SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGIES AND

SYSTEMS ( ES61002 )
LTP- 3-1-0

Chirodeep Bakli
Assistant Professor
School of Energy Science & Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India
Email: [email protected]

1
 Methods of Harvesting Solar Energy

Passive: cheap, efficient Solar Thermal: ~30% efficient;

design; cost-competitive; requires direct
block summer rays; allow winter sun;
heats fluid in pipes that then boils
water to drive steam turbine
Solar hot water: up to 50% efficient; expensive to
install; usually keep conventional backup; freeze
protection vital
Photovoltaic (PV): direct electricity; 15% efficient;
500 INR per Watt to install without rebates/incentives;
small fraction of roof covers demand of typ. home
2
 Photovoltaics (PVs)
• Defined: A material or device that converts photons of light
energy to electrical voltage and current

• A photon with short enough wavelength can cause an electron

in a PV material (semiconductor, such as Si) to break free of
the atom that holds it

• If a nearby electric field is provided, electrons can be swept

toward a metallic contact, where they can become part of an
electric current
 First solar cell to generate electricity – 1883
(Charles Fritts, U.S.)
Pressed a thin film of selenium against a brass metal plate, then laid an
even thinner layer of gold on top. The gold layer was so thin that sunlight
could penetrate through it. Exposing the gold to sunlight resulted in
electricity generation.

Werner Siemens, who confirmed Fritts’ experiment, commented,

“In conclusion, I would say that however great the scientific importance of
this discovery may be, its practical value will be no less obvious when we
reflect that the supply of solar energy is both without limit and without cost,
and that it will continue to pour down upon us for countless ages after all the
coal deposits of the earth have been exhausted and forgotten.”
 Photovoltaics (PVs)
• PVs are semiconductor materials that convert sunlight to electricity

• Main material is silicon (Si). Other materials: Germanium (Ge),

Gallium (Ga), and Arsenic (As)

• Si has 14 electrons, including 4 in outer shell, thus a +4 nucleus

charge. Pure Si crystals have Si bonded to each other with
covalent bonds.

• Boron (B) and Phosphorus (P) are added to Silicon to create

electric field in a PV cell.
 Photovoltaic (PV) Scheme
• Highly purified silicon (Si) from sand, quartz, etc. is “doped” with intentional
impurities at controlled concentrations to produce a p-n junction
– p-n junctions are common and useful: diodes, CCDs, photodiodes, transistors
• A photon incident on the p-n junction liberates an electron
– photon disappears, any excess energy goes into kinetic energy of electron (heat)
– electron wanders around drunkenly, and might stumble into “depletion region”
where electric field exists (electrons, being negative, move against field arrows)
– electric field sweeps electron across the junction, constituting a current
– more photons  more electrons  more current  more power
photon of light
Si doped with
electric field n-type silicon
phosphorous, e.g.

Si doped with
boron, e.g.
p-type silicon liberated electron

6
 Energy Bands – Photoelectric Effect
VB = valence band;
CB = conduction band

If an electron in the valence

band acquires energy Ebg, the
electron can jump to the
conduction band.
 Photovoltaics (PVs)
• Si is a semiconductor

• Metals are conductors

• Metals, semiconductors, and insulators have energy bands:

 Valence band, forbidden band, and conduction band, forbidden band
 Electrons in conduction band contribute to current flow

• With metals, P-N junction can’t form, so free electrons move too randomly

• Insulators require too much energy to add electrons to conduction band

 Band Gap Energy
• Forbidden band
• Gap between conduction band and valence band

• Band-gap energy (Ebg)

• Energy needed for an electron to free itself from the electrostatic force
holding it to its own nucleus and jump from the valence band to the
conduction band

• Unit of band gap energy

• Electron-volt (eV) = energy an electron acquires when its voltage is
increased by 1 V (1 eV = 1.6x10-19 J)
 Provide a circuit for the electron flow
• Without a path for the electrons to flow out, charge would
build up and end up canceling electric field
– must provide a way out
– direct through external load
current flow

external load

– PV cell acts like a battery

10
 Band Gap Energy
• Band gap energy for Si
• 1.12 eV

• When electron jumps, it leaves +4 nucleus with only 3

electrons  net + charge or hole.

• Unless electron swept away by current, the same one will

recombine to fill hole
 PV types
• Single-crystal silicon
– 15–18% efficient, typically
– expensive to make (grown as big crystal)
• Poly-crystalline silicon
– 12–16% efficient, slowly improving
– cheaper to make (cast in ingots)
• Amorphous silicon (non-crystalline)
– 4–8% efficient
– cheapest per Watt
– called “thin film”, easily deposited on a wide range of surface types
Spring 2013 12
 How good can it get?
• Silicon is transparent at wavelengths longer than 1.1
microns (1100 nm)
– 23% of sunlight passes right through with no effect
• Excess photon energy is wasted as heat
– near-infrared light (1100 nm) typically delivers only
51% of its photon energy into electrical current energy
• roughly half the electrons stumble off in the wrong direction
– red light (700 nm) only delivers 33%
– blue light (400 nm) only delivers 19%
• All together, the maximum efficiency for a silicon PV
in sunlight is about 23%
– defeating “recombination loss” puts the limit in the
low 30’s %

13
 Silicon Photovoltaic Budget

• Only 77% of solar spectrum is absorbed by

silicon
• Of this, ~30% is used as electrical energy
• Net effect is 23% maximum efficiency
Spring 2013 14
 Types of PV Cells
• Si 2nd most abundant element = 20% of Earth’s crust.
• Si from high quality Silica or quartz (SiO2) from mines or sand.

• Single crystal Si (sc-Si) – uniform structure

• Polycrystalline Si (poly-Si) rock like chunks of a multifaceted metal

– less expensive and less efficient than sc-Si

• Amorphous Si (a-Si) made by vapor deposition of silane &

hydrogen gas – used in thin-film PV cells
 Types of PV Cells
• First generation: 200 mm thick
 (sc-Si or poly-Si)

• Second generation: thin film (1-10 mm thick)

 (GaAs, CdTe, CIGS, or a-Si)

• Third generation: Multijunction tandem cells

 Single thin film with multiple materials or stack of different thin films
 One film: 33.7% max efficiency; two: 47%; three: 53%
 Solar Radiation
Spectral distribution of extraterrestrial radiation
The Sun

5777 K.
The Sun
Sun Earth Relationship
 Solar Radiation
Spectral distribution of extraterrestrial radiation
Terrestrial radiation
Seasonal Variation of ET Radiation
Sun and Time
Solar Time

n-
 Latitude and logintude
φ -Latitude of P
ψ –Longitude of P
Declination variation through the year

δ -Declination angle
Celestial Sphere
Solar geometry

θ -Incidence angle
θz -Zenith angle
β -Surface tilt angle
γ -Azimuth angle
Variation of daily insolation on a horizontal plane with season
and latitude
Annual average global solar energy