Solar Tracking Mount – 5 Types to Choose From

PV Panel or Solar Tracking Panel mountings come in varied sizes and shapes, which depend on the purpose. Some of these can be mounted over a pole for ease of tracking the sun all through the day. Read on to know about 5 of the main types of solar tracking mounts, and which one is ideal for your solar panel system.

Solar Mount Rail System

These can be used for tilted mounts or for flat roof mounts. Tilt mounts can be placed in the horizontal mode or in a horizontal posture, or in a vertical posture known as the landscape mode. This type of rail system is easy and versatile, and offers plenty of choices. Most of the common rail mounts are first attached onto roofs.

Side-of-Pole Mounts

These are designed for holding anywhere between 1 and 4 modules. Either U-bolts or hose clamps are used to mount these to the pole. Poles of varied sizes can be accommodated to the racks, which can be adjusted for optimal angle of exposure to the sun in 10 ° increments from 15 – 65 °. The size of pole is decided by the number of modules which have to be mounted.

Ground Mounts

These are possibly the most convenient way to have solar panels mounted. This type of mount looks like an A-frame. It is safest to get this type of structure attached to a slab of cement to keep it secure in position. These types of mounts have been designed to handle anywhere between 1 and 8 solar modules. Such kinds of mounts can be utilized for fixing solar panels to a vertical surface, a roof or to the ground. Some of these mounts are fixed while others have legs which can be adjusted or tilted. There are optional tilt legs of adjustable variety, which area available for panels of varied styles.

Vehicle mounted racks

These are also referred to as Boat Mounts or RV mounts, and can help you to attach your solar panels to places where and when you require them.

Pole Top Mount

These can easily be set up atop a strong pole, and are usually recommended for home solar arrays. Pole top mounts can easily be set up, and can keep solar panels off the surface of the ground and out of danger. These can easily be adjusted and can allow convenient removal of snow. But once snowing stops and the sun peeps through again, you will have to sweep snow from the panels. Naturally, you should consider you should have them placed and how high from the ground and how far from your home you would like to get them placed.

Roof mounts

These are great in appearance, but it is difficult to reach them for the adjustment of the angle. You have to consider whether your roof is sloped enough to allow maximum efficiency of the solar panels. You should also consider whether you need to tilt the legs in order to make your panels face the sun in a more perpendicular posture.

Two Major Types of Solar Tracker Systems

Solar trackers are special devices which consist of PV panels, which allow accurate tracking of the path of sun across the sky. These help raise the output of solar energy installations by up to 40% than stationary panels. Since 1980, these have been there. The increasing use of solar trackers in residential as well as commercial-grade solar energy products is due to improved and more efficient solar trapping technology. The rise is mainly pushed by solar energy installations of commercial-scale, but has helped lower expenses and made tracking systems more dependable for small businesses as well as home owners. Find out about the two types of solar trackers.

Single Axis Trackers

These devices are classified as single axis or dual axis. Single axis trackers generally move to the west from the east, and these follow the sun’s direction. These have only one angle which is used as the axis of rotation. Such kinds of trackers are able to raise electricity production by over 30%. These offer an efficient, simple and low-cost way to improve the functioning of solar installations.

Single axis horizontal trackers can follow the sun’s movement from morning to evening across the sky. These can optimize the performance of the sun during summer and spring seasons, when the sun is in a higher position in the sky. But their usefulness drops the farther one moves northwards, given that the variance of the solar angle is higher between the summer and winter seasons. The performance is diminished during the other times of the year by setting of the sun along the horizontal. At higher latitudes, vertical axis trackers operate better. These allow solar arrays or panels to track the position of the sun during winter as well as summer.

Dual Axis Trackers

Dual trackers consist of two rotation axis degrees, referred to as the primary axis and the secondary axis. These can move downwards or upwards to cater to the angles of the sun during winter and summer seasons. These also help in additional rise in the output of energy. The designs and angles of both kinds of trackers can be adjusted by engineers.

Azimuth trackers or Dual axis trackers can solve simultaneously both issues. However, these can be quite costly and add 3,500 – 6,500 USD to the solar installation cost. Those at the lower end of the price range can accommodate Solar PV Panels of around 125 sq. ft and those at the higher can support 225 sq. ft.

Dual axis trackers depend on vertical and horizontal pivots which are controller-guided, just like in solar telescopes. These are very costly and their usage is generally limited to solar energy systems of commercial grade which make use of a parabolic dish along with a Stirling engine which can produce energy in the site itself. This kind of accurate tracking is also utilized in focused solar application, such as mirrors which direct sunlight receivers and transform sun rays into heat. This needs the smallest amount of accuracy in order to be effectual.

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Photo Voltaic Panels

Solar photo voltaic panels which are commonly known as the solar pv panels are the best way to gather solar energies. These panels actually help to preserve solar energy in an hour to a certain amount which can provide the necessity of solar electricity for a year.

Before using Solar PV Panels, an individual should be aware of the advantages and disadvantages it has.

There are various advantages of using Solar PV Panels.

• Solar energy is energy supplied by nature – it is thus free and abundant!
• PV panels provide clean – green energy. During electricity generation with PV panels there is no harmful greenhouse gas emissions thus solar PV is environmentally friendly.
• Solar energy is especially appropriate for smart energy networks with distributed power generation – DPG is indeed the next generation power network structure!
• Solar energy can be made available almost anywhere there is sunlight
• Photovoltaic panels, through photoelectric phenomenon, produce electricity in a direct electricity generation way
• Operating and maintenance costs for PV panels are considered to be low, almost negligible, compared to costs of other renewable energy systems
• Solar Panels cost is currently on a fast reducing track and is expected to continue reducing for the next years – consequently solar PV panels has indeed a highly promising future both for economical viability and environmental sustainability.
• PV panels are totally silent, producing no noise at all; consequently, they are a perfect solution for urban areas and for residential applications because solar energy coincides with energy needs for cooling PV panels can provide an effective solution to energy demand peaks – especially in hot summer months where energy demand is high.
• PV panels have no mechanically moving parts, except in cases of –sun-tracking mechanical bases; consequently they have far less breakages or require less maintenance than other renewable energy systems.
• Residential solar panels are easy to install on rooftops or on the ground without any interference to residential lifestyle.
• Though solar energy panels’ prices have seen a drastic reduction in the past years, and are still falling, nonetheless, solar photovoltaic panels are one of major renewable energy systems that are promoted through government subsidy funding (FITs, tax credits etc.); thus financial incentive for PV panels make solar energy panels an attractive investment alternative.

These Solar PV Panels have a few disadvantages too.

• Consequently, intermittency and unpredictability of solar energy makes solar energy panels less reliable a solution.
• For a continuous supply of electric power, especially for on-grid connections, Photovoltaic panels require not only Inverters but also storage batteries; thus increasing the investment cost for PV panels considerably
• As in all renewable energy sources, solar energy has intermittency issues; not shining at night but also during daytime there may be cloudy or rainy weather.

In case of land-mounted PV panel installations, they require relatively large areas for deployment; usually the land space is committed for this purpose for a time period of 15 to 20 years or may be longer.