Geometric Shade Modeling and Analysis of a Row of Solar Carports
Research Summary
Solar carport installations have gained momentum in the past few years. The structure provides shade, and effective snow and rain management while offsetting the energy needs of the property. In order to gain these combined benefits of solar carports, the architecture design of the property needs to align with the solar system design needs. Defining solar system needs, however, has been a challenge for solar carports. Existing solar energy modeling software packages fail to model the dual tilt and multi-row photovoltaic module configurations. This research addressed this energy modeling shortcoming and generated geometric shade models.
Outcomes
Created a geometric shade model that can model multi-row and dual-tilt photovoltaic module configurations
Investigated the effect of architectural designs on the performance of a solar carport system
Defined solar carport project design rules to select tilt angle for a range of carport spacings and azimuths
Allowed SunPower to create a fully-customizable and site-optimized solar carport solution