Viewing Convection As a Solar Farm Phenomenon Broadens Modern Power Predictions for Solar Photovoltaics
Sponsor
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Agreement Number DE-EE0008168. This work was authored in part by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office.
Published In
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Document Type
Citation
Publication Date
11-1-2022
Abstract
Heat mitigation for large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays is crucial to extend lifetime and energy harvesting capacity. PV module temperature is dependent on site-specific farm geometry, yet common predictions consider panel-scale and environmental factors only. Here, we characterize convective cooling in diverse PV array designs, capturing combined effects of spatial and atmospheric variation on panel temperature and production. Parameters, including row spacing, panel inclination, module height, and wind velocity, are explored through wind tunnel experiments, high-resolution numerical simulations, and operating field data. A length scale based on fractal lacunarity encapsulates all aspects of arrangement (angle, height, etc.) in a single value. When applied to the Reynolds number Re within the canonical Nusselt number heat transfer correlation, lacunarity reveals a relationship between convection and farm-specific geometry. This correlation can be applied to existing and forthcoming array designs to optimize convective cooling, ultimately increasing production and PV cell life.
Rights
Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, American Institute of Physics
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1063/5.0105649
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/39625
Citation Details
Sarah E. Smith, Brooke J. Stanislawski, Byron Kasey Eng, Naseem Ali, Timothy J Silverman, Marc Calaf, and Raúl Bayoán Cal , "Viewing convection as a solar farm phenomenon broadens modern power predictions for solar photovoltaics", Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy 14, 063502 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0105649