solar pv tracking option added

[enrilizaga]

Change proposed in this Pull Request

Added 1-axis vertical and 2-axis tracking option for solar pv (+ small documentation addition for get_windturbineconfig)

Description

Updated orientation.py and convert.py:

• Default option is no tracking (tracking = 0)
• For vertical tracking, surface azimuth = sun_azimuth angles
• For 2-axis tracking, both the azimuth and the slope follow the sun, thus cos(incidence angle)=1

Motivation and Context

This change adds the solar pv tracking capability to the code. Solar pv tracking is widely used as it increases the solar pv efficiency significantly. This change improves the fidelity of the code to represent those efficiencies

How Has This Been Tested?

The updated code was tested locally (see snapshots)

• The following commands provided the same results (tracking = 0 default) cap_factors_pv_notrack = cutout.pv(panel='CSi', orientation={'slope': 30., 'azimuth': 180.}, capacity_factor=True) cap_factors_pv_0axis = cutout.pv(panel='CSi', orientation={'slope': 30., 'azimuth': 180.}, tracking=0, capacity_factor=True)

• Tracking = 1 and =2 were tested as well: cap_factors_pv_1axis = cutout.pv(panel='CSi', orientation={'slope': 30., 'azimuth': 180.}, tracking=1, capacity_factor=True) cap_factors_pv_2axis = cutout.pv(panel='CSi', orientation={'slope': 30., 'azimuth': 180.}, tracking=2, capacity_factor=True)

• Checked that csp was not affected (tracking change only for solar pv) cf = cutout.csp(installation="SAM_solar_tower", capacity_factor=True) cf = cutout.csp(installation="SAM_parabolic_trough", capacity_factor=True)

Type of change

• [ ] Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
• [x] New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
• [ ] Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change)

Checklist

• [x] I tested my contribution locally and it seems to work fine.
• [x] I locally ran pytest inside the repository and no unexpected problems came up.
• [ ] I have adjusted the docstrings in the code appropriately.
• [ ] I have documented the effects of my code changes in the documentation doc/.
• [ ] I have added newly introduced dependencies to environment.yaml file.
• [ ] I have added a note to release notes doc/release_notes.rst.
• [ ] I have used pre-commit run --all to lint/format/check my contribution

[FabianHofmann]

Hey @enrilizaga, sorry this takes a while on our side... but the code looks great! Some optional point would be awesome

• [x] Could you add your notebook to the examples list? Then, we can also try it out, see the docs on how to add it
• [x] A note in the release notes (RELEASE_NOTES.rst) - just follow the pattern you see there.
• [x] A test would be nice in tests/test_preparation_and_conversion.py, have a look at https://github.com/PyPSA/atlite/pull/220/files

Would that be possible for you?

[enrilizaga]

Hi @FabianHofmann, many thanks for your reply! I have:

• [x] added notebook example solarpv_tracking_options.ipynb and corresponding .nblink

• [x] added pv_tracking_test function within test_preparation_and_conversion.py

• [x] added tracking option for trigon_model "simple" within tiltedirradiation function

• [x] added new version 0.2.10 in the RELEASE_NOTES.rst

Please let me know. Thank you!

[FabianHofmann]

This is awesome. I'm having a look at the changes next week.

[fneum]

Ping! Would be super cool to include it in the upcoming PyPSA-Eur version.

[fneum]

closes #140 closes #220

[enrilizaga]

@FabianHofmann @fneum thanks for your comments. Just included them in the last commit. Please let me know!

[FabianHofmann]

Hey @enrilizaga, do you have concrete plans on continuing on this PR? Otherwise, we could look whether we can find someone to finish it up.

[martavp]

I know that @Parisra is working on implementing the horizontal tracking option. Mainly obtaining the tilt and orientation of the solar panels using Eq. 8-10 from NREL report Maybe @FabianHofmann you can accept @enrilizaga PR and @Parisra takes it from there

[fneum]

I think that’d make sense. No need for full tracking implemented until merging.

[FabianHofmann]

@martavp let's do it :) @Parisra could you then make sure to counter test the formulas? I haven't had the time to go into them in detail.

@enrilizaga many thanks again! This is a great contribution and super well done!

[Parisra]

Hi @FabianHofmann , yes I can do that. I've just finished adding the formulas for horizontal tracking and will be doing some tests next week to make sure the results make sense. I'll do a pull request once everything is ready.

[FabianHofmann]

great thanks @Parisra