Improving the energy efficiency of a solar power plant

Abstract

The urgency of the work is due to the feasibility of increasing the energy efficiency of solar power plants through the use of solar energy concentrators. Ways to improve the energy efficiency of solar panels using a sys-tem of directional mirrors, flat Fresnel lenses, spherical concentrators and trackers have been investigated. It is established that the most optimal way to improve the energy efficiency of solar panels is to use inexpensive track-ers with a simple design. The analysis of known types of solar panels, which differ in materials from which their elements are made, and the coefficients of efficiency – dependence of energy produced by a photocell on the intensity of solar radiation per unit of its surface has been carried out, and the type of solar panels by the criterion “price-quality” has been selected. A tracker design has been developed to track the angle of inclination of solar panels to increase efficiency. The electricity generated by the proposed solar power plant was calculated using an online calculator. It is projected to reduce losses when generating electricity for a given power plant due to the use of a tracker compared to a fixed power system, with the same number of solar panels. In order to reduce the cost of the tracker, it is suggested to orientate it to the south at once, and to change the inclination angles twice a year (in early April and late August). The energy efficiency of the power plant is calculated in two stages. At the first stage the amount of electricity from solar panels per year when adjusting only the angle of inclination of the panels to the south is calculated. At the second stage energy efficiency of the power plant is calculated taking into account the increase of energy efficiency of the solar power plant when using the tracker system. The calculated electricity generation of the proposed solar power plant with tracker confirmed the efficiency and feasibility of using the designed tracker system. The application of the designed tracker system allows to increase the energy efficiency of solar panels by an average of 25%.