Analysis of Solar Panel Tilt and Azimuth Variations on The Performance of Solar Power Plant for Shrimp Pond Aerator Applications

The effect of variations in the tilt angle and azimuth of solar panels on the performance of the Solar Power Plant system in one of the Pemalang shrimp ponds. The study was conducted on a solar power plant system used to operate a 1 HP shrimp pond aerator. The analysis was carried out using a simulation method with several software. Several variations in the tilt angle of the panel were sampled between 5° to 60° and the azimuth from 0° to -135°. The parameters evaluated included the annual energy output (kWh) and the Performance Ratio (PR) value as an indicator of system efficiency. The simulation results showed that the highest energy output was obtained at a tilt of 5°–15° with an azimuth of 0°, while the highest PR value consistently occurred at an azimuth of 180° for all tilt variations. Increasing the tilt above 20° caused a significant decrease in annual energy, although the PR value increased. Panel installation at extreme angles, such as 0° and 90°, is considered suboptimal because it can potentially degrade system performance due to dust, dirt, and imperfect absorption of solar radiation. The results of this study indicate that optimizing the tilt angle and azimuth of solar panels is crucial for improving solar power generation performance, depending on the geographic conditions of the installation location.