Investigation of wind speed cooling effect on PV panels in windy locations

• The variation on PV system tilt angles due to wind speed has been investigated.
• Particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to maximize yearly energy gain.
• Yearly energy comparisons are made with and without considering wind effect.
• Estimation accuracy of yearly energy gain has been increased considering wind speed.
• Results show that wind speed cooling effect on PV systems should not be ignored.

Environmental concerns have considerably increased the penetration of renewable energy sources in the electricity grid. Especially, the quick rise of photovoltaic (PV) installations aroused more research interests in efficiency improvement during the recent years. Even one percent more gain is of crucial importance for sustainable energy development, potential impacts of some parameters as wind speed has not been taken into account broadly in PV systems yet. This paper is intended to help project planners to accurately estimate true potential of the PV plants especially in windy locations by taking into account generally underestimated wind speed cooling effect. Firstly, optimum tilt angle variations have been investigated and secondly yearly energy comparisons are made for cases with and without considering wind speed. A more accurate mathematical model is given to estimate yearly energy gain especially in the planning stage. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is used to find optimum tilt angles for several time intervals. Results are given in detail through a case study in a windy northern European city, Aalborg, Denmark. The presented methodology can also easily be applied to other systems located around the world.