Nov 15 2010
Kyocera Solar has installed three polycrystalline silicon solar units at the Desert Knowledge Australia (DKA) Solar Centre, which is a public solar installation centre funded by the Australian Government.
This centre exhibits solar power technologies from global manufacturers. Kyocera’s three installations include a single axis tracker that fine-tunes east-west orientation all through the day; a fixed pole-mount system; and a dual axis tracker, that regulates the up and down tilt of the array, taking into consideration the sun’s angle all through the year, and the angle during its movement from east to west during the day time. All the solar installations belonging to different firms are operating under identical environmental conditions since 2008 allowing comparative testing among the varied brands. With output data available for anybody who is interested, Kyocera’s version or understanding the data can be gathered and downloaded from the DKA, indicates that during the two year period Kyocera solar units have offered higher outputs.
Other than the interpretive visitor center, DKA also posts the world’s unique and first interactive website that offers live data feeds from the Solar Center and data on the performance of various solar technologies installed there. Anybody can access this information. To observe the net kilowatt hours generated from each kilowatt of modules that have been installed, it is essential to view the Normalized Output tab, which would facilitate comparison among the systems. Kyocera’s results indicate that the old notion of monocystalline silicon solar cells performing better than polycrystalline solar cells, which is actually cheaper, is not correct.
According to Kyocera’s Director of Business Development and Marketing, Michael Ludgate, there is a wide gap between laboratory testing conditions and the real world outcomes. The live data obtained from DKA would give the industry an enduring system- level data to provide evidence about the steadfastness and performance of the solar installations.
Among the three units installed by Kyocera, the dual axis tracking system showed a superior performance responding to light sensors, which actually adjust the surface to track the sun, thereby generating maximum electricity when light strikes directly on the surface.