IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v18y2025i18p4839-d1747339.html

Shadow Analysis of Photovoltaic Systems Deployed Near Obscuring Walls

Author

Listed:
  • Joseph Appelbaum

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo 6997801, Israel)

  • Assaf Peled

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo 6997801, Israel)

  • Avi Aronescu

    (School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo 6997801, Israel)

Abstract

As photovoltaic (PV) deployment has expanded from rural sites to the built environment, rooftops are increasingly used for electricity generation. In these settings, the visible sky is often partially obstructed by adjacent walls, producing shading that reduces energy yield. This study quantifies the effect of wall shading on incident solar radiation and system losses, and contrasts it with inter-row (mutual) shading experienced by PV arrays in open fields. Systems installed near obscuring walls are subject to both phenomena. To our knowledge, the specific impact of wall shading on PV systems has not been examined comprehensively. We characterize how wall height governs shadow geometry, determine the resulting numbers of shaded and unshaded cells and modules, and assess how shaded modules influence the performance of the remaining modules in a series string. For the parameter set analyzed, annual energy losses are 7.7% due to wall shading and 4% due to inter-row shading, yielding a combined loss of 10.2%. The methods and results provide a practical basis for designers to estimate shading losses and expected energy production for PV systems sited near obscuring walls.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph Appelbaum & Assaf Peled & Avi Aronescu, 2025. "Shadow Analysis of Photovoltaic Systems Deployed Near Obscuring Walls," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-14, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:18:p:4839-:d:1747339
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/18/4839/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/18/4839/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dolara, Alberto & Lazaroiu, George Cristian & Leva, Sonia & Manzolini, Giampaolo, 2013. "Experimental investigation of partial shading scenarios on PV (photovoltaic) modules," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 466-475.
    2. Joseph Appelbaum & Assaf Peled & Avi Aronescu, 2024. "Wall Shading Losses of Photovoltaic Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-16, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Rodrigo, P. & Gutiérrez, S. & Velázquez, Ramiro & Fernández, Eduardo F. & Almonacid, F. & Pérez-Higueras, P.J., 2015. "A methodology for the electrical characterization of shaded high concentrator photovoltaic modules," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 768-777.
    2. Hai Lan & Jinfeng Dai & Shuli Wen & Ying-Yi Hong & David C. Yu & Yifei Bai, 2015. "Optimal Tilt Angle of Photovoltaic Arrays and Economic Allocation of Energy Storage System on Large Oil Tanker Ship," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Koo, Choongwan & Hong, Taehoon & Jeong, Kwangbok & Ban, Cheolwoo & Oh, Jeongyoon, 2017. "Development of the smart photovoltaic system blind and its impact on net-zero energy solar buildings using technical-economic-political analyses," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 382-396.
    4. Ramli, Makbul A.M. & Twaha, Ssennoga & Ishaque, Kashif & Al-Turki, Yusuf A., 2017. "A review on maximum power point tracking for photovoltaic systems with and without shading conditions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 144-159.
    5. Shrivastava, Manish & Singh, Ashok Kumar & Gautam, Desh Deepak, 2025. "Critical observation on partially shaded PV modules and effects on sustainable applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    6. Xiaoguang Liu & Yuefeng Wang, 2019. "Reconfiguration Method to Extract More Power from Partially Shaded Photovoltaic Arrays with Series-Parallel Topology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-16, April.
    7. Zhao, Wenjun & Han, Zunshi & Wu, Yupeng & Lu, Hao, 2025. "Numerical simulation of dust deposition influences on building integrated photovoltaic array," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    8. Marco Severini & Emanuele Principi & Marco Fagiani & Stefano Squartini & Francesco Piazza, 2017. "Energy Management with Support of PV Partial Shading Modelling in Micro Grid Environments," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, April.
    9. Pareek, Smita & Dahiya, Ratna, 2016. "Enhanced power generation of partial shaded photovoltaic fields by forecasting the interconnection of modules," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 561-572.
    10. Xie, Jixing & Tang, Haida & Lyu, Yuanli & Liu, Wenjie & Tian, Xiangning & Li, Chunying, 2024. "Energy, environmental and economic performance of bi-facial photovoltaic noise barrier applied in city scale," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 237(PA).
    11. Ghoname Abdullah & Hidekazu Nishimura & Toshio Fujita, 2021. "An Experimental Investigation on Photovoltaic Array Power Output Affected by the Different Partial Shading Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, April.
    12. Qamar Navid & Ahmed Hassan & Abbas Ahmad Fardoun & Rashad Ramzan & Abdulrahman Alraeesi, 2021. "Fault Diagnostic Methodologies for Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plants: A State of the Art Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-22, February.
    13. J. C. Teo & Rodney H. G. Tan & V. H. Mok & Vigna K. Ramachandaramurthy & ChiaKwang Tan, 2018. "Impact of Partial Shading on the P-V Characteristics and the Maximum Power of a Photovoltaic String," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-22, July.
    14. Li, Baojie & Hansen, Clifford W. & Chen, Xin & Diallo, Demba & Migan-Dubois, Anne & Delpha, Claude & Jain, Anubhav, 2024. "A robust I–V curve correction procedure for degraded photovoltaic modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    15. Joseph Appelbaum & Assaf Peled, 2025. "The Effect of Walls on the Sky View Factors of Photovoltaic Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-15, March.
    16. Li, Guiqiang & Xuan, Qingdong & Pei, Gang & Su, Yuehong & Ji, Jie, 2018. "Effect of non-uniform illumination and temperature distribution on concentrating solar cell - A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1119-1136.
    17. Rosario Carbone & Cosimo Borrello, 2022. "Experimenting with a Battery-Based Mitigation Technique for Coping with Predictable Partial Shading," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, June.
    18. Priyanshu Kumar & Moina Ajmeri & Ashutosh Kumar Singh & Rajib Kumar Mandal & Akshay Kumar Saha, 2024. "A Novel High-Gain Multi-Stage Switched-Capacitor-Based DC-DC Boost Converter with Closed-Loop Control," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-20, November.
    19. Yadav, Amit Kumar & Chandel, S.S., 2017. "Identification of relevant input variables for prediction of 1-minute time-step photovoltaic module power using Artificial Neural Network and Multiple Linear Regression Models," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 955-969.
    20. Shen, Yu & He, Zengxiang & Xu, Zhen & Wang, Yiye & Li, Chenxi & Zhang, Jinxia & Zhang, Kanjian & Wei, Haikun, 2022. "Modeling of photovoltaic modules under common shading conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).

    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:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:18:p:4839-:d:1747339. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.