Study of the Dependence of Solar Radiation Regarding Design Variables in Photovoltaic Solar Installations with Optimal Dual-Axis Tracking

Abstract: Solar tracking is an efficient strategy to increase the radiative capture of photovoltaic
collectors. Within the multiple efforts made in recent decades to improve the production of these
facilities, various works have studied solutions to optimize the number of rotation axes (single or
dual rotation axes), the degree of collector coverage, the distances between trackers, the geometric
arrangement of trackers or the minimization of shading between collectors. However, although in
this type of installation it is common to find collectors with geometric shapes other than rectangles,
no studies on the influence of the shape of the collectors on the radiative incidence are found in the
literature. In this connection, the present work systematically addresses the study of incident solar
radiation in photovoltaic installations with dual-axis trackers with collectors of different geometric
shapes. By means of the exhaustive study, the conclusion is drawn that, for dual-axis photovoltaic
installations with an optimal tracking strategy, the main variables that influence the annual radiative
incidence are the spacing between collectors, the coverage ratio (GCR), and the collector surface,
while the type of arrangement of collectors and the shape of these do not show predictive values.