum tilt angle, facing the direction of maximum radiation value in the hours of maximum radiation value, can produce approximately 20% more energy than the panel positioned at the annual optimum tilt angle, fixedly facing south. The maximum difference between the measured values and the values produced by the simulation program was 8.6%.