Maximizing Output of Single-Axis Tracker PV Plants Under Non-Uniform Cloud Cover

To maximize the output of single-axis tracker PV plants a tracker control scheme that can effectively respond to diffuse conditions is essential. Here, we present a dynamic and flexible control scheme, which we refer to as zonal diffuse tracking mode, that enables trackers within a plant to react to non-localized, time-varying cloud cover. For a site in the South-East United States we predict that this control mode can result in 0.91% more energy on an annualized basis relative to a scenario where no tracking modes for diffuse conditions are available. This is an improvement of 0.25%<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">abs</inf> annually over a similar control scheme that is unable to react to non-uniformities in cloud cover. On individual days, the improvement is as high as 0.41%<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">abs</inf>. These gains represent an additional step towards developing a tracker control scheme that can maximize PV energy generation from the available solar resource at any given location.