Researchers on the College of Ottawa say they’ve devised a technique to optimize the effectiveness of photo voltaic panels, which incorporates incorporating synthetic floor reflectors.
To review how reflective floor covers have an effect on photo voltaic power output, the college’s SUNLAB collaborated with the Nationwide Renewable Power Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo.
Analysis discovered that putting reflective surfaces below photo voltaic panels can enhance their power output by as much as 4.5%.
“We discovered that extremely reflective white surfaces can enhance solar energy output,” says Mandy Lewis, the paper’s lead creator. “Critically, these reflectors needs to be positioned immediately below the photo voltaic panels, not between rows, to maximise this profit.”
The undertaking was funded by the Nationwide Sciences and Engineering Analysis Council of Canada, Ontario Graduate Scholarships and the U.S. Division of Power.
The research “Synthetic Floor Reflector Measurement and Place Results on Power Yield and Economics of Single Axis Tracked Bifacial Photovoltaics” was printed in Progress in Photovoltaics journal.
