Trackermount get_orientation

[jules-ch]

Hello,
I am using pvsystem.AbstractMount overiding get_orientation function.

I just have a quick question.
After investigating, it seems this function only needs to return surface_azimuth & surface_tilt. I know that singleaxis.tracking returns those values & keep surface_tilt positive & change surface_azimuth accordingly.

Is it mandatory to have surface_tilt postive to compute the model. I'd rather keep surface_tilt & surface_azimuth coherent with the right hand rule ?

[kandersolar]

Negative tilts might accidentally work in some pvlib models, but I don't think we make any promises about whether it works today and whether it will continue to work in the future. So perhaps not absolutely mandatory, but you use negative tilts at your own risk. In contrast to something like the tracker_theta from pvlib.tracking.singleaxis where the sign follows the RHR, I think of surface_tilt and surface_azimuth as being generic quantities that could have come from any mount. #1480 might be of interest.

It doesn't matter for your question, but I'm curious what kind of custom mount are you modeling. I wasn't sure AbstractMount would get much use in the community and am pleased to hear that at least one person is making use of it :)

[jules-ch]

Alright, I'm using custom mount to compute energy production with custom angles used for agrivoltaic systems.
Energy production is not the only focus and we can have tracking, partial tracking or panels that just anti-track the sun to provide maximum irradiance for crops under panels depending on weather conditions / plant growth / etc.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll try to keep surface tilt / azimuth the same as singleaxis.tracking.
I'll look to the PR you linked.

[jules-ch]

I'll wait for 0.9.2 release & we can use the new function calc_surface_orientation.
Thanks for the quick answer @kanderso-nrel

[kandersolar]

No problem and thanks for the info! FYI I think the plan is to release 0.9.2 in perhaps a month or so, although we haven't set a firm date yet.