Assessing Performance of Manually Controlled Solar Tracking System in Climate Condition of Kano, Nigeria

Abstract

A solar tracking system is a mechanism used to move and position a solar photovoltaic in such a way that it is positioned and oriented perpendicular to the sun beam for maximum amount of solar irradiance and maximum power outputs. However, fixed solar panel is more preferred than tracking module because it is cost effective. In this paper, the amount of solar irradiance of the tracking module is compared with fixed solar module by experimentally in Kano, Nigeria for the three months (May, June, July, 2019). It was observed that the highest average amount solar irradiance extracted by tracking collector was 10923.67 W/m2 and average solar irradiance harnessed by stationary collector (without tracking) was 9151.33 W/m2. The average percentage change of solar irradiance with tracking was 16.22 % over solar irradiance without tracking (stationary). In conclusion, the dual-axis tracking module is extracting more amount of solar irradiance than fixed module.

Keywords

• Altitude angle
• Azimuth angle
• Solarimeter
• Solar Irradiance
• Solar Tracker

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