Experimental verification of energy harvest from non-planar photovoltaic surfaces

Non-planar photovoltaic (PV) surfaces have the potential to increase the total energy harvested from the sun compared to a planar surface of the same two-dimensional footprint. This offers opportunities to increase the electricity generated from a given roof surface. This paper presents a modeling approach to determine the view factor of an arbitrary geometry so that the total incident solar energy can be computed. Experimental measurements confirm the increase in generation and provide insights into the requirements for the balance of system to make most effective use of the non-planar geometry.