Feasibility of Solar Tracking for PV Panels

There is no doubt that a solar tracking system would increase the efficiency of a PV module, but when and where? There are many factors that affect the performance of a PV panel, e.g. overheating due to (i) excessive exposure to solar irradiance and (ii) a hot climate, as in Sunbelt countries. So, a tracking system could not be necessary for a Sunbelt country.In this research an experimental setup was developed in order to compare the effect of tracking, no tracking, and full miss tracking on the output power of identical PV panels, in a city in a Sun belt country i.e. Cairo, Egypt. The results showed that placing the module in a fixed position, towards the south with a 30 tilt angle with the horizontal, is the most suitable position for Cairo's weather conditions. This is because tracking the sun in Cairo raised the module temperature leading to having almost equal output powers with the no tracking cases. Total miss tracking the sun reduces the output power compared to tracking and no tracking, but it has a great advantage in cooling the PV panel which results in a much lower temperature when compared to the tracking and no tracking cases.