Impact of Increasing Albedo on Choosing the Optimal Tilt Angle to Optimize PV Systems : Case Study

Abstract

The amount of irradiation energy that is produced by reflecting one's surroundings is measured using albedo. The amount of albedo is affected by factors such as time, position, geometry, and meteorological conditions. The albedo value responds to changes in any of the characteristics described above, even if those changes are just slight. Because of this, modelling albedo can be difficult. This paper applied the optimum tilt angle at 31° with a constant albedo 0.2 for location in Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University - at latitude 32°03'30.6" North and longitude 44°24'13.3" East. After treating the surface on which the PV system is installed with white Portland cement, the surface albedo will change to (0.87); the increase in albedo leads to an increase in reflected radiation from the ground on PV panels then increase in the power output, also the results shown to reaching the maximum value of the solar irradiation hitting the PV panels to get maximum value of power output with albedo 0.87 in this location, optimum tilt angle will change to be 42o instated of 31o. This study proved that when the albedo of the surface on which the system is installed changes, so does the optimal tilt angle.