Orientation-Optimization Simulation for Solar Photovoltaic Plant of Cairo International Airport

Abstract

Solar energy is a prompt creating source of energy worldwide. Airports are typically large, shade-free structures and have great areas, which offer the idealistic platform for installing large surfaces of photovoltaic panels generating more than 20 GW/yr. Optimization of the photovoltaic system is a main factor to promote the power conversion efficiency. Solar-radiation amount depends on an essential factor, which is the orientation of the photovoltaic modules. The azimuth and tilt angles for the photovoltaic panels are important factors that impact the receiving of the solar radiation, accordingly have a major influence on the photovoltaic system performance. PVsyst software is an important simulation software for the design of the photovoltaic system. Also, PVsyst enables the calculation of the amount of energy generated. This study provides a proposal for installing a photovoltaic plant in Cairo International Airport. Moreover, the study gives several orientation cases to get the optimal yearly tilt and azimuth angles. The optimal tilt and azimuth angles should be obtained to enhance the annual energy yield. The study also improves the energy generation by carrying out optimization to obtain the dualseasonal optimal tilt angles for summer and winter. The simulation for the energy generation and the orientation-optimization analysis was done by the PVsyst software. The optimization results indicated that the optimal azimuth angle is 0°, the optimal yearly tilt angle is 30°, and the generated energy is around 35 GWh/yr. The optimal dual-seasonal tilt angles are 10° in summer and 50° in winter that maximized the generated energy to be about 36.5 GWh/yr. This optimization study contributes effectively to increase the energy production by installing a photovoltaic plant and using an optimal photovoltaic panel-orientation, as well as being able to save about 50% of Cairo-International-Airport Terminal-Building 3 yearly electrical consumption.

Çift Yüzlü Fotovoltaik Panellerin Farklı Zemin Koşullarında Performansının İncelenmesi

“…Figure 8. A flowchart of the PVsyst simulation of the proposed grid-connected system (Abagy et al, 2021) In this study an installed capacity of 54,6 kWp bifacial and monofacial PV panels with a horizontal angle of 35°, azimuth angle of 0°, and 6m intervals for roof installation is considered (PVsyst, 2020). GTC Solar Turkey, GG1H-300 bifacial PERC 60 cells PV module was used in the analysis.…”