Proposal:Solar Panel Trackers

The content of this proposal has been archived to avoid confusion with the current version of the documentation.

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The Feature Page for the approved proposal Solar Panel Trackers is located at Key:generator:solar:tracking

Solar Panel Trackers
Proposal status:	Approved (active)
Proposed by:	Clorox
Tagging:	generator:solar:tracking=* Data item
Applies to:	node, area
Definition:	The solar tracker on a photovoltaic panel or thermal collector
Statistics:
Draft started:	2023-07-26
RFC start:	2023-08-03
Vote start:	2023-08-18
Vote end:	2023-09-01

solar:tracking=*

More details at taginfo

More details at taginfo

Proposal

A solar farm in Alcoutim, Portugal, with photovoltaic panels on tip-tilt dual axis trackers

Some solar panels use a solar tracker to periodically rotate and reorient themselves towards the Sun, while others are permanently fixed at one angle. This is a relevant detail when computing estimates of the power output capacity of solar panels, and can often be determined by survey or by aerial imagery. Both thermal collectors (generator:type=solar_thermal_collector) and photovoltaic panels (generator:type=solar_photovoltaic_panel) may have solar trackers.

This proposal defines tags for different types of solar trackers, as well as more generic fallback values for when limited information is available. Existing values of solar:tracking=* will be migrated to the new tagging scheme. The generator: prefix was chosen to match other aspects of solar panels and thermal collectors, which are tagged power=generator. The redundant value 2-axis and dual are deprecated in favor of the more descriptive dual_axis, and fixed is deprecated in favor of the more semantically useful no. The related tag generator:orientation=sun_following is to be deprecated as well, and replaced with generator:solar:tracking=yes.

Rationale

Global Energy Monitor and TransitionZero are nonprofit organizations collaborating on a solar panel mapping project in select locations worldwide on OpenStreetMap. Before our project began in July 2023, there were about 2000 instances of solar:tracking=dual and 100 instances of solar:tracking=2-axis, which appears to refer to the same thing. Since then, we've added thousands of instances of solar:tracking=fixed and solar:tracking=single, though none of these tags have any documentation and there has been little discussion. We would like to solidify a tagging scheme for solar trackers so that mappers can capture these details as they locate and trace each solar panel.

Tagging

This tag applies to solar panels and thermal collectors, which share the existing tagging:

• power=generator
• generator:source=solar

The following tags can be added according to the existence and type of solar tracker:

• generator:solar:tracking=no for fixed panels and collectors, with no solar tracker
• generator:solar:tracking=yes for an unspecified solar tracker
  • generator:solar:tracking=single_axis for an unspecified single axis solar tracker
    • generator:solar:tracking=horizontal for a horizontal single axis tracker (HSAT)
    • generator:solar:tracking=horizontal_tilted for a horizontal single axis tracker with tilted modules (HTSAT)
    • generator:solar:tracking=tilted for a tilted single axis tracker (TSAT)
    • generator:solar:tracking=vertical for a vertical single axis tracker (VSAT)
  • generator:solar:tracking=dual_axis for an unspecified dual axis solar tracker
    • generator:solar:tracking=tip-tilt for a tip-tilt dual axis tracker (TTDAT)
    • generator:solar:tracking=alt-azimuth for azimuth-altitude (or alt-azimuth) dual axis tracker (AADAT)

Deprecated tags

The following is a table of tags deprecated by this proposal and their replacements. Upon acceptance of this proposal, all instances of the following tags created by us at Global Energy Monitor will be mechanically edited. For the remaining instances of these tags, we will send a message to mappers who originally added them, inviting them to update them themselves. If they prefer that we perform the updates, or we don't get a response for 3 days, we will handle mechanically editing them to the new tagging scheme.

Deprecated tag	Replacement tag
solar:tracking=fixed	generator:solar:tracking=no
solar:tracking=single	generator:solar:tracking=single_axis
solar:tracking=dual	generator:solar:tracking=dual_axis
solar:tracking=2-axis	generator:solar:tracking=dual_axis
generator:orientation=sun_following	generator:solar:tracking=yes

Examples

Key	Value	Element	Comment	Photo	Taginfo
generator:solar:tracking	no		A feature with no solar tracker, permanently fixed at one angle		solar:tracking=fixed $1% $1% $1% $1% More details at taginfo More details at taginfo
generator:solar:tracking	yes		A feature with an unspecified solar tracker		generator:orientation=sun_following $1% $1% $1% $1% More details at taginfo More details at taginfo
Single axis trackers
generator:solar:tracking	single_axis		A feature with an unspecified single axis tracker		solar:tracking=single $1% $1% $1% $1% More details at taginfo More details at taginfo
generator:solar:tracking	horizontal		A feature with a horizontal single axis tracker (HSAT)
generator:solar:tracking	horizontal_tilted		A feature with a horizontal single axis tracker with tilted modules (HTSAT)
generator:solar:tracking	tilted		A feature with a tilted single axis tracker (TSAT)
generator:solar:tracking	vertical		A feature with a vertical single axis tracker (VSAT)
Dual axis trackers
generator:solar:tracking	dual_axis		A feature with an unspecified dual axis tracker		solar:tracking=dual $1% $1% $1% $1% More details at taginfo More details at taginfo
generator:solar:tracking	tip-tilt		A feature with a tip-tilt dual axis tracker (TTDAT)
generator:solar:tracking	alt-azimuth		A feature with an azimuth-altitude (or alt-azimuth) dual axis tracker (AADAT)

Features/Pages affected

• power=generator
• generator:source=solar
• generator:method=photovoltaic
• generator:method=thermal
• generator:type=solar_photovoltaic_panel
• generator:type=solar_thermal_collector

External discussions

• OSM community forum:
  • Tag for solar farm with dynamic panel orientation
  • Tag for solar panel tracking (fixed, single-axis or dual-axis)

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.

Voting

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• I approve this proposal. -- Something B (talk) 13:57, 18 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Tordanik 16:58, 18 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Jacobwhall (talk) 10:28, 19 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. -- Stevea (talk) 03:21, 20 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. Good job. Thanks --Adiatmad (talk) 09:02, 21 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --mnalis (talk) 23:15, 23 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Westnordost (talk) 14:50, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --B1tw153 (talk) 15:04, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. Looks like a good step forward. Erictheise (talk) 15:22, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Phidauex (talk) 19:59, 30 August 2023 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Fanfouer (talk) 17:08, 1 September 2023 (UTC)