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Optimum Tilt Angles of Solar Panels: A Case Study for Gansu Province, Northwest China

  • SOLAR INSTALLATIONS AND THEIR APPLICATION
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Abstract

The article deals with optimizing tilt angles of photovoltaic panels for fixed and manually adjusted solar photovoltaic system with due south-facing orientation to maximize the output of solar electricity in Gansu province, northwest China. There are three models by Liu and Jordan, Hay and Kliein and Theilacker selected to calculate the seasonal and yearly optimum tilt angles of solar panels through Matlab programs on seven sites in Gansu province. Meanwhile, the outdoor experiment was conducted to measure the yearly sum of global solar irradiance at different tilt angles. The study found that (1) the calculated yearly optimum tilt angles by three models are close among each other especially between Liu and Jordan’s and Klein and Theilacker’s models; (2) the annual optimum tilt angles of solar panels for fixed installation could be set at model’s angle for higher latitude sites with most-rich solar energy, and latitude angle for lower latitude sites with medium-rich and less-rich solar resources; (3) the seasonal optimum tilt angles should be set at average models’ angle for manual adjustment of photovoltaic system across a year; (4) for all sites, the model’s angle could be selected for a photovoltaic system when considering limitation of land-use area.

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Funding

This work was under the support of International Clean Energy Talent Program by China’s Scholarship Council and it was also funded by the Key R&D Project in Gansu Natural Energy Research Institute (no. 2019YF-03).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, 730070, Lanzhou, China

    Yaping Hua & Puxing Liu

  2. Gansu Natural Energy Research Institute, Gansu Academy of Sciences, 730046, Lanzhou, China

    Yaping Hua & Wei He

Authors
  1. Yaping Hua
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  2. Wei He
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  3. Puxing Liu
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Correspondence to Yaping Hua.

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Yaping Hua, He, W. & Liu, P. Optimum Tilt Angles of Solar Panels: A Case Study for Gansu Province, Northwest China. Appl. Sol. Energy 56, 388–396 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0003701X20050060

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S0003701X20050060

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