Solar Tracking for Sustainable Photovoltaic Power Plants: Architectures, Control Strategies, Life-Cycle Performance, and Deployment Trade-Offs

Solar tracking can increase photovoltaic (PV) energy yield, but its contribution to sustainable electricity depends on more than geometric gain. This structured narrative review evaluates flat-plate and low-concentration PV trackers using an integrated three-layer taxonomy covering mechanical architecture, actuation and drivetrain, and control strategy. Tracker classes are compared in terms of annual energy gain, life-cycle cost, parasitic consumption, land-use efficiency, structural resilience, reliability, maintainability, and deployment maturity. Utility-scale horizontal single-axis trackers using astronomical control, backtracking, supervisory monitoring, and weather-dependent stow provide the most mature balance of energy yield, cost, and operational robustness. Dual-axis systems can offer higher output under high-direct-normal-irradiance conditions but impose greater structural and O&M burdens, while passive fluid-based and shape-memory-alloy concepts remain mainly experimental. The review also examines bifacial and terrain-aware tracking, agrivoltaic dual land use, extreme-weather resilience, tracker-specific availability, artificial intelligence, digital twins, predictive maintenance, and end-of-life considerations. A plant-level decision framework and reporting checklist are proposed to support transparent, project-specific choices that maximize lifetime renewable-energy value while limiting material use, land-use conflict, operational risk, and avoidable life-cycle impacts.