Estimation of optimal tilt angles for photovoltaic panels in Egypt with experimental verifications

The principal target of this work is to compute the optimal tilt angle (OTA) for Photovoltaic (PV) panels. To perform this task, comprehensive simulations are done starting from altering the tilt angle (TA) daily, to use one fixed TA for all the year. The mathematical models for extra-terrestrial radiation (ETR) of both horizontal and inclined surfaces are presented firstly. At a later stage, the optimization formulation for the maximizing the solar radiation (SR) is adapted, and then the daily, monthly, seasonally, half-yearly and optimal fixed TAs are obtained. Although, the daily OTA produces the maximum SR, it is costly and impractical. It is found that altering the TA twice a year at optimal values that are computed as 5 degrees and 50 degrees for Suez city, gives the best results that are very near to the daily altering of the OTA. The difference between the two methods is 1.56% which is very small. Also, the two OTAs has SR better than that of the fixed OTA which is 28 degrees by 7.77%. Also, it is found that the yearly fixed OTA (28 degrees) is nearly equal to the latitude angle of Suez city which is 30 degrees. The two OTAs method of this paper is different from the commonly used method that suggests two TAs. The first TA is used for winter months which is obtained by adding 15 degrees to the latitude angle while the second TA is obtained by subtracting 15 degrees from the latitude angle for the summer months. This commonly used method produces lesser SR than the two OTAs method of this paper. The theoretical work has been proved by an experimental work on two PV systems constructed at 25 degrees and 30 degrees TAs. The results of the experimental work agree with the theoretical results.