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Abstract
There are many ways to harness the solar energy which is the
most clean and sustainable energy. It can be used to generate
electricity and heat at high temperature as per the requirement.
Now a days there are many devices like photovoltaics thermal
hybrid, concentrated solar technologies, solar furnace and solar
fuels. In order to meet the human requirement it is necessary to
take an account the cost and efficiency associated with the
current technology.as per the current demand of the energy
consumption, only solar energy has the potential to fulfill the
requirement as a renewable resource. From an economic and
ecological perspective the devices available can be used
accordingly. From the photovoltaic the levelised cost of
electricity generation is very close to the cost of thermal
electricity thus in future it will prove to be major technological
area. Efficiency of photovoltaic is increased by making it a
hybrid type power plant. Solar furnace can be used to obtain
heat directly in various application where direct heat sources
are required. Concentrated solar power plants and solar fuels
are currently in developing phase with only minor contribution
to the current energy supply. Solar fuels development can led
to total dependence on solar energy possible.
Introduction
With the rapid Industrialization and Globalization the global
energy demand has been steadily increasing since the last 40
years. In year 2008, the total global energy consumption
reached 4741018 J (474 exa-joules), out of which 8090% is
coming from combustion of fossil fuels only [1]. The steady
gradual increase in the consumption of fossil fuel has led to a
drastic climate change, with 14 of the 15 most warm years on
record occurring since 2000.[2]
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Photovoltaic
Maximum Power Generated by PV cell
Open Circuit Voltage
Short Circuit Current
Fill Factor (P/(Vos x Isc))
Ambiance Temperature
Collector temperature
Concentrated Solar Power
Photovoltaics
Photovoltaics fundamentally are solid semiconductor devices
which covert the solar Irradiation directly to electrical energy,
they are made up of either mono crystalline, poly crystalline,
ribbon crystalline or amorphous (micro crystalline) silicon,
gallium, copper-indium-selenide and cadmium telluride
materials.
Phovoltaic panels are made up of a laminate structure of series
wired multiple solar cell as individual cells have very less
voltage
output
of
0.5V.
[3]
The operation principles of solar cells is the higher energy
Photons i.e. with greater energy as compared with the bandgap energy of the semiconductor are absorbed and excite the
valance electrons towards the conduction band thus, leaving
behind holes in the valence band. The electron and hole pairs
generate an electric field in the depletion layer of the pn
junction the electric eld present in the depletion region
separates them and drives them through an external load. When
the impedance of the circuit matches the load of device
maximum
power
gets
delivered.
The solar conversion efficiency for a solar cell is given by.
[5][3]
= Vos x Isc x FF/P
The power and other properties for the solar panels are
generally rated for STP conditions i.e. 250C at 1atm pressure
with 1.5 AM Solar Mass and Irradiation of 1000W/sq.m From
the date of invention of Solar cells, besides that the solar energy
is being available for free and these Photovoltaics have not been
considered in past for large scale electricity generation because
of its high cost. Solar panels have of manufacturing, high cost
of equipment and installation high levelized cost of electricity.
Thus, restricting its use but from the recent few years as the
people all around the globe are becoming more concern about
the renewable energy consumption because of the
environmental degradation, the use of solar based technology is
increasing abruptly, and the photovoltaics are leading the chart
as it directly converts solar energy into electrical energy. [4][5]
modules is around 20% which means that for the each time
photovoltaic cumulative installed capacity has doubled the
module cost have declined by 20%, one of the possible reason
for that is the entrance of Chinese companies in the PV
manufacturing market, despite the rapid growth and easy
availability the solar energy have only 1% share in the global
installed capacity.[4][5][6]
Solar Furnace
Solar furnace one of the best option to utilize the solar energy
if we have to use the solar energy in the form of heat. It
concentrated solar irradiation by heliostats and parabolic
mirrors on the focal point to produce high very high
temperatures up to an order of 30000C with concentration factor
of 5000. Solar furnace is an old technology of back 18th century,
a French person Antoine Lavoisier made a solar furnace which
can reach temperature of 17500C which was used to melt copper
and
iron
like
metals.
[10]
This huge amount of heat can be used for chemical purposes, to
melt
down
metals
for
industrial
purposes,
to
generate electricity, and to produce hydrogen fuel for fuel
cells.[11]
The rapid development in past time, has brought down the cost
of the high power solar modules INR. 810,000/kW in 1982 to
INR. 200,000/kW in 2006 the installation cost of a PV system
has also declined to INR 240,000/kW in 2008 as compared to
INR 640,000/kW in 1992. It is keeps on decreasing further now
with a decline rate of 45% since last 5yrs with each 22%
reduction
with
doubling
of
cumulative
volume
production[4][5][6]
= reciver x carnot
= (1
(T 4 )
Tc
) X (1 ( ))
IC
T
Image Source[2]
Small Solar furnace can be used for heating the home, could
be used as water heater and be used as an cooking equipment,
for the concentration ratio to be nearly 1000-1500, the
Levelized cost is INR 6.4/KWh which is less than the
commercial cost of electricity in India.
With the recent development of the Optical Cavity Furnace the
thermal efficiency of the solar furnace will show a gradual
increase in next few years as it will decrease the .[12]Solar
furnace can be used to for the production of Hydrogen based
fuel for Fuel cells[13].
Ecological footprint the solar furnace is quite low as compared
with the traditional Thermal and Hydro Power Plant, it
doesnt emits C02 and other Green House Gases.[14]
Solar Fuels
The earth receives a huge amount solar energy which can
completely satisfy the energy requirement. However the
dependence on traditional fuels is not yet diminished.
Continuous consumption of fossil fuels led to an increased
concentration of carbon dioxide in atmosphere which is
responsible for many changes in climate. One of the drawback
of the solar energy is that it is not available throughout the 24
hrs. So there is a need to store the solar energy for night usage.
However current technology is only advanced to store the solar
energy in modern batteries which is not economical and
environment friendly since battery production require resources
and many batteries will be required. One of the idea is to utilize
the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis utilizes the solar
energy and carbon dioxide to produce glucose [26]. However
glucose cannot be used as fuel. Thus artificial photosynthesis is
required using a proper catalyst which can convert atmospheric
carbon dioxide into appropriate chemical compound which can
be economically process to produce fuels. The fuels thus
Parabolic
trough
20%
Linear
Fresnel
18%
Solar
tower
35%
Dish
30%
obtained are called solar fuels [26[. These fuel have zero carbon
content and thus stores solar energy in the form of chemical
energy effectively [27]. The catalyst required should be occur
naturally or require little investment as such the higher cost will
led to non-sustainability. There is direct conversion of the solar
energy to make solar fuels which can be used for power
generation however indirect conversion of solar energy to
intermediate compound is much easier. These intermediate
compound can be used to make solar fuels although the
efficiency of conversion is reduced [27].
2.
3.
4.
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6.
7.
8.
Conclusion
With rapid development in photovoltaic technology the
levelised cost of different solar devices has fallen down with
improvement in their efficiency. For those places where the
infrastructure for grid supply is not available small scale solar
power plant could be built in developing countries like India.
The levelised cost of solar furnace is minimum but has
limitations for thermal purpose only. The cost of concentrated
solar power plant depends on the scale of the CSP to be set up.
Least investment is required for the hardware corresponding to
the solar devices and maintenance cost is higher. The solar fuels
can be sustainable replacement for the traditional batteries and
has huge potential to fulfill the energy requirement. Although
the cost of solar thermal hybrid is more but currently it is the
most efficient technology. If somehow the levelised cost solar
thermal hybrid energy decreases, it will be a major boost in
power sector.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
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