IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v242y2025ics0960148125001028.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental investigation of wind loads on solar arrays with varying row configurations and tilt angles

Author

Listed:
  • Zhao, Yongfei
  • Yang, Yang
  • Zhang, Haicheng
  • Li, Mingshui

Abstract

To investigate the wind load of solar panel arrays in an atmospheric boundary layer, this study conducted rigid-model pressure measurement wind tunnel tests on solar panel arrays with varying numbers of rows, using a geometric scale ratio of 1:10. This investigation focuses on the impact of wind direction angles, tilt angle, and row number on aerodynamic characteristics under high Reynolds numbers. The results suggest that although the mean wind pressure coefficients of solar panel array have been decreased compared to single row solar panels, the complex array would lead to more complex and unfavorable fluctuating wind pressure coefficients due to the wake and other flow structures generated by array. Greater tilt angles result in an increased number of non-Gaussian regions. The influence of wake causes an intermittent appearance of regions with high peak factors, which intensifies the fluctuating components of the wind loads. This could lead to unfavorable situations, even in the middle of the array. The modification in array spacing may result in more complex wind load distribution patterns, necessary for further investigation in the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhao, Yongfei & Yang, Yang & Zhang, Haicheng & Li, Mingshui, 2025. "Experimental investigation of wind loads on solar arrays with varying row configurations and tilt angles," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:242:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125001028
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.122440
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148125001028
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2025.122440?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bahadori, Alireza & Nwaoha, Chikezie, 2013. "A review on solar energy utilisation in Australia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 1-5.
    2. Bermudez-Garcia, Anderson & Voarino, Philippe & Raccurt, Olivier, 2021. "Environments, needs and opportunities for future space photovoltaic power generation: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    3. Bahrami, Arian & Okoye, Chiemeka Onyeka & Atikol, Ugur, 2017. "Technical and economic assessment of fixed, single and dual-axis tracking PV panels in low latitude countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 563-579.
    4. Ma, Wenyong & Zhang, Weida & Zhang, Xiaobin & Chen, Wei & Tan, Qiang, 2023. "Experimental investigations on the wind load interference effects of single-axis solar tracker arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 566-580.
    5. Choi, Seok Min & Park, Chang-Dae & Cho, Sung-Hoon & Lim, Byung-Ju, 2022. "Effects of wind loads on the solar panel array of a floating photovoltaic system – Experimental study and economic analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    6. Monforti, F. & Huld, T. & Bódis, K. & Vitali, L. & D'Isidoro, M. & Lacal-Arántegui, R., 2014. "Assessing complementarity of wind and solar resources for energy production in Italy. A Monte Carlo approach," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 576-586.
    7. Doljak, Dejan & Stanojević, Gorica, 2017. "Evaluation of natural conditions for site selection of ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants in Serbia," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 291-300.
    8. Abiola-Ogedengbe, Ayodeji & Hangan, Horia & Siddiqui, Kamran, 2015. "Experimental investigation of wind effects on a standalone photovoltaic (PV) module," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 657-665.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Shaopeng & Li, Xin & Jiang, Yan & Yang, Qingshan & Lin, Min & Peng, Liuliu & Yu, Jianhan, 2025. "A novel frequency-domain physics-informed neural network for accurate prediction of 3D spatio-temporal wind fields in wind turbine applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 386(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bao, Terigen & Li, Zhengnong & Pu, Ou & Wu, Honghua, 2025. "Field measurement and analysis of near-ground wind field characteristics and wind pressure on tracking photovoltaic panels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    2. Yuheng Hu & Hongzhou Zhang & Zhenwei Luo & Yupeng Zhou & Guoshun Yuan, 2025. "Critical Wind Direction Angles and Edge Module Vulnerability in Fixed Double-Row Photovoltaic (PV) Arrays: Analysis of Extreme Wind Conditions Based on CFD Simulation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-26, May.
    3. Xu, Ang & Ma, Wenyong & Yuan, Huanxin & Lu, Lihe, 2024. "The effects of row spacing and ground clearance on the wind load of photovoltaic (PV) arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    4. Ma, Wenyong & Zhang, Weida & Zhang, Xiaobin & Chen, Wei & Tan, Qiang, 2023. "Experimental investigations on the wind load interference effects of single-axis solar tracker arrays," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 566-580.
    5. Mammar, Mohamed & Djouimaa, Sihem & Gärtner, Ulrich & Hamidat, Abderrahmane, 2018. "Wind loads on heliostats of various column heights: An experimental study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 867-880.
    6. Yang, Yuting, 2022. "Electricity interconnection with intermittent renewables," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    7. Csereklyei, Zsuzsanna & Qu, Songze & Ancev, Tihomir, 2019. "The effect of wind and solar power generation on wholesale electricity prices in Australia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 358-369.
    8. Lim, Juin Yau & Safder, Usman & How, Bing Shen & Ifaei, Pouya & Yoo, Chang Kyoo, 2021. "Nationwide sustainable renewable energy and Power-to-X deployment planning in South Korea assisted with forecasting model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    9. Sun, Wei & Harrison, Gareth P., 2019. "Wind-solar complementarity and effective use of distribution network capacity," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 89-101.
    10. Sanzana Tabassum & Tanvin Rahman & Ashraf Ul Islam & Sumayya Rahman & Debopriya Roy Dipta & Shidhartho Roy & Naeem Mohammad & Nafiu Nawar & Eklas Hossain, 2021. "Solar Energy in the United States: Development, Challenges and Future Prospects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-65, December.
    11. Finn, Thomas & McKenzie, Paul, 2020. "A high-resolution suitability index for solar farm location in complex landscapes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 520-533.
    12. Rômulo de Oliveira Azevêdo & Paulo Rotela Junior & Luiz Célio Souza Rocha & Gianfranco Chicco & Giancarlo Aquila & Rogério Santana Peruchi, 2020. "Identification and Analysis of Impact Factors on the Economic Feasibility of Photovoltaic Energy Investments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-40, September.
    13. Sward, Jeffrey A. & Nilson, Roberta S. & Katkar, Venktesh V. & Stedman, Richard C. & Kay, David L. & Ifft, Jennifer E. & Zhang, K. Max, 2021. "Integrating social considerations in multicriteria decision analysis for utility-scale solar photovoltaic siting," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    14. Hou, Yali & Wang, Qunwei & Tan, Tao, 2023. "An ensemble learning framework for rooftop photovoltaic project site selection," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    15. Lukáš Rečka & Milan Ščasný & Dali Tsintskiladze Laxton, 2023. "The Role of Biomass in Decarbonisation Efforts: Spatially Enriched Energy System Optimisation Modelling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-18, October.
    16. Gönül, Ömer & Yazar, Fatih & Duman, A. Can & Güler, Önder, 2022. "A comparative techno-economic assessment of manually adjustable tilt mechanisms and automatic solar trackers for behind-the-meter PV applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    17. Anderson, Cody B. & Picotti, Giovanni & Cholette, Michael E. & Leslie, Bruce & Steinberg, Theodore A. & Manzolini, Giampaolo, 2023. "Heliostat-field soiling predictions and cleaning resource optimization for solar tower plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    18. Jianfeng Yao & Zhibin Tu & Dong Wang & Guohui Shen & Wenjuan Lou, 2022. "Experimental Investigation of Wind Loads on Roof-Mounted Solar Arrays," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-20, July.
    19. Dujardin, Jérôme & Kahl, Annelen & Kruyt, Bert & Bartlett, Stuart & Lehning, Michael, 2017. "Interplay between photovoltaic, wind energy and storage hydropower in a fully renewable Switzerland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 513-525.
    20. Jangyoul You & Myungkwan Lim & Kipyo You & Changhee Lee, 2021. "Wind Coefficient Distribution of Arranged Ground Photovoltaic Panels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:242:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125001028. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.