Open-Source Design and Economics of Manual Variable-Tilt Angle DIY Wood-Based Solar Photovoltaic Racking System

摘要

Fixed-tilt mechanical racking, consisting of proprietary aluminum extrusions, can dominatethe capital costs of small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Recent design research has shown thatwood-racking can decrease the capital costs of small systems by more than 75 in North America. Todetermine if wood racking provides enough savings to enable labor to be exchanged profitably forhigher solar electric output, this article develops a novel variable tilt angle open-source wood-baseddo-it-yourself (DIY) PV rack that can be built and adjusted at exceptionally low costs. A detailedlevelized cost of electricity (LCOE) production analysis is performed after the optimal monthly tiltangles are determined for a range of latitudes. The results show the racking systems with an optimalvariable seasonal tilt angle have the best lifetime energy production, with 5.2 more energy generatedcompared to the fixed-tilt system (or 4.8 more energy, if limited to a maximum tilt angle of 60O ).Both fixed and variable wooden racking systems show similar LCOE, which is only 29 of theLCOE of commercial metal racking. The results of this study indicate that the novel variable tilt rack,whether used as a small-scale DIY project or scaled up to fulfill larger energy demands, providesboth the lowest cost option even when modest labor costs are included and also may provide specificadvantages for applications such as agrivoltaics.