Characterising power generation by model photovoltaic towers located in a simulated urban environment

Solar cell installations are most often located in places where there is abundant open space. It is however more difficult to place solar cells in urban environments due to space constraints and suboptimal light conditions. One potential solution is to create three-dimensional structures covered with solar cell modules having a relatively small physical footprint (e.g., with a shape such as a tower), creating a three-dimensional (3D) solar cell installation (sometimes called ‘power towers’). To explore this, we fabricate physical models of 3D towers covered with solar cells (here referred to as 3DPV towers) and test them in a model urban environment. A number of different 3DPV designs are explored and are benchmarked against solar cells that are placed flat on the ground or inclined at 30° to the horizontal. When normalised by their physical footprint area, we find that 3DPV towers can produce as much as 3.05 times as much power in an ‘urban environment’ as the power generated by a conventionally sited solar cell that is inclined at 30°. Significantly, we also show that light scattered from nearby buildings can enhance the power collected by 3DPV towers by up to 29%. These findings indicate that 3DPV towers present a promising opportunity to generate solar power in complex urban environments.