Analysis of energy efficiency of solar panels with single axis solar tracker system for Siirt city environment

Solar panels, which are increasingly being used today, have a very important place as a renewable energy source. Solar energy potential in our country especially Southeastern Anatolia region, makes electric energy production important by using photovoltaic (PV) panels.The energy produced by PV panels is proportional to the intensity of the falling sunlight as well as the angle of sun rays. If the sunlight falls vertically, the electricity generation will be in maxsimum level. Therefore, there are various studies about sun tracking systems in the literature in order to obtain the maximum level of electric energy from solar panels. Sun tracking systems are based on the solar panels to follow the movement of the sun in two ways, single and double axis. In single-axis control systems where efficiency is increased by about 25-30%, the panel follows the single axis vertically from sunrise to sunset. In this study, the productivity increase of single axis solar tracking system compared to fixed systems in Siirt region, where sunshine duration and solar intensity are very high according to world standards, has been investigated. In experimental studies, we have used two 250 Watt solar panels that one is a stationary system and the other is a tracker system. For the moving solar panel, a tracking system is used that will follow the panel in an upright position from sunrise to sunset. Tracking sistem is consist of radiation measurement sensor, electric linear actuator, control device and mechanical device. The fixed panel is placed at a suitable angle on a mechanical device. The load current and panel voltage of fixed and movable panels to which equivalent ohmic loads are connected are recorded with five minute intervals throughout the day with two measuring instruments with real time current and voltage measurement and recording capability. Using this stored data, the total energy values of the power produced by the stationary and moving panel during the day were calculated. Experimental results obtained under different working conditions showed that the efficiency of the mobile panel increased by 30-35% compared to the fixed panel. Keywords: Energy Efficiency, Photovoltaic, Photovoltaic cells, Sun Tracking System