SOLAR ENERGY -A REVOLUTION

Shamanth R, Manoj S,
Department of Electrical &Electronics Engineering, REVA ITM kattigenahalli, jala hobli, yelahanka, Bangalore, Karnataka, India-560064
shamanthrev@gmail.com manoj071092@gmail.com Abstract Solar energy- a possible major solution for power woes has been discussed. A comprehensive picture of solar power generation system is presented. The different methods, applications, development & deployment, benefits, hurdles, economics, environmental impacts of solar power plants have been quantified. The effect of solar power on dependency of other sources of non-renewable energy. Efficiencies & economy of solar power is represented graphically, quantifying the losses and investments allows identifying the key areas to be explored for research. Potential areas for improvement, and implementation of solar power generation both small and large scale can be identified, providing a guide to innovation and development. Keywords solar power, insolation, concentrating solar power, photovoltaics, per unit cost of generation, land use factor, drawbacks, technology transfer

A. Solar water heating

Fig. 1 solar water heater

I. INTRODUCTION Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam which boils water which is then used to provide power. Other technologies also exist, such as Stirling engine dishes which use a Stirling cycle engine to power a generator. Photovoltaics convert light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. Photovoltaics were initially used to power small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to off-grid homes powered by a photovoltaic array whereas for bulk production concentrated solar power system is used. Though solar energy is proclaimed as an efficient green energy it has its share of drawbacks, economic constraints and environmental impacts. The major requirements to build a efficient solar power stations are abundant sunlight and land area. . II. APPLICATIONS Solar energy has many other small applications which are used other than the large scale production of electricity using solar energy. Some of them are listed below.

B. Solar Powered Laptop Bag

Fig. 1 solar powered laptop bag

C. Solar Powered Calculator

Fig. 3 solar powered calculator

D. Solar Trash Compactor

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated heat is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant. A wide range of concentrating technologies exists; the most developed are the parabolic trough, the concentrating linear Fresnel reflector, the Stirling dish and the solar power tower. Various techniques are used to track the Sun and focus light. In all of these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage. Thermal storage efficiently allows up to 24 hour electricity generation. The different CSP systems are explained and pictured below 1) Parabolic Trough

Fig. 4 solar trash compactor

III. REQUIREMENTS FOR PRODUCTION For the efficient production solar energy the generation station has to qualify certain parameters theyre as follows A. Insolation Insolation is the measure of solar energy focussed in a particular region and has units of W/m2 or kWh/m2 day

A parabolic trough consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the reflector's focal line. The receiver is a tube positioned right above the middle of the parabolic mirror and is filled with a working fluid. The reflector is made to follow the Sun during the daylight hours by tracking along a single axis. Parabolic trough systems provide the best land-use factor of any solar technology. The SEGS plants in California and Acciona's Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Nevada are representatives of this technology. Compact Linear Fresnel Reflectors are CSP-plants which use many thin mirror strips instead of parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto two tubes with working fluid. This has the advantage that flat mirrors can be used which is much cheaper than parabolic mirrors, and that more reflectors can be placed in the same amount of space, allowing more of the available sunlight to be used. Concentrating linear Fresnel reflectors can be used in either large or more compact plants.

Fig. 5 Map of average insolation

Average insolation showing land area (small black dots) required to replace the world primary energy supply with solar electricity. 18 TW is 568 Exajoule (EJ) per year. Insolation for most people is from 150 to 300 W/m2 or 3.5 to 7.0 kWh/(m2day). B. Land for Installation One of the major drawbacks of solar energy generation stations is land usage. The land used for generation of solar energy preferably must be dry, flat, infertile and vast. IV. TYPES OF SOLAR POWER GENERTION SYSTEM A. Concentrated Solar Power System
Fig.6 A diagram of a parabolic trough solar farm (top), and an end view of how a parabolic collector focuses sunlight onto its focal point.

2) Stirling Solar Dish

The Stirling solar dish combines a parabolic concentrating dish with a Stirling engine which normally drives an electric generator. The advantages of Stirling solar over photovoltaic cells are higher efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity and longer lifetime. Parabolic dish systems give the highest efficiency among CSP technologies. The 50 kW Big Dish in Canberra, Australia is an example of this technology.

Worlds largest solar thermal power stations

Name location

Solar Energy Generating Systems Solnova Solar Power Station Andasol solar power station

Mojave Desert California

Capacity (MW) 354

Notes

Collection of 9 units

Seville
Granada

150 150

Complete d 2010
completed 2011, with 7.5h thermal energy storage
Collection of 3 units Collections of 2 units

Extresol Solar Power Station

Palma del Rio Solar Power Station Manchasol Power Station

Torre de Miguel Sesmero Palma del Ro Alczar de San Juan

150

100

100

Collections of 2 units

Fig. 7 Dish Stirling Canberra, Australia

B. Photovoltaics A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell (PV), is a device that converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. In 1931 a German engineer, Dr. Bruno Lange, developed a photo cell using silver selenide in place of copper oxide. Although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light into electricity, both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the importance of this discovery. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and reached efficiencies of 4.56%.Solar cells produce direct current (DC) power which fluctuates with the sunlight's intensity. For practical use this usually requires conversion to certain desired voltages or alternating current (AC), through the use of inverters. Multiple solar cells are connected inside modules. Modules are wired together to form arrays, then tied to an inverter, which produces power at the desired voltage, and for AC, the desired frequency/phase. Many residential systems are connected to the grid wherever available, especially in developed countries with large markets. In these grid-connected PV systems, use of energy storage is optional. In certain applications such as satellites, lighthouses, or in developing countries, batteries or additional power generators are often added as back-ups. Such stand-alone power systems permit operations at night and at other times of limited sunlight.

3) Solar Power Tower A solar power tower uses an array of tracking reflectors (heliostats) to concentrate light on a central receiver atop a tower. Power towers are more cost effective, offer higher efficiency and better energy storage capability among CSP technologies. The PS10 Solar Power Plant and PS20 solar power plant are examples of this technology

Fig. 8 solar power tower, Seville

Fig. 9 The 214 MWp Charanka Solar Park, Gujarat

Worlds largest photovoltaic power stations

Fig. 10 Economic

Name

locatio n

Capacity (MWP)

Notes

photovoltaic capacity vs. installation cost, in the United States.

Agua caliente solar project Charanka solar park Golmud Solar park Mesquite solar project
Neuhardenberg solar park

USA India
china

250 214
200 150 145

397MW when complete Completed in 2012 Completed in 2011

Up to 700MW when complete Collection of 11 units

For large-scale installations, prices below $1.00/watt are now common. In some locations, PV has reached grid parity, the cost at which it is competitive with coal or gas-fired generation. With further research and development the installation cost has to decrease with a reduced payback time. VI. ENERGY PAYBACK TIME The energy payback time of a power generating system is the time required to generate as much energy as was consumed during production of the system. In 2000 the energy payback time of PV systems was estimated as 8 to 11 years and in 2006 this was estimated to be 1.5 to 3.5 years for crystalline silicon PV systems and 1-1.5 years for thin film technologies (S. Europe). Another economic measure, closely related to the energy payback time, is the energy returned on energy invested (EROEI) or energy return on investment (EROI), which is the ratio of electricity generated divided by the energy required to build and maintain the equipment. (This is not the same as the economic return on investment (ROI), which varies according to local energy prices, subsidies available and metering techniques.) With lifetimes of at least 30 years, the EROEI of PV systems are in the range of 10 to 30, thus generating enough energy over their lifetimes to reproduce themselves many times (6-31 reproductions) depending on what type of material, balance of system (BOS), and the geographic location of the system The PV industry is beginning to adopt levelized cost of energy (LCOE) as the unit of cost. Theyre calculated as cents/kWh. . The calculated values in the table reflect the total cost in cents per kilowatt-hour produced. They assume a 5%/year total capital cost (for instance 4% interest rate, 1% operating and maintenance cost, and depreciation of the capital outlay over 20 years).

USA Germa ny

V. ECONOMICS Despite the overwhelming availability of solar power, little was installed, compared to other power generation, prior to 2012, due to the high installation cost. This cost has declined as more systems have been installed, and has followed a typical learning curve. Photovoltaic systems use no fuel and modules typically last 25 to 40 years. The cost of installation is almost the only cost, as there is very little maintenance required. Installation cost is measured in $/watt or /watt. The electricity generated is sold for /kWh.it has been estimated that PV systems will pay back their investors in 8 to 12 years. As of 2011, the cost of PV has fallen well below that of nuclear power and is set to fall further. The average retail price of solar cells as monitored by the Solar buzz group fell from $3.50/watt to $2.43/watt over the course of 2011, and a decline to prices below $2.00/watt seems inevitable. The below graph of PV capacity vs. installation cost shows the cost of generation in $/watt. Grid parity is achieved when the red and blue lines overlap.

Fig. 11 Projection of levelized cost of PV energy in Europe

VII.

METHODS TO IMPROVE USAGE OF SOLAR ENERGY

F. Feed-in Tariffs (FiT): With feed-in tariffs, the financial burden falls upon the consumer. They reward the number of kilowatt-hours produced over a long period of time, but because the rate is set by the authorities, it may result in perceived overpayment. The price paid per kilowatt-hour under a feed-in tariff exceeds the price of grid electricity. G. Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs): Alternatively, SRECs allow for a market mechanism to set the price of the solar generated electricity subsidy. In this mechanism, a renewable energy production or consumption target is set, and the utility (more technically the Load Serving Entity)is obliged to purchase renewable energy or face a fine (Alternative Compliance Payment or ACP). The producer is credited for an SREC for every 1,000 kWh of electricity produced. If the utility buys this SREC and retires it, they avoid paying the ACP. Uncertainties about the future value of SRECs have led to long-term SREC contract markets to give clarity to their prices and allow solar developers to pre-sell/hedge their SRECs. VIII. ENERGY STORAGE Solar energy is not available at night, making energy storage an important issue in order to provide the continuous availability of energy. Both wind power and solar power are intermittent energy sources, meaning that all available output must be taken when it is available and either stored for when it can be used, or transported, over transmission lines, to where it can be used. Wind power and solar power tend to be somewhat complementary, as there tends to be more wind in the winter and more sun in the summer, but on days with no sun and no wind the difference needs to be made up in some manner 1. Off-grid PV systems have traditionally used rechargeable batteries to store excess electricity. 2. Pumped-storage hydroelectricity stores energy in the form of water pumped when surplus electricity is available, from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation one. 3. Solar energy can be stored at high temperatures using molten salts. Salts are an effective storage medium because they are low-cost, have a high specific heat capacity and can deliver heat at temperatures compatible with conventional power systems. 4. Artificial photosynthesis involves the use of nanotechnology to store solar electromagnetic energy in chemical bonds, by splitting water to produce hydrogen fuel or then combining with carbon dioxide to make biopolymers such as methanol.

A. Self-Consumption: In the case of self-consumption the payback time is calculated based on how much electricity is not purchased from the grid. With net metering that is the total generated. B. Grid parity: the point at which photovoltaic electricity is equal to or cheaper than grid power. If this is achieved the production and usage of solar energy increases exponentially. These cost levels are driving three emerging trends. 1. 2. 3. Vertical integration of the supply chain; Origination of power purchase agreements (PPAs) by solar power companies; Unexpected risk for traditional power generation companies, grid operators and wind turbine manufacturers.

C. Net metering: Net metering is particularly important because it can be done with no changes to standard electricity meters, which accurately measure power in both directions and automatically report the difference, and because it allows homeowners and businesses to generate electricity at a different time from consumption, effectively using the grid as a giant storage battery. With this deficits are billed each month while surpluses are rolled over to the following month. D. Financial incentives: The political purpose of incentive policies for PV is to facilitate an initial small-scale deployment to begin to grow the industry, even where the cost of PV is significantly above grid parity, to allow the industry to achieve the economies of scale necessary to reach grid parity. The policies are implemented to promote national energy independence, high tech job creation and reduction of CO2 emissions. E. Rebates: With investment subsidies, the financial burden falls upon the taxpayer, while with feed-in tariffs the extra cost is distributed across the utilities customer bases. Investment subsidies are paid out as a function of the nameplate capacity of the installed system and are independent of its actual power yield over time, thus rewarding the overstatement of power and tolerating poor durability and maintenance.

Fig. 12 energy park in Geesthacht, Germany, includes solar panels and pumped-storage hydroelectricity.

IX. DISADVANTAGES AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS Despite its promise as a clean energy source, there a number of disadvantages of solar power that have prevented it from becoming widely used. Solar power isn't always as reliable as other forms of electricity and tends to be expensive to install and maintain. A. Economic factors: The expense of buying and installing the equipment is one of the major disadvantages of solar power. Each individual panel is not that efficient, typically converting just 10% to 18% of the sun's energy into electricity. It often takes 15 to 20 panels to generate enough electricity to power an average-sized home. B. Reliability: One disadvantage of solar power is its lack of consistency and reliability. Solar-powered devices rely on a steady supply of sunlight to generate electricity; as soon as the sun goes down, light stops hitting the solar panels and the power drops instantly. On cloudy days, there is also less light available to produce electricity.

panels themselves. They also present some safety risks and require special handling, depending on the type of battery used. E. Greenhouse gases: Using renewable energy sources in manufacturing and transportation would further drop carbon emissions. A 1-kilowatt system eliminates the burning of approximately 170 pounds of coal, 300 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere, and saves up to 105 gallons of water consumption monthly. A. Cadmium usage in PV panels: One issue that has often raised concerns is the use of cadmium in cadmium telluride solar cells (CdTe is only used in a few types of PV panels). Cadmium in its metallic form is a toxic substance that has the tendency to accumulate in ecological food chains. X. CONCLUSION The above mentioned disadvantages should be addressed on a war footing to make solar power more affordable and efficient. Grid parity has to be achieved in order to encourage more private companies to invest in solar energy generation. Improvement in battery technology should be made to increase storing capacity of the electricity generated by solar systems, smart grids have to be implemented and thus grid tieins allow people to sell power back to their electric companies. Improvement should be done to Flexible solar panels, which are typically less efficient than those made with glass, but are less likely to be damaged. As the saying goes charity begins at home, weve to first implement the solar energy generation system at our own homes, rooftops of hospitals, colleges, schools, government offices, apartments. The urban development authorities must bring up a law to make solar power generation system mandatory else power from grid shall not be provided. Solar energy would be very efficient in rural areas as connecting far flung areas to main grid is not only difficult but expensive too. REFERENCES
[1] "Energy Sources: Solar". Department of Energy. http://www.energy.gov/energysources/solar.htm. Retrieved 19 April 2011. Martin and Goswami (2005), p. 45 "An Assessment of Solar Energy Conversion Technologies and Research Opportunities" . Stanford University Global Climate Change & Energy Project. http://gcep.stanford.edu/pdfs/assessments/solar_assessment. Retrieved 2 July 2008. (2002) The IEEE website. [Online]. Available: http://www.ieee.org/ "78 MW of the worlds largest solar photovoltaic plant connected to grid in Senftenberg, Germany". SolarServer. http://www.solarserver.com/solar-magazine/solarnews/current/2011/kw39/78-mw-of-the-worlds-largest-solarphotovoltaic-plant-connected-to-grid-in-senftenberg-germany.html. Retrieved 8 November 2011. ACS launches the operation phase of its third dispatch able 50 mw thermal power plant in Spain, extresol-1 www.wikipedia.com WWW.IEEE.org

Fig. 13 Clouds can block the sun and interfere with the production of solar power.

C. Damage to panels: Solar panels are susceptible to damage from the elements, The constant bombardment of ultraviolet (UV) rays and other solar radiation often causes the panels themselves to deteriorate, much like any other material left exposed to the sun for extended periods of time.

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Fig. 14 Solar panels, which can be installed on buildings to use the sun's energy, can be susceptible to damage

D. Batteries and safety concerns: Because it is not possible to make solar power 24 hours a day, most systems use a bank of deep cycle batteries to store excess power for use at night and on cloudy days. Unfortunately, these batteries can be expensive and have a shorter lifespan than the solar

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