Experimental Research of the Impact of Ship’s Rolling on the Performance of PV Panels

Abstract The aim of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to reduce by half the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by marine ships by 2050, and its vision of the fastest total decarbonisation in the maritime shipping industry within the present century, calls for implementation with various means of decarbonisation. The IMO approaches the process of decarbonisation in two phases. Firstly, short-term, compact projects are to be considered, next, more complex, medium- and long-term solutions should be aimed at. The preferred arrangements to be applied are photovoltaic systems. Their performance depends to a high degree on the solar incidence angle. In the case of a ship swinging as a result of its course in relation to the wave and incidence direction, the incidence angle undergoes significant periodic changes with a significant effect on the power generated by the PV panels. As a result, the total amount of energy produced by the PV panels diminishes. The paper presents experimental research results obtained on the stand that allowed the investigation of PV panels in simulated marine conditions. Two characteristic positions of a PV panel’s rotation axis in relation to the solar rays’ incidence direction were investigated. It was proved for both variants that the rolling period and solar incidence angle affected the power generated by the PV panel.