Wall Shading Losses of Photovoltaic Systems

Joseph Appelbaum*, Assaf Peled, Avi Aronescu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The deployment of photovoltaic (PV) systems on rooftops in urban environments may encounter shading on the PV collectors from surrounding walls, acting adversely on the generated electricity of the PV systems. Most studies on the shading of PV systems do not deal analytically with the shading losses of PV collectors affected by walls, fences, and obscuring objects. The present article mathematically formulates shadow expressions for wall and inter-row shading on PV collectors and calculates the percentage of annual shading losses affected by wall heights and azimuth angles, the distances of walls to collectors, and the length and azimuth angles of collectors. This study indicates that the shading losses increase for shorter distances from the collector to the walls and for higher walls. Shading losses may reach 7 percent for wall heights of 4 m and at a distance of 2 m from the collectors to a wall. The results indicate that wall shading dominates inter-row shading.

Original languageEnglish
Article number5089
JournalEnergies
Volume17
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2024

Keywords

  • collector azimuth
  • inter-row shading
  • inter-row spacing
  • PV systems
  • wall shading

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Wall Shading Losses of Photovoltaic Systems'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this