The use of tracking technology allowing solar modules to follow the course of the sun (and so optimize the incident angle of sunlight on their surface) can increase electricity production by around a third, and some claim by as much as 40% in some regions, compared with modules at a fixed angle.Generally, modules are fixed at the optimum angle for their specific latitude. However, this is the angle optimized over the course of a year, and (depending on latitude) can vary by 30° as the sun appears lower or higher in the sky. Fixing PV modules at the optimum angle typically yields an improvement of around 15% compared with simply laying them flat. Trackers, on the other hand, adapt to both the daily passage of the sun and potentially the changing seasons too. And in many concentrating solar technologies (PV and thermal), tracking is an essential component.
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