DESIGN AND ENGINEERING OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS

MEL 342 TERM PAPER

ABHISHEK MALHOTRA 2008ME10477

SOLAR ENERGY: AN INTRODUCTION

The sun is the oldest source of energy known to man. It is the primary source of energy for all processes on earth (with the exception of geothermal and nuclear energy) and this energy manifests itself in various forms. It gets absorbed by the atmosphere and land surfaces, gets converted to ocean currents, can be felt in the form of winds, drives the hydrological cycle, gets converted to chemical energy via photosynthesis etc. (Fig. 1)

Figure 1: Distribution of incoming solar radiation

For centuries man has been using the suns energy indirectly in its various forms starting with the energy in plants for food, then animals for food and work, trees for shelter and fuel, the kinetic energy of wind and water for various purposes, and fossil fuels for heat. Today, because of their relatively low cost and ease of use, coal, oil and natural gas together account for 86.4% of the worlds primary energy consumption. However, with the increasing environmental impact of fossil fuel combustion and because of the limited nature of their reserves, there is a need to reduce dependence on them. This has led to increased interest in developing techniques to use solar radiation one of the most widely and readily available source of energy economically and efficiently.

THE RESOURCE: SOLAR RADIATION

The sun emits electromagnetic radiations at a mean temperature of 6000 K and the distribution of radiation among different wavelengths is very similar to that of a black body. Most of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun lies in the visible band centered at 500 nm, although the sun also emits significant energy in the ultraviolet and

infrared bands, and small amounts of energy in the radio, microwave, X-ray and gamma ray bands. The average energy received at the top of earths atmosphere is 1,367 W/m 2, a value known as the solar constant. Out of this, about 40% reaches the earths surface, the rest is either reflected, absorbed or scattered by the constituents of the atmosphere. This is because depending on the absorption spectrum of the atmospheric gases, certain wavelengths get selectively absorbed by them. (Fig. 2)

Figure 2: Intensity of different wavelengths of solar radiation at topof atmosphere and at sea level

The intensity of solar radiation received at the earths surface varies with both the place and the time. Places close to the poles receive less radiation because of it being spread out over a larger area (due to the inclination of the sun), while those closer to the equator receive higher amounts of solar radiation. At a particular place, there is a seasonal variation in the amount of solar radiation received (insolation) due to inclination of the earths axis, its revolution around the sun and because of the eccentricity of the earths orbit (Fig. 3). There is also a daily variation in incoming solar radiation due to rotation of the earth. Other factors influencing insolation are the cloud cover and the presence of any impurities or pollutants present (dust, soot, smog etc.) in the atmosphere. Fig. 4 shows the average annual insolation distribution across the globe.
Figure 3: Variation of solar radiation with time and latitude

Figure 4: Global variation of average annual insolation

In-depth knowledge of the solar resource is essential for its effective utilization. Regional solar radiation maps at various scales are available which provide monthly average daily total solar resource information on grid cells.

SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS: BASIC PRINCIPLES

As the name suggests, solar photovoltaic cells are based on the photovoltaic effect. It is the creation of voltage, or a corresponding electric current in a material, upon its exposure to light. This phenomenon can be explained using the band theory of solids. A semiconductor has a valence band and a conduction band with a small energy gap between them. When it is exposed to solar radiation, the photons are absorbed and impart energy to the electrons, exciting them from the valence band to the conduction band and leaving a positive hole behind. The holes and electrons thus created are responsible for the conduction of electricity within the semiconductor. To create the potential difference, a junction between two types of semiconductors is created n-type having an excess of electrons and p-type having an electron deficit. Ntype semiconductors are created by doping a tetravalent semiconductor with small quantities of a pentavalent impurity, leading to an excess of electrons than usual in the valence band. P-type semiconductors are created using a trivalent impurity, producing a hole or an electron deficiency. When the two are brought in contact the excess electrons from the n material diffuse into the p material. This results in the n-side becoming positively charged and the p-side becoming negatively charged. The diffusion takes

place until a balance between the diffusion and electromagnetic forces is attained. This is called a p-n junction (Fig. 5). When metallic contacts are placed on the n and p regions, a diode is obtained. When a load is positioned at the cells terminals, because of the potential difference between the two sides, the electrons from the n-side migrate back to the holes in the p-side by way of the outside connection, producing an electric current.

Figure 5: P-N Junction

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
EARLY EFFORTS The photovoltaic effect, the direct conversion of solar energy to electricity, was first documented by Edmond Becquerel in 1839. He demonstrated that a voltage was produced when light was absorbed by an electrode immersed in an electrolyte. W. Smith demonstrated an analogous effect in solids using trigonal selenium in 1873. Smith's observation was confirmed in 1877 by W. G. Adams and R. E. Day, who also observed the photovoltaic effects in selenium. 1940 1970: PRACTICAL APPLICATION AND SLOW DEVELOPMENT Nearly a century after its discovery, this laboratory phenomenon was considered as a potential source of electricity. Russell Ohl patented the modern junction semiconductor solar cell in 1946, which was discovered while working on the series of advances that would lead to the transistor. In 1954, workers at RCA and the Bell Telephone Laboratories announced the construction of a silicon solar cell with an efficiency of 6%. At first, solar cells using diffused silicon p-n junctions were used for toys and other minor uses because of their high cost. The first major successful use was in the satellite Vanguard I in 1958, the fourth artificial satellite to be launched. Technological progress in photovoltaics has been slow since its inception mainly due to the availability of cheap fossil fuels. For much of the 1960's and 1970's solar cells were used for providing electrical power for space vehicles. These cells used a p-type substrate into which a thin n-type layer was introduced by high temperature diffusion of phosphorous impurities. The cells had an efficiency of only about 10%; however this increased to 12% in terrestrial applications because of less light having shorter wavelengths (Fig. 6(a)). This was another reason for their slow development and high cost because cost was not a major issue for space applications and they did not try to

look for lower cost solutions if they implied lower efficiencies. However, since 1975 the use of terrestrial-based solar cells has surpassed their level of use in space programs and this reflects the rapidly increasing interest in using solar cells as an alternate energy source. 1970 1980: COST REDUCTION AND HIGHER EFFICIENCY A major development in solar photovoltaics was the price reduction brought about by the efforts of Elliott Berman of the Solar Power Corporation in the early 70s. Earlier, manufacture of solar cells was based on the manufacturing process used for electronic semiconductor devices. It was realized that instead of polishing the wafers and then coating them with anti-reflective coating, it was easier to directly use rough-sawn wafers, which do not reflect light. Also, the silicon being used for electronics was too pure for photovoltaic applications, and hence further cost reductions were achieved by using lower quality silicon. Through these innovations, the cost of solar power was brought down from $100/watt to $20/watt within two years. Since then, there has also been an improvement in the efficiency of solar cells by use of techniques such as alloying aluminum into the rear cell surface, use of better antireflection materials (Fig. 6(b)), surface texturing (in which selective chemical etching is used to form randomly located pyramid structures across the cell surface to reduce reflection) (Fig. 6(c)) and innovations in surface passivation and contact design.

Figure 6: Significant developments in solar cell design in the 60's and 70's

1980 1990: THE EMERGENCE OF THIN-FILM TECHNOLOGY There have been recent developments in photovoltaic technology with the emergence of thin-film solar cells (TFSCs). The first TFSC having efficiency exceeding 10% was produced in 1980 at The Institute of Energy Conversion at University of Delaware. A thin-film solar cell, also called a thin-film photovoltaic cell (TFPV), is a solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin films of amorphous photovoltaic material on a substrate (Fig. 7). The thickness range of such a layer is wide and varies from a few nanometers to tens of micrometers. Even Figure 7: Structure of a thin-film solar cell though the efficiency of such solar cells is lower than silicon-wafer cells, they are much more economical, lightweight, durable and easy to use. However, they are still not being used in large scale commercial applications due to lower efficiency and larger area requirement per watt produced. 1990 PRESENT: COST VS. EFFICIENCY Another major change has been the introduction of polycrystalline silicon or polysilicon for solar cells in the late 90s. It is a material consisting of small silicon crystals, which can be recognized by a visible grain, a metal flake effect. This material has less efficiency, but is less expensive to produce in bulk. For the first time, in 2006, over half of the world's supply of polysilicon is being used for production of renewable electricity solar power panels. However, the highest efficiencies achieved so far for any photovoltaic technology have been those for multi-junction solar cells. In 2008, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) set a world record in solar cell efficiency with an inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell that converts 40.8 percent of incident light into electricity.

ENGINEERING ASPECTS OF SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAICS

MONOCRYSTALLINE SILICON WAFER CELLS AND SOLAR MODULES Because the voltage of an individual silicon wafer solar cell is quite small (typically a maximum voltage of 0.7V, with maximum power produced at 0.4V), a number of cells are connected together to form a solar panel (or module), the number and arrangement of cells depending on the application and required output. These cells sit on a tough backing plate, while the grid of electrical connections lies above and below the surface of the cells. The wafer has a full area metal contact made on the back surface, and a gridlike metal contact made up of fine "fingers" and larger "busbars" are screen-printed onto the front surface using a silver paste. The rear contact is also formed by screen-printing a metal paste, typically aluminium. Usually this contact covers the entire rear side of the cell, though in some cell designs it is printed in a grid pattern. The paste is then fired at several hundred degrees celsius to form metal electrodes in ohmic contact with the silicon. Some companies use an additional electro-plating step to increase the cell efficiency. After the metal contacts are made, the solar cells are interconnected in series (and/or parallel) by flat wires or metal ribbons, and assembled into modules. Electrical connecting strips go from the bottom of one cell to the top of the next, connecting cells in series. The connections are made in series to achieve the desired output voltage and in parallel to achieve the desired current. The cells are connected to each other and to the rest of the system using thin strips which may contain silver, copper or other conductive but non-magnetic transition metals. Over this is a non reflective layer (silicon is naturally reflective), to increase light absorption. Silicon nitride has gradually replaced titanium dioxide as the antireflection coating because of its excellent surface passivation qualities. It prevents carrier recombination at the surface of the solar cell. It is typically applied in a layer several hundred nanometers thick using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Some solar cells have textured front surfaces that, like antireflection coatings, serve to increase the amount of light coupled into the cell. Such surfaces can usually only be formed on single-crystal silicon, though in recent years methods of forming them on multicrystalline silicon have been developed. Finally on top will be a layer of tough tempered glass, and the whole structure is usually within an aluminum frame, sealed against the weather (Fig. 8).

Figure 8: Structure of a silicon wafer solar cell

THIN FILM SOLAR CELLS The construction of modules using thin-film solar cells is slightly different. Thin-film solar cells can be made from a variety of materials, including amorphous silicon (which has no crystalline structure), gallium arsenide (GaAs), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) and cadmium telluride (CdTe). Thin-film modules can be classified into two types: rigid thin-film modules and flexible thin-film modules. In rigid thin-film modules, the cell is created on a glass substrate, and the electrical connections are created in situ, a so called "monolithic integration". The substrate is laminated with an encapsulant to a front sheet, usually another sheet of glass. Flexible thin film cells and modules are created by depositing the photoactive layer and other necessary layers on a flexible substrate. If the substrate is an insulator (e.g. polyester or polyimide film) then monolithic integration can be used. If it is a conductor then another technique for electrical connection must be used. The cells are assembled into modules by laminating them to a transparent colourless fluoropolymer on the front side (typically Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) or Fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP)) and a polymer suitable for bonding to the final substrate on the other side. The only commercially available flexible module uses amorphous silicon triple junction. SILICON: In the thin-film silicon cell, the silicon is deposited on a substrate (glass, plastic or metal coated with a layer of transparent conducting oxide (TCO)) using plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition, from silane gas and hydrogen gas. The p-type layer is kept on top where light intensity is higher because the mobility of electrons is much higher as compared to the holes. So, the collection rate of electrons moving from the pto n-type contact is better than holes moving from p- to n-type contact. COPPER INDIUM GALLIUM DISELENIDE: There are two basic configurations of a CIGS thin film solar cell CIGS-on-glass (Fig. 9(a)) and CGIS-on-foil (Fig. 9(b)). The CIGS-onglass cell requires an extra layer of molybdenum to create an electrode. This is not required in the CIGS-on-foil cell because the foil acts as the electrode. In both types, a thin layer of zinc oxide (ZnO) on the other side acts as the other electrode. Two layers of

the semiconductor material and cadmium sulphide are sandwiched in between, and these act as the n-side and p-side of the solar cell respectively.

Figure 9(a): CGIS-on-glass, (b): CGIS-on-foil

CADMIUM TELLURIDE: The CdTe solar cell has a similar structure. One electrode is made from a layer of carbon paste infused with copper, the other from tin oxide (SnO2) or cadmium stannate (Cd2SnO4). The semiconductor in this case is cadmium telluride (CdTe), which, along with cadmium sulfide (CdS), creates the n-type and p-type layers required for the PV cell to function. MULTI-JUNCTION SOLAR CELLS Multi-junction cells use two or more layers of different materials with different band gaps. The main motivation behind this is the fact that conventional photovoltaic cells are unable to extract all the energy from a photon, and that they cannot extract any energy at all from photons of certain wavelengths. If the photon has less energy than the bandgap, it is not collected at all. This is a major consideration for conventional solar cells, which are not sensitive to most of the infrared spectrum, although that represents almost half of the power coming from the sun. Conversely, photons with more energy than the bandgap, say blue light, initially eject a photon with much more energy than the bandgap, but this extra energy is lost through a process known as "relaxation". This lost energy turns into heat in the cell, which has the side-effect of further increasing blackbody losses. This problem limits the theoretical maximum efficiency of solar cells to about 34%. This problem is overcome in multi-junction solar cells by having more than one junction with different band gaps. Depending on the substance, photons of varying energies are absorbed. So by stacking higher band gap material on the surface to absorb high-energy photons, while allowing lower-energy photons to be absorbed by the lower band gap

material beneath, much higher efficiencies can be attained. Theoretically, a solar cell having infinite number of junctions can have efficiency as high as 87%. Commercial samples having efficiency up to 30% are now available. The majority of multi-junction cells that have been produced to date use three layers, tuned to blue (on top), yellow and red (on the bottom). These cells require the use of semiconductors that can be tuned to specific frequencies, which has led to most of them being made of gallium arsenide (GaAs) compounds, often germanium for red, GaAs for yellow, and GaInP2 for blue. To date, their higher price and lower price-to-performance ratio have limited their use to special roles, notably in aerospace where their high power-to-weight ratio is desirable. The cost is mainly due to the complex structure and the high pice of materials. In terrestrial applications these solar cells are used in concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) with operating plants all over the world. Table 1 shows a comparison of the different photovoltaic technologies available, with Fig 10 showing the relative market share for each. Technology (%) u c-Si p c-Si a-Si CdTe CIGS MJ 24.7 20.3 11.1 16.5 19.5 40.7 VOC (V) 0.5 0.615 6.3 0.86 2.6 ISC (A) 0.8 8.35 0.0089 0.029 1.81 W/m 63 211 33 476 t (m) 100 200 1 5 1 140

Table 1: Performance characteristics of different photovoltaic technologies

Figure 10: Relative market share for different photovoltaic technologies

Once the solar cells have been linked together to form solar modules, these are further linked together to form a collection known as a solar array. The connections are made a rationale similar to that followed for the connections among individual cells they are connected in series to achieve the desired voltage (each such set in series is called a string) and the individual strings are connected in parallel to allow the system to produce more current. BALANCE OF SYSTEM The balance of system or BOS includes all components of the solar system apart from the solar modules. This includes the battery (in the case of off-grid installations), the control unit and the inverter, the mechanical support structure, the electric cabling, and protection devices such as fuses, grounding rods, and disconnect switches. Fig. 11 illustrates the costs incurred in the various components of a photovoltaic installation with storage.

Figure 11: Cost breakup of a photovoltaic installation with storage

BATTERIES: Photovoltaic systems can be broadly divided into two types standalone systems and grid-connected systems. Grid connected systems vary in size from residential (2-10kWp) to solar power stations (up to 10s of GWp). Standalone systems vary in scale and application from toys and calculators to buildings and space stations. In many cases such as PV-powered pumps batteries are not required as water can be pumped and stored during sunlight hours. If power is to be supplied independent of solar insolation, it has to be stored using batteries. These comprise a significant portion of the cost of a photovoltaic system, especially over the course of its life cycle because batteries need to be replaced every four to eight years due to their relatively short lifetime. In most cases, lead-acid batteries are used because of their low cost. While automobile batteries are optimized for providing strong current for a short period to start the car, the ideal batteries for PV systems are so-called deep cycle batteries that can yield a large fraction of their charge (deep discharge cycle) and must operate with high

efficiency and long duration. Yet, many PV applications use standard shallow discharge auto batteries due to their ubiquitous availability and lower initial cost. Some of the modern batteries such as those based on lithium ion or lithium polymer used in laptop computers or mobile phones could be used in solar applications but they are too expensive and are not significantly better than properly managed lead-acid batteries. Alternative methods of storage exist but they will not replace lead-acid battery, at least, not in the next ten years. INVERTER: The next requirement is an inverter, which converts the DC produced by the photovoltaic module into AC. For large photovoltaic plants, this may either be a centralized inverter, which is theoretically cheaper, or one may have a solar microinverter on the back of every module, which increases the reliability of the system. The inverter has an additional and important role: to vary the electrical operating point of the PV array to maintain its output at the maximum value. Changes of temperature and insolation change the voltage where maximum power extraction occurs, so the electronics of the inverter typically include maximum power tracking. TRACKING SYSTEM: To gather solar energy effectively, a solar panel should be within about twenty degrees either side of perpendicular to the sun. An angle of more than thirty-five degrees from the perpendicular results in a significant portion of sunlight being reflected off the solar panel surface. In order to maximize the amount of solar radiation incident on the solar modules, large photovoltaic installations that approach or exceed one megawatt have tracking systems. These use optical sensors to track the position of the sun and make sure that the panel is aimed directly at the sun or at the brightest portion of a partially cloudy sky, improving the performance by upto 100%. CONCENTRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY Solar cells may also be used along with solar radiation concentrating systems. This offers two main advantages. The first is that since fewer solar cells are required to collect the sunlight falling on a given area, higher cost technology can be used than in cases where non-concentrated radiation is used to generate power, and therefore solar cells having higher efficiency (such as multi-junction solar cells) can be used. The second is that concentration of solar radiation enables more radiation per unit area to be incident upon the solar cell, producing more power and hence reducing the area of the photovoltaic cells, replacing it with less expensive optical material. The concentrators used for this purpose can be either refractive or reflective. The lenses used can have point focus, or may have a linear focus (Fig. 12(a)) and are usually made of acrylic plastic (PMMA), which is much more durable than glass.

Figure 12(a): Refractive concentrators, (b): Reflective concentrators

Reflective concentrators use parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight from a large area onto a single point or along a line (Fig. 12(b)). Most concentrated photovoltaic applications use some kind of tracking mechanism to maximize the amount of solar power being concentrated. With point concentration, twoaxis tracking is required, which is more difficult and expensive. However, they are able to achieve a higher concentration ratio, reducing the cost of the solar cells. With linear concentrators, one axis tracking can be used, which is less expensive but concentrates the solar radiation over a larger area. For high concentration ratios, the module also requires cooling systems because the efficiency of solar cells deteriorates at higher temperatures. This further increases the cost of the system, making it suitable for only large scale applications. So, before installing any such system, there needs to be an in depth analysis of the improvements in cost and efficiency achieved by using higher levels of concentration versus the additional costs and complexities involved in doing the same.

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