Sustainability Impact of Different PV Mounting Systems and Pathways for Decarbonizing Emissions of PV Deployment

The amount of electricity generated by a solar panel varies according to the installation location and chosen mounting structure. This changes the effective material consumption and the associated effective carbon emissions of electricity produced by each solar panel. This article investigates the impact of different photovoltaic (PV) mounting systems on energy yield, material consumption, and carbon emissions, focusing on the key configurations of fixed-tilt (FT), east–west, and single-axis tracking systems. As global PV capacity rapidly expands, understanding the sustainability of these systems is crucial for decarbonizing the electricity sector. We highlight the impact of different mounting systems on yield at different latitudes and demonstrate that the effective material consumption can vary by over 30% in terms of both g/Wp and g/kWh, along with the impact on carbon emissions in terms of both gCO_2-eq/Wp and gCO_2-eq/kWh. Pathways to reduce the carbon footprint in gCO_2-eq/kWh by up to 60% compared with the FT baseline case are also discussed, including incorporating green steel and decarbonized concrete.