Design and Performance of Landscape Adaptable PV Structures

This paper presents an investigation of the electrical output associated with change in shapes of stand-alone adaptable PV structures. The PV structures presented in this work consist of PV plates of different fixed orientations, but adaptable tilt angles according to the time of the day and year, and the orientation of the plates themselves. Adopting fixed but different orientations allows to capture the maximum of solar radiation at different time of the day by a fraction of the structure, without a continuous movement of the plates. The study is carried out for a cold northern climate. The results of the study indicate that it is possible to significantly increase the yearly electrical output of an adaptable PV structure as compared to fixed design.