Bio-Inspired Design of Future Solar Power Systems for Smart Grid Applications

Advances in the design of future solar-photovoltaic power systems should address performance constraints while maintaining a high-power output. An identified constraint is that of high tracker acquisition costs for large number of solar panels deployed in solar farms. The cost and overheads associated with solar tracker acquisition for the case of large-scale power farms should be addressed in future solar farms. This paper addresses this challenge and proposes the incorporation of the bio-inspired orientation diversity approach in future solar panel systems. In the proposed design approach, the future solar panel is realized from a solar tree that hosts multiple mini-solar panels. The mini solar panels are hosted at varying levels of deployment altitudes and orientation. Performance evaluation results obtained show that the proposed mechanism enhances the power output and reduces tracker acquisition costs by an average of 46.4 %, and 45.2%, respectively.