Methods and systems for detecting shading for solar trackers

A method of operating a solar array, the method comprising:

• providing a plurality of solar trackers forming the solar array, each solar tracker comprising a plurality of solar modules configured to receive electromagnetic radiation from a Sun, the plurality of solar modules arranged to form a plurality of photovoltaic (PV) strings, each PV string comprising at least two solar modules, and each solar tracker comprising at least two PV strings;
• providing a tracker controller, the tracker controller configured to receive electrical power generated by the plurality of PV strings;
• detecting a plurality of power signals generated by the plurality of PV strings and communicated electrically from each of the plurality of PV strings to a plurality of power inputs of the tracker controller;
• determining a tilt angle associated with each solar tracker;
• determining that at least one of the plurality of PV strings is shaded based on one or more of the detected power signals being less than a threshold;
• and
• changing the tilt angle of one or more of the solar trackers in response to determining that at least one of the plurality of PV strings is shaded.