Investigating the feasibility of increasing the participation of solar power plants in supplying load during the peak hours of the day

The use of photovoltaic panels in power grids around the world is expanding. If these panels are equipped with a solar tracker, they produce the maximum amount of possible power every hour. But since the use of these trackers increases investment and maintenance costs, many of these panels are installed without using trackers. Fixed panels are generally installed in such a way that the maximum annual output power is generated. Considering the sharp increase in load during peak hours, it is necessary to investigate the possibility of increasing the participation of fixed photovoltaic power plants in providing peak load. For this purpose, the design of the photovoltaic power plant has been studied in two scenarios. In the first scenario, the photovoltaic panels are installed based on the increase in annual output power generation, and in the second scenario, the photovoltaic panels are installed based on the increase in power generation during the peak hours of the day. The obtained results show that although the second approach has led to a decrease in the total annual power generation by photovoltaic panels, the participation of photovoltaic power plants in supplying the peak load is increased, and the amount of network annual losses is decreased than the first approach.