Backtracking "Lineal shading" or "According to module strings"

[shisharon]

Hi,

When I simulate single tilt tracker using backtracking strategy, should I use "Lineal shading" or "According to module strings"? I think both of these shading methods is for beam component and backtracking has no loss in beam, either "Lineal" or "According to module strings" would get zero.

[André Mermoud]

You are right. By definition, with backtracking there is no mutual shadings for the beam component.

Therefore the "Linear shading loss" will be 0 for the beam component, and defining Electrical losses is not necessary.

[albertoperezortiz]

Hi all,

So am I right in assuming that the shading losses that we get when using backtracking (2.5%) are only due to the diffuse component of the solar irradiation?

If not employing backtracking, I assume it is required to define either "Linear shading loss" or "According to module strings" to account for shading losses for beam (and diffuse) irradiation (around 10%?). Would there be any reason why one should not account for these shading losses when not using backtracking (considering angles of +-60 degrees for example)? I have come accross a couple of consultants doing this...

Thanks for your time and consideration.