Analysis of Voltage Performance and Temperature Effects in a Tracking Floating Photovoltaic System

Abstract

This study examines a one axis sun tracking floating photovoltaic system located in Northern Iraq (35.407533°N, 44.413411°E). While fixed floating PV systems have been studied extensively, the integration of tracking mechanisms with floating installations remains underexplored, particularly in regions with high solar potential and significant water resources like Iraq. the floating platform holds a system with a 120W photovoltaic module attached to it that can track ±45° horizontally. A mathematical model based on the voltage generated was developed by taking temperature effects, tracking angle and water-surface effects. The collected performance data showed remarkable benefits from tracking implementation with voltage gains above 100% during early morning hours. While, Daily energy yields showed improvements of 22.5 ± 0.7%. The developed mathematical model predicted values at all operating conditions with an accuracy of 96-98% with RMSE of 0.15V and 0.11V for fixed and tracking, respectively. Temperature analysis revealed that the optimal cell temperature range is 25-30°C. The floating configuration kept the temperature of the cell 2.8°C lower than that of an equivalent ground configuration. The tracking system performed more efficiently than the fixed system and showed a maximum system efficiency of 10.51% compared to 9.67% for the fixed system. The results show that tracking systems in floating photovoltaic applications is effective and provide a foundation for further future optimization.