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ISESCO JOURNAL of Science and Technology

Vo l u m e 8 - N u m b e r 1 4 - N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 2 ( 9 - 1 2 )

Studying Power Output of PV

Solar Panels at Different
Temperatures and Tilt
A
Abstract
Angles
angle decreased from 35°
n experiment was con- to 0°. It was concluded that

Hanif M.*, 2M. Ramzan, 2M. Rahman,

ducted on PV (Photo- PV solar panels must be
1

M. Khan, 2M. Amin, and 1M. Aamir

voltaic) solar panels to- installed at 35° tilt angle
3 (equal to the latitude of
wards achieving maximum
Lecturers and 2Assistant Professors in the
Jamrud, Khyber Agency,
power output. The power 1

Department of Agricultural Mechanization,

output of PV solar panels is Pakistan) to get maximum

Faculty of Crop Production Sciences, Khyber

examined with different tilt power output. Also PV so-
lar panels must be installed
Pakhtunkhwa Agricultural University Peshawar,
angles (0°, 20°, 35°, 50°
at a place where they re-

Pakistan
and 90°) and different tem-
peratures (15°C to 45°C) ceive more air currents so

Principle Engineer in Nuclear Institute for Food

of the PV solar panels. The that the temperature re-
3

and Agriculture (NIFA) Peshawar, Pakistan

PV solar panels showed mains lower and the out-
maximum power output at put remains high.
a tilt angle of 35° and low *Email: calm_tiger_hanif@yahoo.com Keywords: PV Solar Panel,

Tel: +923339049552
temperature of 15°C. The Tilt angles, Temperature,
power output of PV solar Current, Voltage, Power
panels decreases when the Output.
tilt angle increased from 35° to 90° or when the tilt

1. Introduction increasing prices of fossil fuels in the country, it is dif-

ficult to concentrate on these conservative energy re-
Pakistan is facing a serious energy crisis since the last
decade. Despite strong economic growth during the past sources for production of electricity. Hence, the only way
decade and consequent rising demand for energy, no is to get benefit from renewable energy resources like
worthwhile steps have been taken to install new capacity solar, wind and biomass [2, 3]. The most plentiful power
for generation of the required energy sources. Now, the source we have in Pakistan is solar. The sun is upon us
demand exceeds supply and hence load-shedding is a almost 365 days a year and that too with harsh intensity
common phenomenon through frequent power shutdowns. which is almost 700 w.m-2.hr-1 [4].
Pakistan needs about 14000-15000MW electricity per day, To overcome the crises of electric energy, people in
and the demand is likely to rise to approximately 20,000 MW Pakistan are installing solar panels for electric power
per day by 2013. Presently, it can produce about 11,500 MW generation from solar energy. Solar panels comprise the
per day and thus there is a shortfall of about 3000-4000MW technology to convert sunlight directly into electricity.
per day. This shortage is badly affecting industry, commerce Most solar panels in use today are made of silicon and
and the daily life of people [1]. other semiconductor materials are expected to surpass
With the power shortfall in Pakistan hovering between silicon solar cells in performance and cost and become
2,000 to 4,000 Megawatts, the energy crises in this viable competitors in the PV marketplace. This technology
country are not going to disappear anytime soon. Due to has a high initial cost but has a good market all over the

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Hanif, Ramzan, Rahman, Khan, Amin, & Aamir / ISESCO Journal of Science and Technology - Volume 8, Number 14 (November 2012) (9-12)

country. If installed and maintained properly, they can 2.5 Calculating Power Output
be a good competitor for solving our energy crises in
Generation of electrical power under constant solar
homes, industries and educational institutions [5].
Irradiance was achieved by the capability of the solar
After installing the solar panel it is very much neces- panel to produce voltage over an external load and current
sary to get maximum performance from them. The ob- through the load at the same time. When the cell was
jective of the present work is to study different Tilt short circuited under constant solar irradiance then the
angles and different Temperatures of the solar panels maximum current (IMpp) and the short circuit current
that affect performance of roof integrated solar panel (ISC) are generated, while under open circuit conditions
system in the year 2011. no current can flow and the voltage is at its maximum,

2. Materials and Methods

called the open circuit voltage (VOC). The point in the
IV-curve yielding maximum product of current and
2.1 Site Selection voltage, i.e. power, is called the maximum power point
(MPP). Another important characteristic of the solar cell
The data were recorded in the Jamrud, Khyber Agency,
performance is the fill factor (Ff), defined as the ratio of
Pakistan. It is located within the Latitude of 34°01 N
and Longitude of 71°35 E. The site was made perfect the products of current voltage at maximum power point
for receiving maximum solar radiation and there was no to short circuited point [7].
shading of any structure or any object in the path of solar Mathematically
rays falling on the Pyranometer from dawn to dusk.
Ff = VMPP x IMPP / VOC x ISC (1)
2.2 Solar Panel Orientations and Tilting Using the fill factor, the maximum power output of
the solar cell can be written as [6, 8]
The solar panels were oriented facing South axis,
having five different tilt angle of 0°, 20°, 34°, 50° and 90° PMax = VOC x ISC x Ff (2)
with the horizontal as shown in Figure 1. It was done to
see the effect of tilt angle on the performance of panels. 2.6 Determining Current and Voltage
Current of the solar panel is determined by the help
of ampere meter connected in series while voltage is
determined by connecting a volt meter in parallel to the
output wiring system of the solar panel [11, 12].

3. Results and Discussions

3.1. Solar Irradiance

Tilt Angle
Solar irradiance was recorded with the help of a Pyra-
nometer at Five different tilting levels. The data recorded
Figure 1. Different Tilt Angles of Solar Panel at different tilt angles for the year 2011 is given in
Figure 2. It is clear from the graph that solar irradiance
2.3 Recording Solar Irradiance is higher all over the year at a tilt angle of 34° which
The solar irradiance (Si) data were recorded with the equal to the latitude of Peshawar as compared to other
help of Pyranometer. The data recorded by Pyranometer tilt angles. These results of solar irradiance are in accor-
was in kwh.m-2.day-1 [9,10]. dance with results of Feroz, 1989 [2] and Boyle and God-
frey, 1996 [7].
2.4 Temperature of the Solar Panel
The temperature of the solar panel was determined by
the help of thermometers installed on the gazing of each
panel [6].

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Hanif, Ramzan, Rahman, Khan, Amin, & Aamir / ISESCO Journal of Science and Technology - Volume 8, Number 14 (November 2012) (9-12)

Figure 2. Solar irradiance for the year 2011 Figure 3. Solar Panel Outputs Vs Temperature

3.2 Power Output Vs Tilt Angle of Panel The chi-square goodness of fit test showed that there
is a significant (P > 0.001) increase of power output if
Power output was correlated with different tilting
we increase the tilt angle of solar panel from 0° to 34°.
angles of Solar panel. The data of power output recorded
Also there is a significant (P > 0.003) increase shown if
at different tilt angles for the year 2011 is given in
we decrease the tilt angle from 90° to 34°.These results
Figure 3. At 34° tilt angle the graph has a chi-squared are in agreement with the findings of Meillaud. 2001 [1]
value of 0.97 and R-square 0.99 showed the best corre- and Olivia, 1998 [5].
lation between power output and tilt angle throughout the
year. The graph at 0° horizontal level with chi-squared 3.3 Power Output VS Panel Temperature
value of 0.93 and R-square 0.96 showing that power
Effect of temperature on the performance of solar
output is lower on 0° tilt angle throughout the year as
panel is given in Figure 3. It is clear from the graph that
compared to that of 34° tilt angle. Similarly the graph cell temperature significantly (P > 0.000) decreases the
data for 90° tilt angle or vertical level with a chi-square power output of the solar panel. Also voltage and current
value of 0.675 and R-square 0.83 showing poor corre- was significantly (P > 0.001) decreased with increase in
lation between power output and tilt angle throughout the panel temperature. These result are also in accordance
year. These results are in accordance with the findings of with the findings of Mahar, 2004 [9] and Salman et al.,
Ubertini and Desideri, 2003 [13] and Kollins, 2008 [14]. 2012 [10].

Conclusion
It was concluded that:
● Solar panel gives maximum power output throughout the year if installed at 34o tilt angle which is equal to
the latitude of Peshawar, Pakistan.
● Solar panels must be installed at 20° tilt angle in the months of May to August to get maximum power in summer
while they must be installed at 50° tilt angle to get maximum power in the months of December to February.
● In hot summer days, solar panel must be installed in a place where it receives maximum air currents so that
its temperature remains low and power output remains high.

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Hanif, Ramzan, Rahman, Khan, Amin, & Aamir / ISESCO Journal of Science and Technology - Volume 8, Number 14 (November 2012) (9-12)

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