AdamRJensen
commented
1 year ago The original Solar Energy paper (10.1016/j.solener.2022.02.023) list the following assumptions:
- assumes that the collector area is 100% active (fixed)
- all trackers are installed on an even field (fixed)
- does not account for horizon shading (e.g., trees or hills)
- diffuse irradiance is ignored
- all collectors are normal to the sun
- assumes rotation around the origin
The assumptions above denoted "(fixed)" are solved by the improvements to the methodology presented in the MethodsX paper (10.1016/j.mex.2022.101876).
Consider documenting somewhere (docs page, docstring, etc) the requirements for the shading calculation to be valid. Off the top of my head, the calculation assumes at least that the shading and shaded collectors are both pointing directly at the sun. These assumptions are reasonable for the typical case, but may be violated in some circumstances (for example a tracker stall).
Probably worth reviewing the paper to see if there are other assumptions worth listing as well.