Analysis of impact to optical environment of the land by flat-plate and array of tracking PV panels

•Calculation of illumination level on the land around tracking PV (both isolated and arrayed) panel.•Tracking PV has less shadow onto the ground, typically half of the fixed tilt PV.•The optical environment improves with the high pole.•The total energy onto the cultivatable land under and around the PV panels is almost 3 times more.

The impact to the optical environment result from shading of PV panels becomes concerned. This paper describes how to calculate illumination level on the land around tracking PV (both isolated and arrayed) panel. The land under the flat-plate PV is dark by shading, but the influence from the tracking PV is not very significant, typically half in average. This is because shadow by tracking panel moves. The shading influence is further decreased with the increase of pedestal height. With this advantage, tracking PV can be combined with agriculture as a double use of the land.