Get Sust! Issue 33

The logical way to capture the Sun’s energy

With photovoltaics (PVs) still failing to penetrate the market due (in part) to long payback times, it is important to develop systems that are as efficient as possible. With this in mind, a researcher at the Konya’s Technical Science College, Turkey, has developed a novel tracking system to improve the ability of PVs to follow the sunlight.

Cemil Sungur’s tracking system uses programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to control the way the PVs follow the sun, whereas other systems tend to employ photosensors. The argument in favour of PLCs is that these devices are programmed to follow the sun’s motion, regardless of the actual amount of sunlight available. So on a cloudy day, the PVs will still be correctly positioned and poised to absorb in the sun’s energy, however low that may be.

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Full details of the system and trials are reported in ‘Sun-Tracking System with PLC Control for Photo-Voltaic Panels’ by Cemil Sungur, International Journal of Green Energy, Volume 4, Issue 6 November 2007 , pages 635-643, available at www.informaworld.com.