Hi experts, I wanted to ask is there any relationship between solar power loss vs sun position? I mean if there is some misalignment between the solar panel and solar azimuth angle or solar altitude angle, how much will the panel loss ?
Some PV panels are active, meaning they chase the angle to receive maximum solar radiation. The other group are passive. They are typically fixed in certain directions to gain maximal annual radiation. A number of factors influence the optimal orientations e.g., latitude of the location, the surrounding buildings and objects which can have shading or reflection effects, and the maintenance factors like directions which let less dust to block the PV panels.
You could find more information on this topic in a book published by Technical University of Berlin. See the link below:
http://solarchvision.com/?page_id=4303
Ralative loss dependes on Angle between Sun Direction and PV-panel Normal Direction:
PPVfixed=PSunDirect*cos(AngleSun_PV)
If Sun Direction is equal to PV-panel Normal Direction (Tracking system) than Loss depends on Atmpspheric Absorption (Atmospheric Mass -AM).
As the colleagues mentioned any deviation between the line of sight orientation of the solar panels and its real orientation will cause losses in the harvested output power of the solar panels. The quantification of the loss can be determined according to the cosine law brought by Vladimir.
From the practical point of view there is fixed installations to get the maximum with certain look angles depending on the geographical location. There is also the monthly adjusted look angles and there is one axes tracking and double axes tracking. The double axes tracking gives the highest harvesting, then the one axes tracking gives about 20 percent less than the two axes tracking and the fixed orientation gives about 40 percent less than the two axes tracking.
You can find in the literature the harvesting of the different systems.
Best wishes
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