What rack configurations are used in photovoltaic plants?

The most used rack configurations in photovoltaic plants are the 2 V × 12 configuration (2 vertically modules in each row and 12 modules per row) and the 3 V × 8 configuration (3 vertically consecutive modules in each row and 8 modules per row). Codes and standards have been used for the structural analysis of these rack configurations.

Does a ground-mounted photovoltaic power plant have a fixed tilt angle?

A ground-mounted photovoltaic power plant comprises a large number of components such as: photovoltaic modules, mounting systems, inverters, power transformer. Therefore its optimization may have different approaches. In this paper, the mounting system with a fixed tilt angle has been studied.

Which photovoltaic plant has a fixed tilt angle?

The described methodology has been applied in Sigena I photovoltaic plant with a fixed tilt angle, 2 V × 12 configuration with a tilt angle of 30 (°), located in Northeast of Spain (Villanueva de Sigena). From a quantitative point of view, the following conclusions have been reached:

What affects the gap between photovoltaic modules in the north-south direction?

(iv) The gap between the photovoltaic modules in the North–South direction is affected by the longitudinal spacing for maintenance, and it gives rise to a smaller influence of the parameter length of the rack configuration on the number of photovoltaic modules that can be installed in that direction.

What affects the optimum tilt angle of a photovoltaic module?

(vi) The tilt angle that maximizes the total photovoltaic modules area has a great influence on the optimum tilt angle that maximizes the energy.

How to optimize a photovoltaic plant?

The optimization process is considered to maximize the amount of energy absorbed by the photovoltaic plant using a packing algorithm (in Mathematica™ software). This packing algorithm calculates the shading between photovoltaic modules. This methodology can be applied to any photovoltaic plant.