With the rising global awareness of the negative impacts of power plants based on fossil fuels, nations are shifting their attention to renewable energy. This is in line with the recent advancements in photovoltaic (PV) technology to encourage the construction of more large-scale solar PV plants. Different types of PV tracking technologies are normally used in these plants. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies to determine which of these PV tracking technologies is the most economically viable. This paper aims to address this issue by assessing actual recorded data from a solar PV plant in Australia as well as simulated data from a PV system design software. The operational performance and economics of the PV systems are studied by calculating and comparing the capacity factors and levelized costs of energy (LCOE). This study can provide insights on the economic feasibility of different PV tracking technologies to allow PV owners and investors to be well-informed in expecting the return on their investments.
Index Terms-PV tracking technology, solar PV plant, energy yield, capacity factor, levelized cost of energy (LCOE)I.
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