Integrated Solar Tracking and Active Water Cooling for Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance: Experimental Validation and PVsyst-Based Techno-Economic Assessment

Fixed-tilt photovoltaic (PV) panels lose a significant
portion of the solar resource since they are not typically tilted 90 degrees to the sun’s rays, and the amount of solar energy they receive that is not usable because it is too hot increases cell temperature, which also reduces PV efficiency. For that reason this paper represents the design, construction and controlled experimental testing of an integrated system, which is a combination of light dependent-resistor (LDR) solar tracker mounted on a single axis and automatic active water cooling loop that is engaged at a maximum allowable panel temperature of 40°C and released
at 25°C under the supervision of an Arduino Nano controller is reported where the cooling system was automatically activated when the PV module temperature reached 40 ◦C and deactivated
when the temperature decreased to 25 ◦C. Three operating configurations such as fixed-tilt, single-axis tracking, and tracking with active cooling were experimentally evaluated under identical outdoor conditions during a one-month measurement campaign
from 09:00 to 18:00. The results demonstrated a consistent improvement in PV performance across the investigated configurations. The mean electrical efficiency increased from 2.86% for the fixed panel to 3.80% with single-axis tracking and 4.19% with integrated tracking and active cooling. Compared with the fixed configuration, single-axis tracking and integrated tracking with cooling achieved power gains of 32.5% and approximately 55.6%, respectively. Active cooling reduced the maximum module temperature from 49.7 ◦C to approximately 40 ◦C and provided an additional 17.3% performance improvement compared
with the tracking-only configuration. Regression analysis yielded R2 > 0.80 for the fixed and tracking with having cooling configurations, indicating the importance of thermal regulation in maintaining a consistent temperature efficiency. To evaluate
system level feasibility, a grid-connected 1 kWp PV system was additionally modeled using PVsyst for the study location. The simulation predicted an annual energy yield of 1499.2 kWh, an average performance ratio of 76.2%. Overall, the framework demonstrate that coordinated solar tracking and threshold-based
active cooling can provide complementary optical and thermal benefits, while the PVsyst assessment indicates promising technoeconomic feasibility for distributed PV deployment in high temperature and high-irradiance environments that provides a baseline for the development of more advanced adaptive tracking
and predictive thermal-management strategies for photovoltaic systems.