Techno-Economic Analysis of Tilt Angle Adjustment in Fixed Tilt Angle Systems at a Real PV Power Plant

A significant proportion of photovoltaic power plant designs utilize fixed tilt angle systems. However, these designs exhibit inherent limitations that can be mitigated through the application of the methodology proposed in this study. The methodology used includes the following steps: (i) maximization of the total area of the photovoltaic field; (ii) calculation of the operating periods of the proposed mounting system and proposed improvement strategies; (iii) calculation of the effective area of the photovoltaic field; and (iv) maximization of effective annual energy incident on the photovoltaic field. The analysis has focused on the Sigena IPV power plant (Spain). The proposed design is compared with the actual design of the Sigena IPV power plant from different perspectives. The principal conclusions derived from this study are as follows: (i) The proposed configuration increases the photovoltaic field surface area by 10.63% and yields a 12.07% higher annual energy production relative to the existing layout. (ii) The current mounting system at the Sigena IPV power plant experiences wind loads that are 78.23% greater than those associated with the proposed design. (iii) Owing to the increased number of mounting structures required, the proposed layout results in a 14.03% rise in mounting-system costs. (iv) The proposed design achieves a marginal improvement in the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), with a reduction of 0.42% compared to the reference case. (v) Under the constraint of a constant number of mounting systems, the proposed design would reduce land requirements by 12%. Overall, these results indicate that the proposed configuration delivers superior techno-economic performance.