Conclusions
An attempt has been made in our study on near shade analysis of single and two layer solar panels through modeling for a limited dimension. The energy generation from a single layer solar panel system for a day (December 20 as a sample) is 252 kWh/day for 756 sq m area. It increases up to nearly 445 kWh/day with the two layer solar panels separated by 10 m in the same area. The output varies depending on the separation between the two layers of photovoltaic panels. Due to high land cost in urban areas, the present study is significant. We have shown an increase of over 70% in the output.
The present modeling results are limited to the two layer PV system with opaque modules as solar energy collectors for small dimensions as shown in Figure 1. Our result
is more applicable to roof tops of the houses or
small scale plants. The study, however, can easily be
extended to the n layer solar PV panel system of any dimension.
However, the justification of the plant cost
with respect to solar panels need to be considered. Thus,
one needs to have an optimal cost in designing the number
of solar panel layers. It should also be based on the
foundations of the site location.
Keywords: Simulation, PVSYST software program, Efficiency, Shade analysis, Land cost