Estimating the Optimum Tilt Angles for South-Facing Surfaces in Palestine

Abstract

The optimum tilt angle of solar panels or collectors is crucial when determining parameters that affect the performance of those panels. A mathematical model is used for determining the optimum tilt angle and for calculating the solar radiation on a south-facing surface on a daily, monthly, seasonal, semi-annual, and annual basis. Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS) and Photovoltaic Software (PVWatts) is developed by the NREL (US National Renewable Energy Laboratory) are also used to calculate the optimum monthly, seasonal, semi-annual, and annual tilt angles and to compare these results with the results obtained from the mathematical model. The results are very similar. PVGIS and PVWatts are used to estimate the solar radiation on south-facing surfaces with different tilt angles. A case study of a mono-crystalline module with 5 kWP of peak power is used to find out the amount of increased energy (gains) obtained by adjusting the Photovoltaic (PV) tilt angles based on yearly, semi-annual, seasonal, and monthly tilt angles. The results show that monthly adjustments of the solar panels in the main Palestinian cities can generate about 17% more solar energy than the case of solar panels fixed on a horizontal surface. Seasonal and semi-annual adjustments can generate about 15% more energy (i.e., it is worth changing the solar panels 12 times a year (monthly) or at least 2 times a year (semi-annually). The yearly optimum tilt angle for most Palestinian cities is about 29°, which yields an increase of about 10% energy gain compared to a solar panel fixed on a horizontal surface.