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ROOFTOP SITE SURVEY

 Why Site Survey is Important?
Site Survey plays a very important role in the process of Solar installation as it provides crucial information in the solar
plant design.

There are 3 important factors considered when designing a solar PV system:

• Feasibility - Is the system feasible for implementation?
• Viability - Is it economically viable to implement the system and reap benefits in the long run?
• Needs of the user - Understanding the user requirements and needs is of utmost importance.

A site survey helps understand the above 3 aspects in detail. You can dramatically increase the output of the Solar PV
system by getting the Site survey properly done.
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Site Survey is carried out to help design a proper Solar PV system that suits the user’s requirements. It’s customary to
begin with to collect all the details about the site before making a final proposal to the client for a customized solar
solution.
 Parameters need to be considered during the Site Survey
1. Location and Orientation of the roof:

• The location and orientation of the building plays an important part of

rooftop survey. This is because the solar irradiance and hence the power
output of the system primarily depend on the latitude of the system.

• Additionally the orientation of the roof (whether east west or north south)
needs to be determined. This is because an east west building if needed to
generate maximum output from the installed system needs to be installed at
an orientation which would not match the orientation of the building.

• The best orientation in the figure is the building 2 which can utilize
maximum daylight and the worst is building 1. However all these buildings
can have rooftop installed but the aesthetic of the building may be
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compromised.
 2. Module mounting structure and make of roof:
• The Module Mounting Structure (MMS) holds the solar module firmly with
respect to the ground.

• They provide structural rigidity to the entire system and prevent any mechanical
damage to the modules during harsh climatic conditions.

• As evident from the figure, there are various designs (single/dual axis tracker,
Adjustable seasonal tilt, etc. are not shown) of MMS and a particular design of
MMS may not be suitable for all the system. This is because primarily the MMS
(in addition to the maximum local wind speed) depends on the load bearing
capacity (and hence the type) of the roof.

• Some roofs may use MMS made up of light weight material (say Aluminum)
and may just be bolted to the ground whereas some roof may use grouting
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and/or bolting of MMS. It is hence important to determine the roof type of the
consumer.
 3. Rooftop measurement and shadow analysis:

• The rooftop measurement would enable the developer to understand the maximum capacity of solar power plant
that can be installed at their rooftop.

• A good thumb rule is to consider an area of 10 m2 per kW of solar system. However this area is only the shadow
free area and hence it is important to map the shadow casting objects. The length, width and height of such
objects in addition to its accurate position are required.

• As the sun changes its position in the horizon season wise, the length of shadow from an object would vary in
length with maximum at winter and minimum at summer.

• It is also important to map surrounding objects such as trees, existing and new buildings, overhead wire cables,
etc. which could all cast shadow on the solar panel reducing its power output.
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• The site along with the shadow casting objects are modelled in software like Google Sketch Up for shadow
analysis and the shadow free area on the roof is obtained.
 4. Module and Balance of System (BOS) positioning:
• Positioning is also considered as one of the most important factor.

• Positioning of BOS basically includes Array Junction Box, String Junction Box,
DC combiner box, Inverter positioning.

• These positioning are critical as increase in distance between these components

increases cable length increasing both the cost and money. It is hence important
to chalk out these positions.

• There may be shadow free area, were we would not install module as there is
some space which is chalked out for walking.

• We need space between modules or pitch to ensure that the shading of modules
does not affect other modules.
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• Additionally adequate space for carrying out cleaning and scheduled

maintenance is also required.
 ORIENTATION AND POSITIONING OF SOLAR MODULE

• The solar PV modules are heart of the power plant and in order to generate maximum energy it needs to
be positioned at an optimum location.

• Any variation in the placement (in terms of orientation and inclination) may lead to loss of energy (and
hence money) which may in turn damage the modules (due to differential output within modules) in long
run.

• It is hence important to understand the placement of solar module in the power plant.

Let us understand how positioning of solar module in the power plant is done with the help of some figures:
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 Figure 1

• The figure below shows typical layouts of solar power plant. The figure on the left shows a solar power
plant where the modules are facing towards south (generally what we see in India). The figure on the
right shows the solar power plant installation where the modules are facing east west. Such
configurations while not prevalent in India may have to be considered if there are installation constraints.
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 Figure 2

• The sun as we know rises in east and sets in west. Additionally, it

also changes its position (season wise) in sky with respect to a
fixed point on earth. The orientation of solar module may be
defined by two parameters namely azimuth and tilt angle (seen in
figure). Tilt angle of solar module is defined as angle between the
horizontal ground and the solar module. Azimuth angle of solar
module is an indicator of alignment of the module with respect to
south. For modules facing south this angle is 0 degree and for
module facing north this angle is +/- 180 degree.
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 Figure 3

• The sun (in the northern hemisphere) traverses from east to south
(in the sky) to west. Hence the orientation of solar panels can only
be directions other than the north.
• To understand the best orientation for solar modules, a comparison
(of specific production) between south facing module and east-west
facing modulefor the cities (mentioned above) is carried out.
• Additionally, the tilt angle of the modules was varied at 0o, 5o, 10o,
15o and the latitude of the place for both the orientations. These
conditions are simulated in PVsyst and a plant size of 100 kWp is
considered.
• As evident from the figure, the south facing modules at any location
due to increased irradiance falling on it (at peak noon) compared to
east west facing modules would generate more energy.
• Additionally comparing the varied tilt angles, the modules placed at
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tilt angle equivalent to the latitude (of the city) would generate the
maximum energy output compared to any other tilt.
 Analysis of positioning solar module location wise

To understand more about the positioning, the four locations are selected..i.e. (Ahmedabad in west, Delhi in
north, Kolkata in east and Tiruchirappalli in south).
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The above figure tells about the specific production of south facing modules and east west facing modules in
Ahmedabad.
 • The below figure tells about the specific production of south facing modules and east west facing
modules in Delhi
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 • The below figure tells about the specific production of south facing modules and east west facing
modules in Kolkata and Tiruchirappalli.
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 Interpretation

On the basis of results on orientation and tilt angle of solar module, there are various other consideration required before
installing the system in particular orientation and tilt.

1. Increasing the tilt angle (and sometimes installing it at latitude angle) would lead to decreased shadow-free area at any
given rooftop space. Such reduction would lead to significant reduction in capacity of solar power plant and reduced
energy generation. Thus it is important to optimize the tilt angle to maximize energy generation while maintaining the
performance of the plant.

2. While the south facing modules perform best, there may be various instances where due to constraints (say a tall
building in south direction) or an east west building (where south facing modules may lead to reduced capacity and
increased cost of under-structure) the modules may have to be placed east-west. While the energy output of east west
facing module (as evident from above) decreases with an increase in tilt angle, the dust accumulation decreases with an
increased tilt angle.
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On basis of this, we recommend that tilt should be close to 10 degree as it may vary location wise based on various
calculations.
 5. Earthing pit and Lightening Arrestor (LA):

• Solar plant harness too much of metal. Hence it is important to ground such metal in case of current leakage from
solar panels.

• Additionally, it is also possible that these plants become the path for lightening.

• It is important to provide and hence identify position Earthing pit and LA. It is also necessary that a separate metal
strip and earth pit are provided and hence identify position for system grounding and LA.

• Waaree is capable of giving turnkey solutions for both Rooftop and Utility scale projects.

• Its highly reliable module is capable to perform to their maximum at any given conditions.

• Additionally, Waaree is also capable of giving customized solutions for MMS. We believe in anchoring our consumers
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investments safely.

• Our standard product offering can be seen in the figure ahead.

 Standard offering of MMS (clockwise from top left) Ground mounted fixed structure, Seasonal tilt structure,
Single axis auto tracker and Rooftop mounting structure.
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Copyright 2019 Waaree Energies Ltd.