To estimate shade impact to a PV array, standard practice is to measure solar access at the corners of an array and interpolate the shade impact to the modules in between. 3D modeling techniques, however, show that structural shade impact is highly localized. Diffuse light conditions can further reduce the impact of shading. In regions with many overcast days, it is thought that the standard method overestimates the impact of structural shade. In this work, direct solar access measurement is combined with simple 3D modeling, and then compared to the standard method and field performance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.