Viability analysis of the solar panel’s installation on a commercial plane’s wing, taking into account the energetic and aerodynamic impact. Defining the available paths which allow to integrate the wing’s solar generation minimizing the aerodynamic impact.

The purpose of this study is to determine the feasibility of installing solar panels on a commercial aircraft. In order to achieve this objective, energetic and aerodynamic analysis have been developed to quantify the environmental and economic benefits of the installation. Several stages have been required before reaching the results. First of all, an exhaustive evaluation of the solar market has been carried out to select the photovoltaic technology that best suits the demands claimed by this installation. Then, the energetic analysis has been performed to determine the production capacity of the photovoltaic system on the aircraft. In addition, a reference flight has been established to compare the energy produced by the photovoltaic system contrasted with the energy needs of the plane. The aerodynamic analysis has examined the effects caused by the geometry alteration of the installation, guaranteeing that the energy gain eclipses the predictably small aerodynamic loss. Finally, all these results have been assembled to determine the economic and environmental impact of the installation.