Optimal spatial arrangement of modules for large‐scale photovoltaic farms in complex topography

Abstract The existing methods for determining the module arrangement in photovoltaic (PV) farms are considered insufficient as they are generally limited to the environment of flat ground without considering both physical and electrical factors. The orientations of PV modules may be very diverse when installed in places with complex topography, e.g. mountains and abandoned mine sites. Thus, the received irradiance by the modules is inconsistent directly results in current differences and hence leads to significant mismatch loss in the PV arrays. This paper proposes a solution to determine the most appropriate combination of tilts and orientations of PV modules as well as the arrangement of PV arrays. The complex topographies are fully considered to minimize the mismatch loss phenomenon, and hence the power generation degradation. The solution adopts a set of models, i.e. the irradiation model for the calculation of optimal module tilts and orientations, the shadow model for shadow effect analysis, and the mismatch model for mismatch condition analysis. A two‐layer multi‐objective optimization is implemented for the optimal arrangement. The proposed solution is assessed through the case study of a 30 MW PV farm. The result confirms the effectiveness of the proposed solution for the optimal spatial module placement.