EFFECT OF AZIMUTH ANGLE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A SMALL-SCALE ON-GRID PV SYSTEM

Abstract

Abstract: In this study, the effective solar irradiation on the PV surface, electricity generation, and performance ratios of a small-scale system were investigated for a 100 kW on-grid PV system in Konya, Turkey, by PVsyst software. Five different azimuth angles as -30°, -15°, 0°, 15°, and 30° were investigated for no-shading simulations with a fixed optimum tilt angle of 33°. As a result, the highest effective solar radiation comes to the system with an azimuth of 0° as 1966.4 kWh/m², which is 2.12%, 0.46%, 0.79%, and 2.66% greater than the other azimuth angles of -30°, -15°, 15° and 30°, respectively. On the other hand, it is seen that the highest energy production is obtained from the system with an azimuth angle of 0° with annual energy of 174.33 MWh. This value is 1.91%, 0.37%, 0.89%, and 2.8% greater than the other azimuth angles of -30°, -15°, 15°, and 30°, respectively. In addition, to evaluate the shading effect on the performance of the PV panels, two different panel spacings as, 4 m and 8 m, were also considered. It was seen that the electricity generation with an 8 m span system was 8.88% better than the 4m. Another finding is that the height of the panels is negligible according to electricity generation. Finally, the highest performance ratio is obtained from the azimuth angle of 0°, as 0.857.