Study of the Applicability of Flat Reflectors in Photovoltaic Plants under Conditions of the Russian Far North

The paper is devoted to the study of an applied method for increasing the energy efficiency of solar energy facilities. The purpose of the article is to study the applicability of flat reflectors in photovoltaic plants operated in the northern regions of Russia. In this work the following tasks were solved: development of an algorithm for performing field studies, conducting field studies using flat reflectors for photovoltaic panels, determination of the performance indicators of a photovoltaic plant before and after using flat reflectors and performing a technical and economic assessment of the application of the proposed technical measure. A thin metal film made of aluminum alloy with impurities of silicon, tin, copper and iron in the range [0.5 – 1] % is used as a flat reflector. As a result of the work performed, it was established that in the case of using flat reflectors, the average daily output of a photovoltaic plant increases from 20 % to 37.4 %. These reflectors increase the surface temperature of photovoltaic panels 23.4 %, which reduces power generation 1.2 %. In this regard, layers of heat-insulating materials such as polyethylene terephthalate polymer film and metallized polyethylene terephthalate are added to the back of the flat reflector. It has been recorded that these layers reduce the share of reflection of the energy of thermal radiation from the sun to the photovoltaic panel with a subsequent decrease in its surface temperature 10 %.