Experimental and Numerical Analysis of the Impact of Placement of PV Panels on the Performance of a Rooftop Plant

Solar energy is an alternative to present day fossil fuels such as gas and coal for electricity generation which produces land, air, and water pollution. Less environmental pollution is the main advantage that drivers in the promotion of solar energy generation. Reduction in cost of solar panels shows us why there should be an increase in the use of the solar energy generation. The factors that complicate the portrayal of performance of array and PV panel are mainly time of day depending factors. They are: Change in solar irradiation during the operational hours and the optical effects in the panel which changes with the angle of incidence of solar rays. In normal practice for a small solar plant, proper site studies are not done. This leads to many losses in the generation as well as in the economic aspects. This paper compares a typical system with several other systems to bring out the severity of the issue. Mainly the factors like inclination, orientation and near shadings are considered and is analyzed using PVSyst software.