[countvonbalzac]

I remember there was this science barge that had a solar panel that passively tracked the sun by being mounted on a metal tube that had some gas in it that expanded and somehow tilted the panel more towards the sun.

I wonder how much more accurate your system is and whether the tradeoff is worth the added expense of a motor + the additional maintenance cost of moving parts.

I wonder why solar farms don't use active tracking, is that added maintenance + equipment cost just not worth it?

[rl_for_energy]

So large solar farms are usually single-axis tracking, which provides a huge energy production benefit over static panels. Consider this panel's application more for a standalone installment, where it could make sense to use a dual-axis tracking panel over a single-axis or static panel. Re: solar farms and cost, I actually learned that around ~70% of the cost of solar installation is soft costs, not the actual panels/solar cells etc. Applying RL to much larger installations would be about finding non-obvious ways to leverage the single-axis tracking when the sun is not directly overheard. A fun problem for the future :)

[algo_trader]

> around ~70% of the cost of solar installation is soft costs

This is incorrect, especially for solar farms

Panels are indeed only about 1/3 of the cost. Additional components, labour, inverter, mounting - another 1/3.

The last third is indeed soft(ish) cost, but this includes profit (duh..), certification, survey, tax, fees, etc. This can be reduced, but it is not going to magically disappear ...

Another fun fact : newer mega farms in low-altitude deserts are considering no-axis no-mounting zero-tilt - just laying the panels on the ground ... It all comes down to cost vs yield

A nice project by the way. Did you ever compare the results to pre-calculated angles based on time/location/season?

[ncmncm]

Farmers are placing them mounted vertically, like fences, in productive fields, running north/south, far enough apart to run a tractor between. They pick up power in morning and afternoon. The crops benefit from reduced heat stress and water loss, and yield more.

Panels that work with light from either side are preferred for this use.

[conradev]

If it’s not hardware (panels, inverters, brackets, etc) it is considered a soft cost.

NREL’s model puts soft costs at 44% for a 100MW fixed-tilt utility-scale plant in 2021:

https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy22osti/80694.pdf

The percentage goes up as the installation size goes down, but it is not 70%

[sbierwagen]

>low altitude

Low latitude?