When installing solar panels at home, different factors must be taken into account. For example, if we are talking about a photovoltaic installation that is carried out on land, it may be necessary to install a 2 axis solar trackerin order to adapt to the movement of the sun.
If you still don’t know what a solar tracker is, or how they optimize energy production, this article is for you.
What is a solar tracker?
We can define a solar tracker as a kind of movable structure that will serve as a point of union between the solar panel and the ground.
The main objective of this architecture is optimize electricity production of said installation. For this, it adapts to the best angle at which the sun’s radiation would be received.
The most common is that they are installed in large locations.
If you are thinking of installing solar boardsyou must take into account that the angle where the rays are proportional to the generated energy. This is known as angle of incidence and is used to measure the performance of the board to transform energy into electricity.
Keep in mind that the greater the perpendicularity of the angle, the more energy the system will be able to generate.
There are two main types of solar trackersalthough in this article we will focus on the two-axis solar tracking system.
How does a 2-axis solar tracker work and how does it optimize energy production?
Unlike single axis solar panel, a two axis tracker has ability to move in two directions: in east-west and north-south direction.
The main reason to opt for this type of device is to optimize the solar energy that is received throughout the year. And is that they can change their orientation depending on the season of the year in which we find ourselves. And not only that, but they can follow the sun in a much broader scope than the single-axis model.
In addition to getting much more accurate solar tracking and good performance, they also make your panels harder to steal.
However, it must be taken into account that the associated cost is higher.
It is possible to classify solar trackers into 2 broad categories: automatic and manual control.
·O manual solar trackers They are the cheapest, ideal for all those people who don’t have a very high budget.
Instead, the automatic solar trackers They integrate special microprocessors that allow tracking the position of the sun through sensors. They may also have some software with astronomical data to know the position of the star at any given time.
What are the advantages of a 2-axis solar tracker?
In this section we detail the advantages of this device:
1. Increase system efficiency
Making an investment in these devices can cause the system to increase its performance between a 25 and 35% (in the case of a single axle system). If it’s a two-axle system, performance is increased over a 5-10% in the mentioned range.
2. Long duration
As long as you invest in a high quality device, it can last for about 30 years.
The approximate repayment term is 5-10 years. This means that we will be able to make a profit for a few 22 years about.
3. Allows you to enjoy the sun all year round
They are very practical to place in those places where the position of the sun varies a lot from morning to afternoon and from the winter months to the summer months.
The energy generated may be sufficient to stimulate the self-consumption at home.
If it is possible for you to place any disadvantages, we will say that the cost it’s a little high. Furthermore, it should be borne in mind that maintenance also implies an investment of time and money.
Now you know how the solar trackers And why are they so useful?