Cost effective methods to improve the power output of a solar panel: An experimental investigation

Abstract

Due to shortage of power production, Solar PV utilization is deeply raised in developing countries. Due to the production cost of Solar PV cells the market price per unit of energy production is high compared with conventional power generation. Several attempts have been made in the cell production technology, material, methods. This papers attempts to increase the power output of the existing solar PV panels by mirror reflection. Already attempts has been made with the panel was inclined at 15° with the horizontal by fixing plane mirrors at 70° in the East-West ends of the panel and provided Mirror air gap at 1cm., results from the practical data show that by using mirrors, an average increase of around 14.57% in the short-circuit currents and as a result of the reduced complexity and zero power consumption of the mirror system. This paper analyzes the four mirror system to aims the power output without any tracking. The results are encouraging showing 30.54 % increase in the short circuit current.