Emission of the greenhouse gases from fossil fuel is the main catalyst for global warming. Nations agreed to limit the amount of warming to 1.5o C above pre-industrial levels in the next twelve years. Motivation for this project is to study if solar energy can be used for household electricity consumption with a reasonable photovoltaic panel size which will reduce the use of fossil fuels and hence, the emission of greenhouse gases.

The project studied both, with a fixed photovoltaic (PV) panel, facing towards south and at a tilt angle of 66.55o with horizontal and with a TTDAT (Tip-Tilt Dual Axis Tracker) system to track the sun, is used to generate electricity. Generated electrical energy is calculated in watts per unit area of the PV panel. Average energy consumption per household in the USA obtained from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Electricity use accounted for 44% of household energy consumption in 2017. Based on these data required PV system panel surface size is calculated for a single-family house.

Data from fixed PV panel and TTDAT system were used to calculate the PV-panel size. It is found that using tracking system the PV panel size can be reduced by 25% and hence the cost. This is due to the fact that tracking the sun minimize the angle of incidence between the sun’s ray and the line perpendicular to the PV panel surface and captures more solar energy.

Menu

Dr. Ahsanul Karim