Enhancing Solar Energy Production with Solar Trackers in Africa: Insights from the Sakal Mobile Panels Solar Plant in Senegal

This study aims to evaluate the contribution of mobile solar panels at the Sakal solar plant in Senegal. The PVsyst model was used to simulate energy production, taking into account both fixed and mobile panel configurations. Initially, the PVsyst model was pre-validated for power plant configurations equipped with both fixed panels (Bokhol) and mobile panels (Sakal), demonstrating correlation coefficients exceeding 0.9. The study's results show that using mobile panels at Sakal increases energy production by over 25% compared to fixed panels. This technology proves particularly efficient during the winter and spring, leading to an increase of over 30%, while a lesser improvement of approximately 14% is observed during the rainy season. The study also emphasizes that solar trackers generate a surplus of over 50% during the early morning hours (between 8 AM and 10 AM) and in the late afternoon (between 4 PM and 5 PM). Furthermore, by categorizing production days, increases of approximately 31%, 26%, and 15% are observed respectively for maximum, standard and minimum days of energy production at Sakal. Finally, this study clearly shows that solar trackers are effective and have a positive impact on increasing solar energy production in the Sahel region.