Solar Calculator
(Redirected from Solar Insolation Calculator)
Power Production
This is the key calculator fro NREL. Give it location and fixed tilt, and it calculates total power production per year with surprising results: angle matters very little for fixed tilt. Thus, flat rooftop is almost as good as optimal, non-tracked angle. Tracking does give significant improvement, though.
- https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php - good. 8.5 MWhr/year with 20 degree tilt or 45 degree tilt.
8.2 MWhr/yr with 12 degree tilt. 8.7 MWhr/yr with 32 degree tilt. 7.8 MWhr/yr with 60 degree tilt. With 2 axis tracking, it is 12 MWhr/yr.
- Good reality check: Angle optimization in a fixed system gets you only about 6% improvement! 2 axis tracking gets you 50%.
PV Panel Angle Calculator
- Useful to study latitude (not much difference) vs time of day (lots of differentce, as this difference is determined by air mass. Think of space: in space around the earth, insolation would be constant.
https://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/properties-of-sunlight/calculation-of-solar-insolation
- Dual axis trackers improve energy gain by 40% [1]. Is that over fixed mount or seasonal change mount?
- Bifacial panels add 14-40% more energy gain, and tracking adds about 40% [2]
