Solar Energy

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is it possible to store solar energy form in times when there's no sun seen for an extended
period of time?
Storing solar energy is of course possible, it is the basis for a system solely dependent on energy
from renewable energy sources. For a period of 2-3 days batteries are very effective in storing
energy, whereas for longer periods of time like 3-4 months, storage as fuels such as H2 or
Ammonia is more effective.
2. Is solar energy the only alternative for fossil fuels?
There is a wide range renewable energy sources. Solar energy is considered to be the most
abundant energy source, but we can produce energy from wind, biomass, geothermal sources
and many more.
3. Does the use of solar energy have negative effects on the environment?
Harvesting solar energy itself doesn’t have any significant negative effects on the environment.
However the manufacturing of the panels, batteries, etc... does to some extent. Extracting the
materials from the ground requires energy and in some cases rare earth materials. The
extraction process can also produce harmful gases and release them into the environment.
However, a lot of effort is put in to keep the entire process as clean as possible.
4. What is the effect of high temperatures on energy production from solar panels?
High temperatures in general cause lower energy yield from solar panels. They make the
current produced higher to some extent and the voltage produced lower. In general this change
in current and voltage due to temperature effects causes a lower total energy production.
5. How is there energy loss during conversion if the total amount of energy is conserved
during conversion?
During energy conversion for example from chemical to electrical energy, the entire chemical
energy is not converted to electrical energy solely, it also produces heat. The amount of heat
produced with the amount of electrical energy produced, sum up to the initial chemical energy.
Whatever is considered as loss is the energy that is not converted to electrical energy, but
produced heat instead.
6. What is meant by an efficiency of 15-20% for Solar panels?
Solar panels can only convert a part of the total solar energy incident on them to electricity. The
amount of energy that can be converted to electricity from the total amount of energy incident
is around 15-20 percent.
7. Can we get an efficiency higher than the Shockley–Queisser limit?
The Shockley–Queisser limit is the theoretical maximum that a solar panel material can achieve
when using a single p-n junction to collect power from the cell where the only loss mechanism
is radiative recombination in the solar cell. However other loss mechanisms also exist leading to
a decrease in the conversion efficiency so the Shockley–Queisser limit is the highest efficiency
that can be achieved.
8. What is the relation between Direct and Diffuse radiation?
Direct radiation is the solar radiation that the panel for example receives directly from the sun
in a straight path.
Diffuse radiation is the radiation that the panel receives from solar rays that bounce of surfaces
such as clouds, walls...
9. On what basis do we choose which material to use as a semiconductor in a solar panel?
There are many criteria which help determine what material to use in a solar panel. The most
important are to choose a material with a low bandgap so that it would be possible excite an
electron easily from the valence band to the conduction band. Another major component is the
abundance of the material, it should be fairly easy to extract the material to reduce the total
cost of production.
10. How do we calculate Pin from the solar panel?
Pin= Impp*Vmpp, this is because the maximum power that can be extracted from a solar panel
is located at the maximum power point. This point can be observed clearly on the I-V curve as it
is the highest point on the P function.
11. How to calculate the energy of a photon?
The energy of a photon is calculated by the formula E=hc/lambda, moreover this formula can
be simplified to E=1240/lambda, where lambda is in nano-meters and E is in (ev). This
simplification is derived by replacing h with 6.62607004 × 10-34 m2 kg /s and c with 3 x 10+8
m/s and finally dividing the entire number by q=1.6 x 10-19 to make get the photon energy in
(ev).
12. When is a photon absorbed by a semiconducting material?
A photon is only absorbed in a semiconducting material if its energy is higher than the actual
bandgap of the material being used.
13. How do you determine the optimal tilt of a solar panel in a certain location?
The optimal tilt and direction of the solar panel are decided using programs that simulate the
real weather conditions at a certain location, including the irradiance per hour, the elevation of
the sun, the cloud distribution… These simulations are performed for each direction of rotation
and each tilt angle, and the total energy generated by the solar panel at each orientation is
compared to each other. The one with the highest total energy generation per year is
considered to be at the optimal tilt an orientation.
14. It is clear that the MPPT is the point with the highest energy generation for the solar
panel. However how do we actually set the operation point at this MPPT?
Different MPP Tracking techniques are available which set the operational voltage and current
at the maximum power point for each level of irradiance. Some of these techniques are
Indirect, which estimate the MPP location without the need to calculate the I-V, and we have
the Direct techniques which use I-V generated to estimate the maximum power point. Some of
the indirect techniques are the Constant Voltage Method, Open Circuit Voltage Method and the
Short Current Pulse Method. Some of the direct techniques are the Perturb and Observe
Method, Incremental Conduction Method and the Temperature Method.
15. What are the examples of high-efficiency concepts based on crystalline silicon technology
solar cells?
Different types of silicon wafers with different quality can be used. Naturally, to achieve the
highest efficiency, the bulk recombination must be as small as possible. Therefore, the high
efficiency concepts are based on monocrystalline wafers.
The first high efficiency concept was the PERL concept, which used a p-type float zone silicon
wafer. With this concept, conversion efficiency of 25% were achieved. The abbreviation PERL
stands for Passivated Emitter Rear Locally diffused. The abbreviation indicates two important
concepts that have been integrated into this technology: first, the optical losses of the PERL
solar cell at the front side are minimized. Secondly, the emitter layer is well designed.
A second successful cell concept is the interdigitated back contact (IBC) solar cell. The main idea
of the IBC concept is to have no shading losses at the front metal contact grid at all. All the
contacts responsible for collecting charge carriers at the n- and p- sides are positioned at the
back of the crystalline wafer solar cell.
The third high efficiency concept is the silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell.
16. What is the thin-film solar cell?
The thin-film solar cells are made from films that are much thinner than the wafers that form
the base for first generation PV. A thin film is a film that is created by the random nucleation
process of individually condensing/reacting atomic/ionic/molecular species on a substrate. The
structural, chemical, metallurgical and physical properties of such a material are strongly
dependent on a large number of deposition parameters and may also be thickness dependent.

17. What is the subtle difference between the terms solar modules and solar panels?
A module is an interconnection of solar cells. It is the generic name given to any kind of
packaging for an interconnection of solar cells. That is, irrespective of technology or packaging,
an interconnection of solar cells will be called a module. However, the term solar panel is a bit
more exclusive for the rectangular, rigid packaging with typical encapsulations. For example,
most standard crystalline modules are called solar panels. All solar panels are solar modules but
the converse is not true. For instance, a thin-film silicon solar cell that is packaged as a flexible
laminate is a solar module. But it is not entirely accurate to call it a panel. Note that in most
cases, the commercial modules being used are panels, and therefore modules are
synonymously called as panels in common usage.

18. What is the net meter in grid-connected PV system?

A net meter is a two-way power measuring instrument. This meter takes into account not only
the power consumed from the grid by the consumer, but also the power fed to the grid by the
PV system.

19. What is the standard test condition (STC)?

STC the industry standard for the conditions under which a solar panel are tested. By using a
fixed set of conditions, all solar panels can be more accurately compared and rated against each
other. There are three standard test conditions which are:
Temperature of the cell – 25°C. The temperature of the solar cell itself, not the temperature of
the surrounding.
Solar Irradiance – 1000 Watts per square meter. This number refers to the amount of light
energy falling on a given area at a given time.
Mass of the air – 1.5. The AM1.5 spectrum represents the solar irradiance if the center of the
solar disc is at an angle of 41.8° above the horizon.
20. How efficiency of a solar cell calculated?
The efficiency of solar cell is usually calculated at STC. It is given by
Efficiency= (Fill Factor * Voc *Isc)/ (1000W/m^2 *Area of the solar cell)
Where, Voc is open circuit voltage of the solar cell
Isc is the short circuit current of the solar cell

21. What is azimuth/orientation and tilt of solar module?

Orientation is the degree of freedom that defines the azimuth or the yaw of the module with
respect to a position, which, in this case, is the geographic South. Tilt is the degree of freedom
that defines the elevation or the pitch of the solar module with respect to the horizontal.
22. What is payback period?
Payback period is the amount of time required to recover the amount of investment in the solar
PV system.
Payback period = Investment cost/Returns per year
23. What are some fiscal instruments to stimulate investment in RE technologies?
Subsidies and Feed-in tariff are some policy instrument to stimulate investment in renewable
energy technologies.
24. What is LCOE?
Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) is price of unit electricity (kwh) from a power producing
project considering the entire lifetime of the generating system.