TÜV Rheinland Verifies Diffuse Booster, Soltec's Algorithm that Increases the Gain of a Photovoltaic Plant by 5.3% When it is Cloudy

For the second year, Soltec Power Holdings has published a technical report together with the German company TÜV Rheinland, which has verified that Soltec TeamTrack® with Diffuse Booster can increase the gain of a photovoltaic solar plant by up to 5.3% on regular terrain at Mediterranean latitudes.

In this study, TÜV Rheinland verified the Soltec Diffuse Booster algorithm, which aims to increase the production of a photovoltaic solar plant even on cloudy days, when there is more diffuse irradiation than direct irradiation. The algorithm, which uses both sensors and weather forecasts, moves the trackers to the optimal position that captures the maximum irradiation.

Thus, TÜV Rheinland has observed that activation of the Diffuse Booster algorithm increases the energy yield of Basic TeamTrack by 5.3% in Mediterranean and Equatorial sites, reaching a 6.9% gain at Northern latitudes. The Diffuse Booster algorithm thus optimizes the performance during fully cloudy days, with power generation increases of up to 12.4% for a single day.

The expected gains for the Mediterranean, Equatorial and Northern regions compared to standard backtracking are 2.5%, 1.3% and 3.8%, respectively. Specifically, considering different climates and energy prices, the implementation of TeamTrack® in a 100 MWp PV plant can represent an increase in yearly revenues of about 1,8 Mn euros in Spain, where the energy price is 32€/MWh; and 668,000 euros in Brazil, with an energy price of 30€/MWh.  In Northern latitudes, such as Germany, where the energy price is 48,8€/MWh, these revenues can reach more than 2Mn euros.