UNIT III NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY 10

Solar energy, solar thermal systems, flat plate collectors, focusing collectors, solar water heating, solar
cooling, solar distillation, solar refrigeration, solar dryers, solar pond, solar thermal power generation,
solar energy application in India, energy plantations. Wind energy, types of windmills, types of wind
rotors, Darrieus rotor and Gravian rotor, wind electric power generation, wind power in India, economics
of wind farm, ocean wave energy conversion, ocean thermal energy conversion, tidal energy conversion,
geothermal energy..

Introduction
The basic principle behind both solar panel – solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal – is the same.
They absorb raw energy from the sun and use it to create usable energy. In solar PV systems this is through
the creation of electricity, whereas thermal systems are used directly for heating water or air. The amount of
solar radiation on the earth surface can be instrumentally measured using Pyrheliometer, Pyranometer,
Photoelectric sunshine recorder and many instruments. Solar thermal power plants collect and concentrate
sunlight to produce the high temperature heat needed to generate electricity. Thermal energy storage (TES)
is a technology that stocks thermal energy by heating or cooling a storage medium so that the stored energy
can be used at a later time for heating and cooling applications and power generation. A photovoltaic module
consists of multiple PV cells connected in series to provide a higher voltage output. A photovoltaic array is a
system composed of multiple PV modules. They can be connected in one or more series circuits, which are
connected to a combiner box to provide a single direct-current output.
Solar energy is an important, clean, cheap and abundantly available renewable energy. It is received
on Earth in cyclic, intermittent and dilute form with very low power density 0 to 1 kW/m2.Solar energy
received on the ground level is affected by atmospheric clarity, degree of latitude, etc. For design purpose, the
variation of available solar power, the optimum tilt angle of solar flat plate collectors, the location and
orientation of the heliostats should be calculated. Units of solar power and solar energy: In SI units, energy is
expressed in Joule. Other units are angley and Calorie where 1 angley = 1 Cal/cm2.day 1 Cal = 4.186 J For
solar energy calculations, the energy is measured as an hourly or monthly or yearly average and is expressed
in terms of kJ/m2/day or kJ/m2/hour. Solar power is expressed in terms of W/m2 or kW/m2. Essential
subsystems in a solar energy plant: 1. Solar collector or concentrator: It receives solar rays and collects the
energy. It may be of following types: a) Flat plate type without focusi

Solar Radiation
Solar radiation, often called the solar resource, is a general term for the electromagnetic radiation
emitted by the sun. The sun emits electromagnetic radiations as a black body having a surface temperature
of about 6000 K. This is because of the nuclear reaction running in it, where the sun is converting hydrogen
into helium. The radius of the sun amounts to 1.39 × 109 m. The total radiation power received from the sun
on a unit area perpendicular to the sun rays at the mean earth sun distance, termed an astronomical unit, is
called the solar constant (SC), where 1 astronomical unit = 1AU = 1.496 × 1011m.
The solar radiation intensity at other distances is expressed in terms of SC with SC = 1.353 kW/m 2.
Like a black body radiation, the sun‘s radiation covers a wide spectrum of wavelengths from deep ultraviolet
to far infrared. The power spectral distribution of the sunlight is shown in Fig. 1. The vertical axis represents
the spectral irradiance I(λ) while the horizontal axis represents the wavelength in mm. The irradiance I(λ) is
equal to the incident solar power/m2/δλ = [W/m2/mm], where δλ is the respective wavelength range in μm. It
is clear from this figure that the maximum spectral irradiance lies at λ = 0.5μm. The spectral irradiance
decreases because of the presence of air in the atmosphere. The air molecules scatter and absorb the solar
radiation. There are multiple absorption bands for O2, H2O, and CO2. It is important to notice that the solar
irradiance resembles the black body radiation at ~ 6000 K represented by the dashed line.
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 Fig.1. The power spectral distribution of the sunlight
The solar power intensity without the effect of the atmosphere or ground surface is called the Air Mass Zero
where one AM0 = 1 SC = 135.3 mW/cm2. The solar power intensity after crossing one air mass
perpendicular to the earth is called the air mass 1, AM1. It represents the area under the spectral irradiance
curve and amounts to 92.5 mW/cm2. If θ is the angle of incidence with normal to the earth surface, then the
optical path in units of the air mass will be larger. The air mass AM = 1/(cos θ).
As the solar radiation passes through the atmosphere, it gets absorbed, scattered, reflected, or
transmitted. All these processes result in reduction of the energy flux density. Actually, the solar flux density
is reduced by about 30% compared to extraterrestrial radiation flux on a sunny day and is reduced by as much
as 90% on a cloudy day. The following main losses should be noted:
 absorbed by particles and molecules in the atmosphere - 10-30%
 reflected and scattered back to space - 2-11%
 scattered to earth (direct radiation becomes diffuse) - 5-26%
 As a result, the direct radiation reaching the earth surface (or a device installed on the earth surface)
never exceeds 83% of the original extraterrestrial energy flux. This radiation that comes directly from
the solar disk is defined as beam radiation.
 The scattered and reflected radiation that is sent to the earth surface from all directions (reflected from
other bodies, molecules, particles, droplets, etc.) is defined as diffuse radiation. The sum of the beam
and diffuse components is defined as total (or global) radiation. The beam radiation can be
concentrated, while the diffuse radiation, in many cases, cannot be concentrated.
 Short-wave radiation, in the wavelength range from 0.3 to 3 μm, comes directly from the sun. It
includes both beam and diffuse components.
 Long-wave radiation, with wavelength 3 μm or longer, originates from the sources at near-ambient
temperatures - atmosphere, earth surface, light collectors, other bodies.
 The solar radiation reaching the earth is highly variable and depends on the state of the atmosphere at a
specific locality. Two atmospheric processes can significantly affect the incident irradiation: scattering
and absorption.
Scattering is caused by interaction of the radiation with molecules, water and dust particles in the air.
The amount of light scattered depends on the number of particles in the atmosphere, particle size and the total
air mass the radiation comes through.
Absorption occurs upon interaction of the radiation with certain molecules, such as ozone (absorption
of short-wave radiation - ultraviolet), water vapour, and carbon dioxide (absorption of long- wave radiation -
infrared).
Due to these processes, out of the whole spectrum of solar radiation, only a small portion reaches the
earth surface. Thus most of x-rays and other short-wave radiation is absorbed by atmospheric components in
the ionosphere, ultraviolet is absorbed by ozone and not-so abundant long-wave radiation is absorbed by CO2.
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As a result, the main wavelength range to be considered for solar applications is from 0.29 to 2.5 μm.

Fig.2.Different types of radiation at the earth surface: short wave; long wave

India’s solar installed capacity reached 34.404 GW as of 29 February 2020.

Insolation is the incident solar radiation onto some object. Specifically, it is a measure of the solar
energy that is incident on a specified area over a set period of time. Generally insolation is expressed in two
ways. One unit is kilowatt-hours per square meter (kWh/m2) per day which represents the average amount of
energy hitting an area each day. Another form is watts per square meter (W/m2) which represents the
average amount of power hitting an area over an entire year.
It is important to have values for insolation at certain positions on the Earth as these figures are used
to help determine the size and output of solar power systems. Values for insolation can help to determine the
expected output for solar panels and determine where on Earth solar panels would be most effective.
Radiation Measurement
The amount of solar radiation on the earth surface can be instrumentally measured, and precise
measurements are important for providing background solar data for solar energy conversion applications.
There are two important types of instruments to measure solar radiation:
1) Pyrheliometer 2) Pyranometer

Pyrheliometer is a device used for measuring direct beam radiation at normal incidence. Its outer
structure looks like a long tube, projecting the image of a telescope and we have to point the lens to the sun to

measure the radiance.

Fig. 3. Construction of Pyrheliometer

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 The lens is pointed towards the sun and the radiation will pass through the lens, tube and at the end
falls on to the black object present at the bottom. A simpler diagram is shown in the Fig.4

Fig.4. Simple diagram of Pyrheliometer

In the circuit, it can be seen that the black body absorbs the radiation falling from the lens and a
perfect black body completely absorbs any radiation falling on it, so the radiation falling into the tube gets
absorbed by the black object entirely. Once the radiation gets absorbed the atoms in the body gets excited
because of the increasing temperature of the entire body. This temperature increase will also be experienced
by the thermocouple junction ‗A‘. Now with junction ‗A‘ of the thermocouple at high temperature and
junction ‗B‘ at low temperature, a current flow takes place in its loop.(Thermocouple action) This current in
the loop will also flow through the galvanometer which is in series and thereby causing a deviation in it.
This deviation is proportional to current, which in turn is proportional to temperature difference at junctions.
The deviation in the galvanometer can be reduced by adjusting the rheostat to change the current in
the Metal conductor. Now by adjusting the rheostat until the galvanometer deviation becomes completely
void. Once this happens we can obtain voltage and current readings from the meters and do a simple
calculation to determine the heat absorbed by the black body. This calculated value can be used to determine

-Top 5 Largest Solar Power Plants in India-

1. Pavagada Solar Park, Karnataka 2. Kurnool Ultra Mega Solar Park, Andhra Pradesh 3. Kamuthi
Solar Power
the radiation, Project,
as heat Tamilby
generated Nadu 4. Bhadla
the black bodySolar Park, Rajasthan
is directly 5. Charanka
proportional Solar Park, Gujarat
to the radiation.
Solar Thermal Power Plant

Solar thermal power plant is a combination of solar energy and thermal energy. The sun‘s radiations is
used as fuel in the power plant. Solar energy is converted into heat or thermal energy which is further
converted to mechanical energy using turbine and electrical energy using generators. Further categories are
based upon the power cycles i.e. low, medium and high temperature cycles. These cycles are based upon the
solar radiations and type of collectors used for collecting the solar radiations. In low temperature cycles the
temperature is limited to about 100⁰ C in medium temperature, range varies from 150⁰ C to 300⁰ C
whereas in high temperature cycles temperature may go above 300⁰ C.
For different temperature cycle different thermodynamic cycles are used in the power plant.
Generally, for low and medium temperature ranges, Rankine cycle is preferred whereas for high temperature
range Brayton cycle is used. The cycle operation and different components of the solar thermal power plant
are discussed here;
 Solar pond
 Solar energy collectors
 Working fluid
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  Evaporator Boiler
 Turbine and Generator
 Condenser and Cooling tower

Fig.7. Solar thermal power plant

Solar pond: The solar energy coming from the sun is firstly absorbed by the solar pond. Solar pond is a
reservoir of water where sun‘s rays directly focus by using solar energy collectors. After that, solar energy
increases the internal energy and raises the temperature of solar pond. The fluid in the solar pond may be
directly used as the working fluid if its temperature reaches up to evaporating temperature or other way is to
use a secondary fluid known as working fluid. The fluid from the solar pond goes into cyclic process. The
detailed operation of solar pond is as follows.
Solar pond, also called solar salt pond‘, is an artificially designed pond, filled with salty water,
maintaining a definite concentration gradient. It combines solar energy radiation and sensible heat storage,
and as such, it is utilised for collecting and storing solar energy. A solar pond reduces the convective and
evaporative heat losses by reversing the temperature gradient with the help of non-uniform vertical
concentration of salts.
The vertical configuration of ―salt gradient solar pond‖ normally consists of the following
three
zones:
1. Surface (homogeneous) convective zone (SCZ)‖- It is adjacent to the surface and serves as a buffer
zone between environmental fluctuations at the surface and conductive heat transport from the layer
below. It is about 10 to 20 cm thick with a low uniform concentration at nearly the ambient air
temperature.
2. ―Lower connective zone (LCZ)‖- It is at the bottom of the pond and this is the layer with highest
salt concentration, where high temperatures are built up.
3. ―Concentration/Intermediate gradient zone (CGZ)‖- This zone keeps the two convective zones
(SCZ and LCZ) apart and gives the solar pond its unique thermal performance. It provides excellent
insulation for the storage layer, while transmitting the solar radiation. To maintain a solar pond in this
non- equilibrium stationary state it is necessary to replace the amount of salt that is transported by
molecular
SCG whilst brine is removed. The brine can be recycled, divided into water and salt (by solar
distillation) and returned to the pond.
The major heat loss occurs from the surface of the solar pond. This heat loss can be prevented by
spreading a plastic grid over the pond‘s surface to prevent disturbance by the wind. Disturbed water tends to
lose heat transfer faster than when calm.

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 Fig.8. Principle of Solar Pond
Principle of Solar Pond

Due to the excessively high salt concentration of the LCZ, a plastic liner or impermeable soil must be
used to prevent infiltration into the nearby ground water or soil. The liner is a factor that increases the cost
of a solar pond. A site where the soil is naturally impermeable, such as the base of a natural pond or lake, or
can be made impermeable by compaction or other means, will allow considerably lower power costs.
The optical transmission properties and related collection efficiency vary greatly and depend on the
following factors:
i. Salt concentration.
ii. The quantity of suspended dust or other particles.
iii. Surface impurities like leaves or debris, biological material like bacteria and algae.
iv. The type of salt.
It becomes obvious that much higher efficiencies and storage can be achieved through the utilization
of refined or pure salt whenever possible, as this maximizes optical transmission.
The solar pond is an effective collector of diffuse, as well as direct radiation, and will gather useful
heat even on cloudy or overcast days. Under ideal conditions, the pond‘s absorption efficiency can reach 50%
of incoming solar radiation, although actual efficiencies average about 20% due to heat losses.

Applications of Solar Ponds:

1. Power generation.
2. Space heating and cooling.
3. Crop drying.
4. Desalination.
5. Process heat.

Limitations of Solar Ponds:

1. Sunny climate is required
2. Need for large land area.
3. Availability of salt.
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 4. Availability of water.

Solar energy collectors: Solar energy collectors are the device used for collecting the solar radiations and
focus the solar radiations at particular location to transfer the heat energy into the solar ponds or fluid.
Generally, two types of collectors are used first is non-concentrating or flat plate type solar collector which
is used for low temperature cycle and second one is concentrating or focusing type solar collector which are
used for medium and high temperature applications. Collectors make the solar energy more useful. Flat plate
collectors are very simple, the collecting area is equal to absorbing area where as focusing type collector have
several arrangements of mirrors and lenses for proper concentration of sun light. Due to this by using focus
type collectors we can capture 100 times solar radiation as compared to flat plate collector keeping the area
same. By using focusing type collector we can directly generate medium pressure steam.
Solar collectors are classified as
1. Non concentrating type
i) Flat-Plate Collectors
ii) Evacuated-Tube Collector
2. Concentrating type
i) Parabolic trough collector.
ii) Power tower receiver.
iii) Parabolic dish collector.
iv) Fresnel lens collector.

Flat-Plate Collectors
Flat-plate solar collectors are the most common ones. They consist of an absorber, a transparent
cover and insulation. The main use of the technology is usually in residential buildings where the demand
for hot water is big and affects bills. Commercial application of flat-plate collectors is usually seen in car
washes, laundromats, military laundry facilities or restaurants.
The parts of a flat plate collectors are
 Black surface - absorbent of the incident solar energy
 Glazing cover - a transparent layer that transmits radiation to the absorber, but prevents radiative and
convective heat loss from the surface
 Tubes containing heating fluid to transfer the heat from the collector
 Support structure to protect the components and hold them in place
 Insulation covering sides and bottom of the collector to reduce heat losses
Flat-plate solar collectors show a good price-performance ratio and also give a lot of mounting
options.

Fig. 9. Flat plate collectors

-Top 10 Solar Companies in India-

Adani Power, Tata Solar, Jinko Solar, Trina Solar, ACME Solar, Vikram Solar, Waaree Energies, 7
EMMVEE, Goldi Solar, Canadian Solar
 Evacuated-Tube Collector

This is a type of a vacuum collector. Its absorber strip is placed in an evacuated and pressure proof
glass tube. The heat transfer fluid flows directly the absorber into a U-tube or in a tube-in-tube system. The
heat pipe collector integrates a special fluid, which evaporates even at low temperatures, thus the steam rises
in the individual heat pipes and warms up the fluid in the main pipe, generating heat. Thermodynamic panels
are also based on such a refrigerant fluid but are exploiting the heat in the ambient air, and, therefore, are
only suitable for hot water.
The technology is very reliable as it has an estimated lifespan of 25 years. The vacuum that
surrounds the outside of the tubes greatly reduces the risk of heat loss, therefore efficiency is greater than it
is with flat-plate collectors.

Fig. 10. Evacuated-Tube Collector

Parabolic Trough Collector

 It is a line focusing type collector. In this type of collector, the solar radiations falling on the area of the
parabolic reflector are concentrated at the focus of the parabola.
 When the reflector is manufactured in the form of a trough with the parabolic cross-section, the solar
radiations gets focused along a line. An absorber pipe is placed along this line and a working fluid
(usually synthetic oil or water) flows through it.
 When the focused solar radiations fall on the absorber pipe, it heats the fluid to a high temperature.
Then the heat absorbed by the working fluid is transferred to water for producing steam.
 The focus of solar radiations changes with the change in sun‘s elevation. In order to focus the solar
radiations on the absorber pipe, either the trough or the collector pipe is rotated continuously about the
axis of the absorber pipe.

Fig.11. Parabolic Trough Collector

Power Tower Receiver

In this collector, the receiver is located at the top of the tower. It has a large number of independently-
moving flat mirrors (heliostats) spread over a large area of ground to focus the reflected solar radiations on

8
the receiver. The heliostats are installed all around the central tower. Each heliostat is rotated into two
directions so as to track the sun. The solar radiations reflected from heliostats are absorbed by the receiver
mounted on a tower of about 500 m height. The tower supports a bundle of vertical tubes containing the
working fluid. The working fluid in the absorber receiver is converted into the high-temperature steam of
about 600oC – 700oC. This steam is supplied to a conventional steam power plant coupled to an electric
generator to generate electric power.

Fig.12. Power tower receiver

Parabolic Dish Collector

 In these collectors, the receiver is placed at the focal point of the concentrator. The solar beam
radiations are focused at a point where the receiver (absorber) is placed. The solar radiations are
collected in the receiver.
 A small volume of fluid is heated in the receiver to a high temperature. This heat is used to run a
prime mover coupled with a generator.
 A typical parabolic dish collector has a dish of 6 m diameter. This collector requires two-axis
tracking. It can yield temperatures up to 3000⁰ C.
 Due to the limitations of size and the small quantity of fluid, dish type solar collectors are suitable for
only small power generation (up to few kW).

Fig.13. Parabolic Dish Collector

Fresnel Lens Concentrating Collector
 In this collector, a Fresnel lens which consists of fine, linear grooves on the surface of refracting
material of optical quality on one side and flat on the other side is used.
 The angle of each groove is so designed that the optical behaviour of the Fresnel lens is similar to
that of a common lens.
 The solar radiations which fall normally to the lens are refracted by the lens and are focused on a line
where the absorber tube (receiver) is placed to absorb solar radiations.

9
 Fig.14. Fresnel Lens Concentrating Collector

Working Fluid: It is the fluid used in the cyclic operation. We use some other fluid as a working fluid
because sometimes solar energy is not capable to evaporate the water. We use working fluid which gains
energy from the solar pond and evaporate easily or having evaporation temperature less as compare to water.
Generally, brine or some organic fluids are used as the working fluid. After evaporation working fluid goes
through cyclic operations in turbine and then through condenser it goes again into the evaporator boiler. The
cycle is continuously repeated.
Evaporator Boiler: In this device, working fluid is kept and gains latent heat of vaporisation from the sun‘s
radiations or by solar pond. Working fluid is circulating throughout the cycle by evaporating boiler.
Turbine and Generator: Turbine and generators are the essential part of the power generation system.
Working fluid goes through the cyclic operation and runs the turbine which is connected to the generator.
Generator generates electricity which is transferred to the required location.
Condenser and cooling tower: After turbine, the working fluid goes into the condenser and cooling tower
condenses the working fluid and sends back to the evaporator boiler with the help of pump.

Working of solar power plant

The working is very simple almost similar to any thermal power plant. Solar power plant also works
on Rankine cycle and Brayton cycle as per the requirements. With the help of construction, we can easily
predict the cycle of operation and working. Working fluid gains latent heat of vaporisation from the direct
solar radiations or by means of solar ponds in the evaporator boiling and converts it into vapour form. After
that it runs the turbine which is connected to the generator. Then the turbine working fluid goes into the
condenser and loses heat and again sends back to the evaporator boiler with the help of pump. This whole
cycle repeats continuously until the sun remains in the sky and radiation falls on the earth surface.

Advantages:
 Solar power plants work on solar energy which is available in abundant on the earth surface at most
of the places.
 Solar power plants produce negligible pollution as compared to thermal power plant.
 The energy produced is renewable energy with negligible cost.
 Quantity of water used in solar power plants is very less as compare to other power plants.

Disadvantages:
 The major drawback is the availability of the sun. Sun‘s radiation of desired intensity is not available
whole day.
 For collecting the sun radiations at useful rate large area is required.
 Initial setup cost of Solar plant is quite high.

10
 Central Receiver Power Plants
Unlike linear concentrating systems (troughs), which reflect light onto a focal line, the central receiver
systems send concentrated light onto a remote central receiver. A typical example of such a system is a solar
power tower system, which consists of multiple tracking mirrors (heliostats) positioned in the field around a
main external receiver installed on a tower. Such systems are capable of reaching of much higher levels of
concentration than linear systems. Concentrated radiation is further used as heat to produce steam and convert
it to electricity (like in a regular power plant), or the generated thermal energy can be stored in a molten salt
storage.
Central receiver systems are typically large-scale plants that are usually built to power a steam cycle.
The central position of the receiver offers a universal advantage to collect all energy at one location and save
on transport networks. Central receiver systems use a field of distributed, circular array of mirrors that is,
heliostats which individually track the sun and focus the sunlight on the top of a tower. By concentrating the
sunlight 600 – 1000 times, they achieve temperatures from 800°C to well over 1000°C. Solar energy is
absorbed by a working fluid and then used to generate steam to power a conventional turbine. The high
temperatures available in solar towers can be used not only to drive steam cycles, but also for gas turbines
and combined cycle systems. Such systems can achieve up to 35% peak and 25% annual solar electric
efficiency when coupled to a combined cycle power plant.

Fig.15. Operation of Central Receiver

Power Plants Major sub-components of central receiver system
 Heliostat field: The heliostat field comprises a large heliostat, structure, and control/tracking. The
heliostat typically utilizes a mirror, which can be oriented throughout the day to redirect sunlight
along a fixed axis toward a stationary target or receiver. The reflecting element of a heliostat is
typically a thin, back (second) surface, low-iron glass mirror. This heliostat is composed of several
mirror module panels rather than a single large mirror. The thin glass mirrors are supported by a
substrate backing to form a slightly concave mirror surface. Individual panels on the heliostat are
also canted toward a point on the receiver. The heliostat focal length is approximately equal to the
distance from the receiver to the farthest heliostat. Subsequent tuning of the closer mirrors is
possible.
 Storage: Central tower based systems typically use Molten salt, hot concrete storage, phase change
materials, saturated steam or pressurized air as storage media.
o Nitrate salt mixtures can be used as both a heat transfer fluid and a storage medium at
temperatures of up to 565°C. However, most mixtures currently being considered freeze at
temperatures around 140 to 220°C and thus must be heated when the system is shutdown.
They have a good storage potential because of their high volumetric heat capacity.
o Liquid sodium can also be used as both a heat transfer fluid and storage medium, with a
maximum operating temperature of 600°C. Because sodium is liquid at this temperature, its
11
 vapour pressure is low. However, it solidifies at 98°C thereby requiring heating on
shutdown. The cost of sodium-based systems is higher than the nitrate salt systems.
o For high-temperature applications such as Brayton cycles, it is proposed to use air or helium
as the heat transfer fluid. Operating temperatures of around 850°C at 12 atm pressure are
being proposed. Although the cost of these gases would be low, they cannot be used for
storage and require very large diameter piping to transport them through the system.
 Receivers/absorber and power block: This includes the receivers, absorbers including heat
collection elements, and Power Block. The receiver, placed at the top of a tower, is located at a point
where reflected energy from the heliostats can be intercepted most efficiently. The receiver absorbs
the energy being reflected from the heliostat field and transfers it into a heat transfer fluid. There are
two basic types of receivers: external and cavity.
o External Receivers. These normally consist of panels of many small (20-56 mm) vertical
tubes welded side by side to approximate a cylinder. The bottoms and tops of the vertical
tubes are connected to headers that supply heat transfer fluid to the bottom of each tube and
collect the heated fluid from the top of the tubes.
o Cavity Receivers. In an attempt to reduce heat loss from the receiver, some designs propose
to place the flux absorbing surface inside of an insulated cavity, thereby reducing the
convective heat losses from the absorber. The flux from the heliostat field is reflected through
an aperture onto absorbing surfaces forming the walls of the cavity. Typical designs have an
aperture area of about one-third to one-half of the internal absorbing surface area. Cavity
receivers are limited to an acceptance angle of 60 to 120 degrees. Therefore, either multiple
cavities are placed adjacent to each other, or the heliostat field is limited to the view of the
cavity aperture.
The solar field which consists of solar collectors, balance of system and tracking constitutes 36% of
the cost followed by the power block at 24% which comprises the turbine, generator, heat exchangers etc.
The receiver is also a major component of this technology comprising 15% of the cost.

Thermal Energy storage system with PCM

Phase change materials (PCMs) are materials that undergo the solid-liquid phase transformation, more
commonly known as the melting-solidification cycle, at a temperature within the operating range of a
selected thermal application. As a material changes phase from a solid to a liquid, it absorbs energy from its
surroundings while remaining at a constant or nearly constant temperature. The energy that is absorbed by the
material acts to increase the energy of the constituent atoms or molecules, increasing their vibrational state.
At the melt temperature the atomic bonds loosen and the materials transitions from a solid to a liquid.
Solidification is the reverse of this process, during which the material transfers energy to its
surroundings and the molecules lose energy and order themselves into their solid phase. This can be seen in
Fig. 16.a. The energy that is either absorbed or released during the melting-solidification cycle is known as
the latent heat of fusion. Latent heat is unique in that it is heat that is absorbed into a material without the
material itself increasing in temperature.

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 Fig. 16.a. The melting solidification process b. Standard heating curve

It is easy to picture this process by considering the melting of an ice cube. You can heat the ice cube
by exposing it to ambient room temperature conditions, by heating it with a hair dryer, or by blasting it with
a blow torch, but no matter how much heat flux is supplied to it, that ice cube will not increase in temperature
until the melting process is complete. The latent heat absorbed during the melting process is referred to as the
latent heat of fusion, in order to distinguish it from the other form of latent heat, the latent heat of
vaporization, which characterizes the change in phase from a liquid to a gas. In contrast to latent heat, which
does not increase the temperature of a material, sensible heat is that heat which does result in a change in
temperature within the material.
A standard continuous heating process may begin with a subcooled solid, which is heated to the
melting point through sensible heating. As the heating process continues the solid transitions to a liquid
through the latent of heat fusion, and sensible heat then increases its temperature to the boiling point. Once
the boiling point is reached, the liquid transitions to a vapour through the latent heat of vaporization until the
phase change process is complete. Any additional heating is now in the form of sensible heat which acts to
superheat the vapour. It can be seen in Fig. 16.b that the latent heat of vaporization is a higher energy process
than the latent heat of fusion.
It is true that in general that the boiling/condensation process absorbs/and releases more energy, but
the density change from a liquid to a vapour is large, and working with boilers and condensers often requires
a significant amount of support equipment which is not always convenient. There are of course many
applications for boiling heat transfer, but here we will concentrate on the applications for which a solid-
liquid phase change process is most advantageous. The amount of energy absorption or release during the
melting-solidification cycle is governed by the value of that material‘s latent heat of fusion. The latent heat
of fusion is commonly expressed in units of J/g or kJ/kg. Thus the process is a mass-based process. The
amount of energy absorbed by the material during melting depends solely on the mass of material present in
the design.

Advantages of PCMs
 The use of PCMs for transient thermal management has the advantage of maintaining a constant
system temperature throughout the melt process regardless of applied heat flux.
 PCMs are lightweight, portable and highly reliable depending only on the characteristics of the
material itself, and do not depend on an external flow source such as a fan or pump.
 The main options available for thermal energy storage include sensible heat storage and
thermochemical storage.
 Latent heat storage has a much higher energy density than sensible heat storage, resulting in less
required material mass and/or smaller storage tank volumes.
 Latent heat storage systems are also easier to work with than thermochemical storage.
 The solid-liquid transition results in only a small density change, resulting in smaller system size and
less support equipment than when attempting to store thermal energy for long term use through the
liquid vapour phase change process.
Limitations
PCMs, however, are far from perfect solutions. The detriment most commonly cited to their greater
utilization is that many PCMs do not have high thermal conductivities or diffusivities, preventing rapid
system transients.
Application of PCM in Concentrating Solar Power Plants
The use of phase change materials for thermal energy storage (TES) in solar applications can extend
the usefulness of the technology so that benefits can be provided even where there is low or no direct
13
insolation. Commercial solar power plants are designed using the concept of Concentrating Solar Power
(CSP). In these plants, sunlight is reflected and concentrated using mirrors and then used to heat a carrier
fluid. An example of parabolic trough technology is shown in Fig. 17. In this image, the thermal receiver is
supported above the concentrating mirrors. The receiver is a black pipe encased in a vacuum tube to reduce
convective losses.
A high temperature, high pressure heat transfer fluid (HTF) circulates through the receiver pipes.
Depending on the design of the system, the HTF fluid may serve as the heat source in an evaporator,
creating steam which powers a stream turbine which drives a generator, or the HTF may directly vaporize as
it passes through the solar field and then pass straight through the turbine without an intermediate heat
exchanger (known as Direct Steam Generation—DSG). In either design, during periods of high insolation, it
is possible to absorb more solar thermal energy into the HTF than is necessary to power the turbine. This
―excess‖ solar thermal energy can be stored using sensible or latent heat in storage tanks as shown in Fig.
17.

Fig. 17. Direct steam generation concentrating solar power plant with thermal energy storage

In the two-tank molten system a heat exchanger is located between the two tanks with the HTF
flowing on one side of the exchanger and the storage medium (molten salt) on the other side. During the
energy storage cycle, some of the HTF from the solar is diverted to this exchanger where it transfers energy
to the molten salt. In this case, the salt flow originates in the ―cold‖ tank and flows through the
heat
exchanger where it absorbs solar thermal energy and then into the ―hot‖ tank where it is stored. During the
energy discharge cycle, the HTF and molten salt flow paths are reversed.
The salt gives up its energy to the HTF as it moves from the hot tank through the heat exchanger into
the cold tank, and the now hot HTF is used in the power cycle. While these systems have seen success, there
is significant cost inherent in using two storage tanks, and the energy density of these storage systems is low
as the salt remains in the liquid phase at all times. The use of PCMs in these applications can thus reduce tank
number (to one), size and installation costs, creating an economic benefit. Molten salts are commonly used in
these applications because of their high operating points. These materials have melting points from around
300 °C to over 800 °C. The HTF in parabolic trough and linear Fresnel system can reach around 300–400 °C
in the receiver, while heliostats receivers can operate in excess of 2000 °C. Salts are well suited for these
operational ranges, but suffer from a few drawbacks including high corrosiveness and low thermal
conductivity. The primary issue with low thermal conductivity is the need for quick charge and discharge of
energy as the HTF flows through the storage medium. In a few cases, liquid metal alloys may be used instead
of molten salts.
14
 The PCM used in the Rankine cycle system was 60 % NaNO3/40 % KNO3, known as solar salt while
the PCM used with the s-CO2 power cycle was KCl/MgCl2. The typical PCMs used in these applications are
inorganic salts which melt in the range from 300–800 °C. These PCMs tend to be corrosive and have low
thermal conductivities but it was shown that this can be offset with the use of embedded heat pipes or
thermosyphons. In certain applications liquid metals may be used instead.
Domestic Solar Applications
While the large CSP plants certainly have significant technical and economic incentives to
implement PCM thermal energy storage systems, smaller scale solar systems can also reap some benefits
from TES. For example, solar thermal systems can be used by small businesses and homes for hot water
production and for heating systems. A small scale solar hot water system with energy storage can be seen in
Fig. 18. These systems feature a flat plate solar collector, typically mounted on the roof, which features a heat
transfer fluid passing through the receiver tubes.
The receiver tubes are isolated within an enclosure with a glass cover plate. The enclosure may be
evacuated to prevent convective losses. In many ways this is similar to the CSP solar field, but without the
concentrators. The lack of concentrators means that the HTF will not reach the high temperatures
characteristic of CSP. As such the fluid can‘t be used to create vapour and drive a power system, but is hot
enough to provide the heat source for a domestic hot water tank. As with CSP, the effectiveness of the system
is limited to daylight hours, but the solar thermal system can be designed to store extra heat using PCM in the
storage tanks for the overnight hours, greatly reducing dependence on supplemental natural gas or electrical
heating.

Fig.18. Domestic solar hot water heating system with PCM thermal storage

Solar water heating systems include storage tanks and solar collectors. There are two types of solar water
heating systems: active, which have circulating pumps and controls, and passive, which don't.

Active Solar Water Heating Systems

There are two types of active solar water heating systems:

 Direct circulation systems

Pumps circulate household water through the collectors and into the home. They work well in climates
where it rarely freezes.
o Indirect circulation systems
Pumps circulate a non-freezing, heat-transfer fluid through the collectors and a heat exchanger. This
heats the water that then flows into the home. They are popular in climates prone to freezing

15
 temperatures.

Passive Solar Water Heating Systems

Passive solar water heating systems are typically less expensive than active systems, but they're usually not as
efficient. However, passive systems can be more reliable and may last longer. There are two basic types of
passive systems:

 Integral collector-storage passive systems

These consist of a storage tank covered with a transparent material to allow the sun to heat the water.
Water from the tank then flows into the plumbing system. These work best in areas where temperatures
rarely fall below freezing. They also work well in households with significant daytime and evening hot-
water needs.
 Thermosyphon systems
Water is heated in a collector on the roof and then flows through the plumbing system when a hot water
faucet is opened. The majority of these systems have a 40 gallon capacity.

Storage Tanks and Solar Collectors

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Most solar water heaters require a well-insulated storage tank. Solar storage tanks have an additional outlet and
inlet connected to and from the collector. In two-tank systems, the solar water heater preheats water before it
enters the conventional water heater. In one-tank systems, the back-up heater is combined with the solar storage
in one tank.

Three types of solar collectors are used for residential applications:

 Flat-plate collector
Glazed flat-plate collectors are insulated, weatherproofed boxes that contain a dark absorber plate under
one or more glass or plastic (polymer) covers. Unglazed flat-plate collectors -- typically used for solar
pool heating -- have a dark absorber plate, made of metal or polymer, without a cover or enclosure.
 Integral collector-storage systems
Also known as ICS or batch systems, they feature one or more black tanks or tubes in an insulated,
glazed box. Cold water first passes through the solar collector, which preheats the water. The water then
continues on to the conventional backup water heater, providing a reliable source of hot water. They
should be installed only in mild-freeze climates because the outdoor pipes could freeze in severe, cold
weather.
 Evacuated-tube solar collectors
They feature parallel rows of transparent glass tubes. Each tube contains a glass outer tube and metal
absorber tube attached to a fin. The fin's coating absorbs solar energy but inhibits radiative heat loss.
These collectors are used more frequently for U.S. commercial applications.

Solar water heating systems almost always require a backup system for cloudy days and times of increased
demand. Conventional storage water heaters usually provide backup and may already be part of the solar
system package. A backup system may also be part of the solar collector, such as rooftop tanks with thermo
syphon systems. Since an integral-collector storage system already stores hot water in addition to collecting
solar heat, it may be packaged with a tankless or demand-type water heater for backup.

Selecting a Solar Water Heater

Before you purchase and install a solar water heating system, you want to do the following:

 Estimate the cost and energy efficiency of a solar water heating system
 Evaluate your site's solar resource
 Determine the correct system size
 Investigate local codes, covenants, and regulations.

Also understand the various components needed for solar water heating systems, including the following:

 Heat exchangers for solar water heating systems

 Heat-transfer fluids for solar water heating systems

Installing and Maintaining the System Image

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The proper installation of solar water heaters depends on many factors. These factors include solar resource,
climate, local building code requirements, and safety issues; therefore, it's best to have a qualified solar thermal
systems contractor install your system.After installation, properly maintaining your system will keep it running
smoothly. Passive systems don't require much maintenance. For active systems, discuss the maintenance
requirements with your system provider, and consult the system's owner's manual. Plumbing and other
conventional water heating components require the same maintenance as conventional systems. Glazing may
need to be cleaned in dry climates where rainwater doesn't provide a natural rinse.

Regular maintenance on simple systems can be as infrequent as every 3–5 years, preferably by a solar
contractor. Systems with electrical components usually require a replacement part or two after 10 years. Learn
more about solar water heating system maintenance and repair

Solar Cooling

Solar cooling is a system that converts heat from the sun into cooling that can be used for refrigeration and air
conditioning. A solar cooling system collects solar power and uses it in a thermally driven cooling process
which is in turn used to decrease and control the temperature for purposes like generating chilled water or
conditioning air for a building.

There are many different cooling cycle techniques using various different principals to function. Three of the
most popular techniques include:

 absorption cycles
 desiccant cycles
 solar mechanical cycles
How solar cooling works

Regardless of the technique being used, a solar cooling system typically includes three core
components:

A solar collector, such as a solar panel, which is used to convert solar radiation into heat or mechanical work.

A refrigeration or air conditioning plant that is used to produce the cooling.

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A heat sink that collects any rejected heat and radiates it away from the system.

While techniques used to achieve solar cooling vary, the end goal remains the same: utilize an external heat
source, like a solar panel, to collect ambient temperature and then use that heat with a refrigerant to create
pressure within a closed loop of refrigerant, thus enabling the solar cooling system to work.

A refrigerant is a substance or mixture that absorbs heat from the environment and can create refrigeration or
air conditioning if it is combined with the other necessary components, like compressors and evaporators. In
most cooling cycles, the refrigerant will transition from the liquid phase to the gas phase and then back again to
achieve its cooling purpose.

In absorption cycles, the cooling process relies on the evaporative cooling of a refrigerant. Since vaporization
requires energy input, the process takes heat from the system, leaving the remaining fluid cooler than before.
Absorption cycles complete pressurization by dissolving a refrigerant in an absorbent, or something that soaks
up liquid easily, instead of using a mechanical compressor.

Absorption cooling cycles possess four specific, major components: an absorber, a generator, a condenser and
an evaporator. The evaporator is, essentially, the refrigeration or air conditioning plant used in all cooling
systems since it is where the cooling occurs.

In an absorption cycle, the cooling process progresses as follows:

The absorber holds an absorbent-refrigerant mixture that is delivered to the generator through a liquid pump.

The generator takes the absorbent-refrigerant mixture and heats it up using the external solar energy that has
been collected through a source such as a solar panel. The solution starts to boil in reaction to the heat, turning
water into vapor which flows to the condenser.

The condenser liquefies the water vapor, rejecting heat in the process which is collected by the heat sink. The
new liquid condensate is then directed towards the evaporator through an expansion valve.

Finally, evaporation of the refrigerant at low pressure causes the evaporator to absorb the heat from the cooled
space, creating the cooling effect.

At the end, the vaporized refrigerant returns to the absorber and the cycle repeats. Solar power is responsible
for driving this cycle.

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Desiccant cooling systems rely on cycling dehumidification-humidification processes. It uses substances and
materials that readily attract water from their surroundings for dehumidification. These materials are known as
desiccants. The desiccants are regenerated in the cycle by applying solar power.

Desiccant cooling systems can operate with both liquid and solid desiccants. The desiccant cooling process
progresses as follows:

Desiccants absorb the water vapor and remove the moisture from the process air in the dehumidification, or
absorber, unit. A transfer results from the difference in vapor pressure, thus releasing heat due to the
condensation of water and creating a heat exchange.

The air is then introduced into the space or into an evaporative cooler for further cooling while the diluted
desiccant is sent to the regenerator. However, before the diluted desiccant can enter the regenerator, it must
pass through a liquid-liquid heat exchanger and a heating coil in order to raise its temperature.

Once in the regenerator, the heated, diluted desiccant is exposed to regenerative air, causing moisture to transfer
from the diluted solution to the air. This transfer is due to the created difference in vapor pressure.

Next, the resulting, more concentrated desiccant passes through the liquid-liquid heat exchanger once again as
well as a cooling coil and then moves back into the dehumidification unit, allowing the cycle to repeat.

The third technique, solar mechanical cycles, works very differently from the absorption and desiccant cycles.
Instead of creating an entirely new system, solar mechanical cycles attempt to combine solar powered
mechanics with conventional cooling systems. In this cycle, solar power is used to fuel the actual engine that
produces the energy used to operate the entire cooling system instead fueling the absorption chiller, like it does
in both the absorption and desiccant cycles.

Applications of solar cooling

Solar cooling is primarily intended for two main purposes: refrigerating food storage and space cooling, or air
conditioning. Solar cooling can be seen in vehicles like RVs and campers which use the system for
refrigeration. Vapor absorption refrigeration systems, which are used in industries where extremely low process
temperatures are required as well as large thermal capabilities, also display the use of solar cooling.

Perhaps the most beneficial application of solar cooling is its ability to provide cooling systems to countries that
otherwise would not be able to handle the total electric and energy cost and burden required by conventional
cooling systems. Solar cooling greatly reduces the amount of energy required to refrigerate necessities such as
vaccines and agricultural products, which, in turn, creates cost savings and benefits the environment by using
renewable energy and reducing the use of ozone depleting materials.

Challenges of solar cooling

While solar cooling has been applied in various industrial settings, domestic cooling systems often are not
economical. Domestic systems' expected high cost and low efficiency have been a major obstacle in their wider
domestic application.

Furthermore, while the long term operating costs of the system are less than those accumulated by conventional
cooling systems, the initial investment cost is much higher due to the smaller supply and expensive prices of
system components like the solar collector and storage tanks.

What is Solar Distillation?

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In the Solar distillation process solar energy is used to evaporate water and its condensate is collected within
the same closed system. Unlike other forms of water purification methods like desalination, this methodology
can be used to turn salt or brackish water into fresh drinking water. Solar still is the structure that houses the
distillation equipment. Appropedia.org explains the solar still process as: “A place where an influent solution
enters the system and the more volatile solvents leave in the effluent leaving behind the salty solute behind”.
Solar distillation differs from a more energy-intensive methodology like the reverse osmosis, or simply boiling
water due to its usage of ‘free’ and eco friendly solar energy.

Implementation
Solar water distillers find application mostly in remote areas where there is limited access to freshwater and
centralized distribution systems. In these areas technical expertise is made use of to introduce the system and
personnel in usage and maintenance of the system. An important criterion for installation of these systems is
that the area should be flat and open with good access to water and sunlight. The “roof” of the system is fitted
with a transparent glass cover tilted at an angle so as to catch maximum sunlight. Solar energy can access the
underlying still basin by penetrating through the cover. The untreated water is collected in the still basin. Solar
energy heats up this water and then evaporates and separates it from the contaminants. It is important that the
material used in still basin should be able to absorb heat. Examples of such materials are leather sheet, silicon,
reinforced plastic, or steel plate. The slanted cover funnels the condensed water into a pipe tube, which is
attached to a storage container so it can be used for drinking water

Environmental Benefits

1. This method offers a way to diversify the existing sources of fresh water so that the stress on local
sources of supply is reduced.
2. Solar is a renewable and free source of energy hence this method is a less energy intensive process.
Socioeconomic Benefits

1. The operational energy costs and installation is very low.

2. Provides safe drinking water hence alleviating water supply stress and health risks from
contaminated drinking water.

21
.

Solar Photovoltaic systems: Basic Principle of SPV conversion

A photovoltaic (PV) cell is an energy harvesting technology that converts solar energy into useful
electricity (DC) through a process called the photovoltaic effect. It is made up of semiconductor materials
such as silicon, gallium arsenide and cadmium telluride, etc. These cells vary in size ranging from about 0.5
inches to 4 inches. There are different types of PV cells which all use semiconductors to interact with
incoming photons from the Sun in order to generate an electric current.

Fig. 19 PV cell and PV Cell symbol

Photovoltaic cell concepts:

Cell Layers of a PV Cell

A photovoltaic cell is comprised of many layers of materials, each with a specific purpose. The most
important layer of a photovoltaic cell is the specially treated semiconductor layer. It is comprised of two
distinct layers of p-type and n-type, and is what actually converts the Sun's energy into useful electricity
through a process called the photovoltaic effect. On either side of the semiconductor is a layer of conducting
material which "collects" the electricity produced. Note that the backside or shaded side of the cell can afford
to be completely covered in the conductor, whereas the front or illuminated side must use the conductors
sparingly to avoid blocking too much of the Sun's radiation from reaching the semiconductor.
The final layer which is applied only to the illuminated side of the cell is the anti-reflection coating.
Since all semiconductors are naturally reflective, reflection loss can be significant. The solution is to use one
or several layers of an anti-reflection coating (similar to those used for eyeglasses and cameras) to reduce
the amount of solar radiation that is reflected off the surface of the cell.

Fig. 20. A diagram showing the photovoltaic effect.

Photovoltaic Effect

The photovoltaic effect is a process that generates voltage or electric current in a photovoltaic cell
when it is exposed to sunlight. These solar cells are composed of two different types of semiconductors—a p-
22
type and an n-type that are joined together to create a p-n junction. By joining these two types of
semiconductors, an electric field is formed in the region of the junction as electrons move to the positive p-
side and holes move to the negative n-side. This field causes negatively charged particles to move in one
direction and positively charged particles in the other direction.
Light is composed of photons, which are simply small bundles of electromagnetic radiation or energy.
When light of a suitable wavelength is incident on these cells, energy from the photon is transferred to an
electron of the semiconducting material, causing it to jump to a higher energy state known as the conduction
band. In their excited state in the conduction band, these electrons are free to move through the material, and
it is this motion of the electron that creates an electric current in the cell.

 Cell: A photovoltaic cell is the most basic unit of a solar PV system - solar cells can be either
monocrystalline or polycrystalline, and their key characteristic is that they produce a voltage output
when exposed to light. It is important to note that although they are normally called "solar cells",
they can respond to any type of light. Each cell produces approximately 1/2 a volt and a solar module
can have any number of solar cells.
 Module: A photovoltaic module consists of multiple PV cells connected in series to provide a higher
voltage output. PV modules are manufactured in standard sizes. A solar module designed for
charging a 12 volt battery will typically have 36 solar cells while the typical residential grid
connected system uses solar modules with 60 solar cells. For large commercial and utility scale solar
systems, solar modules will have typically 72 solar cells. By increasing the number of solar cells the
module voltage and wattage increases. The term solar panel is sometimes used interchangeably with
solar module. The main difference is that some solar panels models are composed of multiple
modules mounted together.
 Array: A photovoltaic array is a system composed of multiple PV modules. They can be connected
in one or more series circuits, which are connected to a combiner box to provide a single direct-
current output. This output can be used to charge batteries, power DC loads, or fed to an inverter to
provide an AC voltage for home appliances or exporting to the electric grid.

Fig.21. Cell module and array

Operation of PV Systems

Solar cells produce direct current (DC), therefore they are only used for DC equipments. If
alternating current (AC) is needed for AC equipment or backup energy is needed, solar photovoltaic systems
require other components in addition to solar modules. These components are specially designed to integrate
into solar PV system. The components of solar photovoltaic system are shown in the figure.

23
 Fig. 22. Components of Photovoltaic system

1. Solar or Photovoltaic Module is the essential component of any solar PV system that converts sunlight
directly into DC electricity.
2. Solar Charge Controller regulates voltage and current from solar arrays, charges the battery, prevents
battery from overcharging and also performs controlled over discharges.
3. Battery stores the energy produced from solar arrays for using when sunlight is not visible, night time
or other purposes.
4. Inverter is a critical component of any solar PV system that converts DC power output of solar arrays
into AC for AC appliances.
5. Lightning protection prevents electrical equipment from damages caused by lightning or induction of
high voltage surge. It is required for the large size and critical solar PV systems, which include efficient

Net metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they
add to the grid.
grounding.
Types of PV Systems
Photovoltaic power systems are generally classified according to their functional and operational
requirements, their component configurations, and how the equipment is connected to other power sources
and electrical loads. The two principle classifications are grid-connected or utility-interactive systems and
stand-alone systems. Photovoltaic systems can be designed to provide DC and/or AC power service, can
operate interconnected with or independent of the utility grid, and can be connected with other energy sources
and energy storage systems.

PV Direct System
These are the simple most type of solar PV systems, with the fewest components; the Solar Panels and
the load. Because they don‘t have batteries and are not hooked up to the grid, they only power the loads when
the sun is shining. They are appropriate for a few applications e.g. water pumping or attic ventilation fan.

Fig. 23. Direct PV System

Solar Off Grid System

Also referred to as stand-alone systems, it is designed to be independent of the power grid. Batteries
are used to store energy when the sun is not available during cloudy days or at night. This type of system
24
will require regular attention to battery electrolyte levels and terminal corrosion.
 Independence from the utility grid
 Not subject to the terms/policies of the utility company
 Rate increases, blackouts, or brownouts do not apply
 In remote areas, it is cost effective than extending a grid
 Encourages energy efficiency
 Batteries require maintenance and has limited life
 More components means more complexity
 Batteries decrease system efficiency
 It is more expensive than a grid-direct system
 When the batteries are fully charged, potential power from the PV array is not utilized
 If the PV system fails, back-up electricity is required to run load
 Most off-grid systems use a backup generator for non-sunny days. They are expensive, noisy, dirty,
and require fuel and regular maintenance

Fig. 24. Off grid solar

PV system Solar Grid Tied System without Battery backup
These are most common type of PV systems. They are also known as on-grid, grid-tied, grid-
intertied, or grid-direct systems. They generate solar electricity and route it to the loads and to the grid,
offsetting some of electricity usage. System components comprises of the PV array and inverter. Grid-
connected system is similar to regular electric powered system except that some or all of the electricity
comes from the sun. The drawback of these battery less systems is that they provide no outage protection
when the utility grid fails, these systems cannot operate.
 grid-tied-system
 Increased design flexibility because the system does not have to power all of the home‘s loads
 It is less expensive compared to stand-alone or grid-tied with battery backup systems
 It requires the least amount of maintenance
 If the system produces more than the loads need, then the extra energy is exchanged with the grid
 Grid-direct systems have a higher efficiency because batteries are not part of the system
 Higher voltage means smaller wire size
 Electricity costs are fixed for the life of your system
 There is no power to the home when the grid goes down
 Paperwork requirements for interconnection, incentives, and rebates

25
 Fig. 25. Grid tied system without battery back up
Solar Grid Tied with Battery Backup System
This type is very similar to an off-grid system in design and components, but adds the utility grid,
which reduces the need for the system to provide all the energy all the time.
 grid-tied-with-battery-backup
 Designated loads have power when the grid goes down
 If the system produces more than the home needs, then the extra energy is sold back to the utility-
not lost as in a stand-alone systems after the batteries get full on a sunny day
 Batteries require maintenance
 Requires rewiring circuits from main service panel to a separate subpanel
 More components mean more complexity
 Batteries decrease system performance because of their efficiency losses
 More expensive than a grid-direct system
 Typically only provides modest backup – usually not all of the loads are backed up
 Requires paperwork for interconnection, incentives, and rebates

Fig. 26. Gird tied solar system with battery back up

Hybrid system

Hybrid system tries to combine multiple sources of power to maximize availability of power. It may
source energy from sun, wind or diesel generator and back it up with battery.
 Multiple sources of generation allows for complementary sources and backup. For instance, when it
is sunny out the PV array will charge the battery; if it is cloudy and windy, a wind turbine can charge
the batteries.
 Array size and battery bank capacity can typically be reduced and not having to oversize for periods
of no sun
 More complex system design and installation
 Multiple power sources can increase upfront expenses

26
  Wind turbines and generators require regular maintenance.

Fig. 27. Hybrid power systems

Types of Solar Cells

There are different types of photovoltaic cells available to buy, but mainly they are manufactured
from silicon (Si). The use of silicon in the manufacture of photovoltaic cells produces the stereo typical
uniform blue coloured PV cell which we see on roof tops and the sides of buildings.
The two major types of photovoltaic cell materials used are crystalline silicon and thin film deposits,
which vary from each other in terms of light absorption efficiency, energy conversion efficiency,
manufacturing technology and cost of production. Crystalline silicon PV cells are the most common type of
photovoltaic cell in use today and are also one of the earliest successful PV devices.
The three general types of photovoltaic cells made from silicon are:
1. Mono-crystalline Silicon – also known as single-crystal silicon
2. Poly-crystalline Silicon – also known as multi-crystal silicon
3. Thin Film Silicon
Crystalline Silicon (c-Si)
This is the most common technology used to produce photovoltaic cells representing about 90% of the
market today. Crystalline photovoltaic cells are made from silicon which is first melted, and then crystallised
into ingots or casting‘s of pure silicon. Thin slices of silicon called wafers, are cut from a single crystal of
silicon (Mono-crystalline) or from a block of silicon crystals (Poly-crystalline) to make individual cells. The
conversion efficiency for these types of photovoltaic cell ranges between 10% and 20%.
Mono-crystalline Silicon is a type of photovoltaic cell material manufactured from a single-crystal
silicon structure which is uniform in shape because the entire structure is grown from the same crystal. High
purity silicon is melted in a crucible. A single-crystal silicon seed is dipped into this molten silicon and is
slowly pulled out from the liquid producing a single-crystal ingot. The ingot is then cut into very thin wafers
or slices which are then polished, doped, coated, interconnected and assembled into modules and arrays.
These types of photovoltaic cells are also widely used in photovoltaic panel construction.
Compared to non-crystalline cells, the uniform molecular structure of the silicon wafer makes it ideal
for transferring loose electrons through the material resulting in a high energy conversion efficiency. The
conversion efficiency for a mono-crystalline cell ranges between 15 to 20%.
Not only are they energy efficient, mono-crystalline photovoltaic cells are highly reliable for outdoor
power applications due to their wafer thickness. However, to make an effective PV cell, the silicon has to be
―doped‖ with other elements to make the required N-type and P-type conductive layers.
27
 Fig. 28. Monocrystalline solar panels

Poly-crystalline Silicon also known as multi-crystalline silicon, is cast to produce a silicon ingot.
The silicon molecular structure consists of several smaller groups or grains of crystals, which introduce
boundaries between them. Poly-crystalline PV cells are less energy efficient than the previous mono-
crystalline silicon PV cells because these boundaries restrict the flow of electrons through it by encouraging
the negative electrons to recombine with the positive holes reducing the power output of the cell.
The result of this means that a poly-crystalline PV cell only has an energy conversion efficiency of
between 10 to 14%. However, these types of photovoltaic cell are much less expensive to produce than the

equivalent single mono-crystalline silicon due to their lower manufacturing costs.

Fig. 29. Polycrystalline solar panels

Thin Film Solar Cell

Thin Film Solar Cells are another type of photovoltaic cell which were originally developed for space
applications with a better power-to-size and weight ratio compared to the previous crystalline silicon devices.
Thin film photovoltaics are produced by printing or spraying a thin semiconductor layer of PV material onto
a glass, metal or plastic foil substrate. By applying these materials in thin layers, the overall thickness of each
photovoltaic cell is substantially smaller than an equivalent cut crystalline cell, hence the name ―thin film‖.
As the PV materials used in these types of photovoltaic cells are sprayed directly onto a glass or metal
substrate, the manufacturing process is therefore faster are cheaper making thin film PV technology more
viable for use in a home solar system as their payback time is shorter.
However, although thin film materials have higher light absorption than equivalent crystalline
materials, thin film PV cells suffer from poor cell conversion efficiency due to their non-single crystal
structure, requiring larger sized cells. Semiconductor materials used for the thin film types of photovoltaic
cell include: Cadmium Telluride, Amorphous Silicon and Copper Indium diSelenide or CIS.

28
 Fig. 30. Thinfilm solar panels

Cadmium Telluride, (CdTe) is a poly-crystalline semiconductor material made from cadmium and
tellurium. Thin film cadmium telluride has a high light absorption level so the amount of CdTe required can
be quite minimal with less than 1.0 microns of semiconductor material is needed to effectively absorb
sunlight for the solar device to perform.
Although the process of spraying or printing the thin film is relatively easy making it cheap to
manufacture these types of photovoltaic cell, the main material, cadmium is a toxic heavy metal can pollute
the environment if the cell is damaged or broken. Another disadvantage of these types of photovoltaic cells
is that the conversion efficiency for a cadmium telluride PV cell can be low at less than 10%.

Amorphous Silicon, (a-Si) is a non-crystalline form of silicon that is widely used in calculators,
consumer electronics and solar garden products that require a small current at a low voltage. Of the different
types of photovoltaic cell available, amorphous silicon has the highest light absorption of over 40 times
higher than crystalline silicon. The advantage of this is that a much thinner layer of amorphous silicon
material is required to make a thin film PV cell reducing manufacturing costs and price.
Amorphous silicon cells have various advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, amorphous silicon
can be deposited on a variety of low cost rigid and flexible substrates such as polymers, thin metals and
plastics as well as tinted glass for building integration. However, on the minus side, two of the main
disadvantages of amorphous silicon (a-Si) is its very low conversion efficiency ranging from between 7 to
9% when new, degrading down within a few months of exposure to sunlight to less than 5%.
Copper Indium diSelenide, (CIS) is another type of poly-crystalline semiconductor material
composed of Copper, Indium and Selenium, (CuInSe2). Thin film CIS types of photovoltaic cell can produce
conversion efficiencies of nearly 10%, almost double that of amorphous silicon without suffering from the
same outdoor degradation problems due to their thicker film. Also CIS cells are one of the most light-
absorbent semiconductor compounds absorbing up to 90% of the solar spectrum.
Although Copper Indium diSelenide, CIS cells are efficient, the complexity of the formulation of the
semiconductor compound makes them difficult to manufacture and expensive. Also, Indium is a relatively
expensive material due to its limited availability with manufacturing safety issues a concern as hydrogen
selenide is an extremely toxic gas.

Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide, (CIGS) is another type of photovoltaic cell. It is basically a P-
type poly-crystalline thin film material based on the previous copper indium diselenide (CIS) semiconductor
material. The addition of small amounts of the compound Gallium (Ga) produces a photovoltaic cell with a
higher conversion efficiency of around 12% from the same amount of sunlight with an open circuit voltage of
about 0.7 volts. This is because Gallium, which is a liquid similar to mercury at room temperatures, increases
the light-absorbing band gap of the cell, which matches more closely the solar spectrum, thereby improving
its conductivity allowing electrons to freely move through the cell to the electrodes.

29
 Other Types of Photovoltaic Cell
Apart from the commonly used types of photovoltaic cell mentioned above, and which account for about
95% of the commercial market, other types of photovoltaic cell currently being developed include:
Multi junction PV Cells – These are types of photovoltaic cell designed to maximize the overall
conversion efficiency of the cell by creating a multi-layered design in which two or more PV junctions are
layered one on top of the other. The cell is made up of various semiconductor materials in thin-film form for
each individual layer.
The advantage of this is that each layer extracts energy from each photon from a particular portion of
the light spectrum that is bombarding the cell. This layering of the PV materials increases the overall
efficiency and reduces the degradation in efficiency that occurs with standard amorphous silicon cells.

Dye-Sensitive PV Cells – This type of technology is considered to be the 3rd generation of solar
cells. Instead of using solid-state PN-junction technology to convert photon energy into electrical energy, an
electrolyte, liquid, gel or solid is used to produce a photo-electrochemical PV cell. These types of
photovoltaic cells are manufactured using microscopic molecules of photosensitive dye on a nano-crystalline
or polymer film. The photon light energy being absorbed by the dye releases electrons into the conduction
band causing a flow of the electricity through the semiconductor. The advantage of a dye-sensitive nano-
crystalline photo-electrochemical photovoltaic cell is that the dye can be screen printed onto any surface
producing conversion efficiencies of around 10%.

3D Photovoltaic Cells – This type of photovoltaic cell uses a unique three-dimensional structure to
absorb the photon light energy from all directions and not just from the top as in convectional flat PV cells.
The cell uses a 3D array of miniature molecular structures which capture as much sunlight as possible
boosting its efficiency and voltage output while reducing its size, weight and complexity.

Solar panel type Advantages Disadvantages

Monocrystalline  High efficiency/performance  Higher costs
 Aesthetics
Polycrystalline  Low cost  Lower efficiency/performance
Thin-film  Portable and flexible  Lowest efficiency/performance
 Lightweight
 Aesthetics
Table: Comparison of types of Solar cells

PV Module I-V Characteristics

Solar Cell I-V Characteristic Curves show the current and voltage (I-V) characteristics of a particular
photovoltaic (PV) cell, module or array giving a detailed description of its solar energy conversion ability and
efficiency. Knowing the electrical I-V characteristics (more importantly P max) of a solar cell, or panel is
critical in determining the device‘s output performance and solar efficiency.
The main electrical characteristics of a PV cell or module are summarized in the relationship between
the current and voltage produced on a typical solar cell I-V characteristics curve. The intensity of the solar
radiation (insolation) that hits the cell controls the current (I), while the increases in the temperature of the
solar cell reduces its voltage (V).
Solar cells produce direct current (DC) electricity and current times voltage equals power, so we can
create solar cell I-V curves representing the current versus the voltage for a photovoltaic device.
Solar Cell I-V Characteristics Curves are basically a graphical representation of the operation of a
30
solar cell or module summarising the relationship between the current and voltage at the existing conditions
of irradiance and temperature. I-V curves provide the information required to configure a solar system so
that it can operate as close to its optimal peak power point (MPP) as possible.

Solar Cell I-V Characteristic Curve

Fig. 31. Solar Cell I-V Characteristic Curve

The above graph shows the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of a typical silicon PV cell operating
under normal conditions. The power delivered by a solar cell is the product of current and voltage (I × V). If
the multiplication is done, point for point, for all voltages from short-circuit to open-circuit conditions, the
power curve above is obtained for a given radiation level.
With the solar cell open-circuited, that is not connected to any load, the current will be at its minimum
(zero) and the voltage across the cell is at its maximum, known as the solar cells open circuit voltage, or Voc.
At the other extreme, when the solar cell is short circuited, that is the positive and negative leads connected
together, the voltage across the cell is at its minimum (zero) but the current flowing out of the cell reaches its
maximum, known as the solar cells short circuit current, or Isc.
Then the span of the solar cell I-V characteristics curve ranges from the short circuit current (I sc) at
zero output volts, to zero current at the full open circuit voltage (Voc). In other words, the maximum voltage
available from a cell is at open circuit, and the maximum current at closed circuit. Of course, neither of these
two conditions generates any electrical power, but there must be a point somewhere in between were the solar
cell generates maximum power.
However, there is one particular combination of current and voltage for which the power reaches its
maximum value, at Imp and Vmp. In other words, the point at which the cell generates maximum electrical
power and this is shown at the top right area of the green rectangle. This is the ―maximum power point‖ or
MPP. Therefore the ideal operation of a photovoltaic cell (or panel) is defined to be at the maximum power
point.
The maximum power point (MPP) of a solar cell is positioned near the bend in the I-V characteristics

short circuit current: Vmp ≅ (0.8–0.90)Voc and Imp ≅ (0.85–0.95)Isc. Since solar cell output voltage and
curve. The corresponding values of Vmp and Imp can be estimated from the open circuit voltage and the

current both depend on temperature, the actual output power will vary with changes in ambient temperature.
Solar Panel I-V Characteristic Curves
Photovoltaic panels can be wired or connected together in either series or parallel combinations, or
both to increase the voltage or current capacity of the solar array. If the array panels are connected together
in a series combination, then the voltage increases and if connected together in parallel then the current
increases. The electrical power in Watts, generated by these different photovoltaic combinations will still be
the product of the voltage times the current, (P = V × I). However the solar panels are connected together,
31
the upper right hand corner will always be the maximum power point (MPP) of the array.

32
 Fig. 32. Solar Panel I-V Characteristic Curves

The Electrical Characteristics of a Photovoltaic Array

The electrical characteristics of a photovoltaic array are summarised in the relationship between the
output current and voltage. The amount and intensity of solar insolation (solar irradiance) controls the amount
of output current (I), and the operating temperature of the solar cells affects the output voltage (V) of the
PV array. Solar cell I-V characteristic curves that summarise the relationship between the current and voltage
are generally provided by the panels manufacturer and are given as:

Solar Array Parameters

• VOC = open-circuit voltage: – This is the maximum voltage that the array provides when the terminals
are not connected to any load (an open circuit condition). This value is much higher than V mp which
relates to the operation of the PV array which is fixed by the load. This value depends upon the number
of PV panels connected together in series.
• ISC = short-circuit current – The maximum current provided by the PV array when the output connectors
are shorted together (a short circuit condition). This value is much higher than I mp which relates to the
normal operating circuit current.
• MPP = maximum power point – This relates to the point where the power supplied by the array that is
connected to the load (batteries, inverters) is at its maximum value, where MPP = I mp × Vmp. The
maximum power point of a photovoltaic array is measured in Watts (W) or peak Watts (Wp).
• FF = fill factor – The fill factor is the relationship between the maximum power that the array can
actually provide under normal operating conditions and the product of the open-circuit voltage times the
short-circuit current, (Voc × Isc) This fill factor value gives an idea of the quality of the array and the
closer the fill factor is to 1 (unity), the more power the array can provide. Typical values are between
0.7 and 0.8.
• % eff = percent efficiency – The efficiency of a photovoltaic array is the ratio between the maximum
electrical power that the array can produce compared to the amount of solar irradiance hitting the array.
The efficiency of a typical solar array is normally low at around 10-12%, depending on the type of cells
(monocrystalline, polycrystalline, amorphous or thin film) being used.
Photovoltaic I-V characteristics curves provide the information needed for us to configure a solar
power array so that it can operate as close as possible to its maximum peak power point. The peak power
point is measured as the PV module produces its maximum amount of power when exposed to solar
radiation equivalent to 1000 watts per square metre, 1000 W/m2 or 1kW/m2.

Efficiency & Quality of the Cell

The efficiency is the most commonly used parameter to compare the performance of one solar cell to
another. Efficiency is defined as the ratio of energy output from the solar cell to input energy from the sun.
In addition to reflecting the performance of the solar cell itself, the efficiency depends on the spectrum and
33
intensity of the incident sunlight and the temperature of the solar cell. Therefore, conditions under which
efficiency is measured must be carefully controlled in order to compare the performance of one device to
another. Terrestrial solar cells are measured under AM1.5 conditions and at a temperature of 25°C. Solar
cells intended for space use are measured under AM0 conditions.
The efficiency of a solar cell is determined as the fraction of incident power which is converted to
electricity and is defined as:
Pmax = VOC ISC FF

VOCISCFF
η=
Where, Voc is the open-circuit voltage; Pin
Isc is the short-circuit current;
FF is the fill factor and
η is the efficiency.

Factors affecting conversion efficiency

 Wavelength: The sunlight that reaches the earth's surface has wavelengths from ultraviolet, through the
visible range, to infrared. When light strikes the surface of a solar cell, some photons are reflected,
while others pass right through. Some of the absorbed photons have their energy turned into heat. The
remainder have the right amount of energy to separate electrons from their atomic bonds to produce
charge carriers and electric current.
 Recombination: It is one of the fundamental factors that limits efficiency. Indirect recombination is a
process in which the electrons or holes encounter an impurity, a defect in the crystal structure, or
interface that makes it easier for them to recombine and release their energy as heat.
 Temperature: Solar cells generally work best at low temperatures. Higher temperatures cause the
semiconductor properties to shift, resulting in a slight increase in current, but a much larger decrease in
voltage. Extreme increases in temperature can also damage the cell and other module materials, leading
to shorter operating lifetimes.
 Reflection: A cell's efficiency can be increased by minimizing the amount of light reflected away from
the cell's surface. For example, untreated silicon reflects more than 30% of incident light. Anti-
reflection coatings and textured surfaces help decrease reflection. A high-efficiency cell will appear
dark blue or black.

Quality of solar cell

The Fill Factor (FF) is essentially a measure of quality of the solar cell. It is calculated by comparing
the maximum power to the theoretical power that would be output at both the open circuit voltage and short
circuit current together. The "fill factor", more commonly known by its abbreviation "FF", is a parameter
which, in conjunction with Voc and Isc, determines the maximum power from a solar cell. The FF is defined as
the ratio of the maximum power from the solar cell to the product of V oc and Isc. A larger fill factor is
desirable, and corresponds to an I-V sweep that is more square-like. Typical fill factors range from 0.5 to
0.82.
Most solar panels are between 15% and 20% efficient, with outliers on either side of the range. High-quality
solar panels can exceed 22% efficiency in some cases (and almost reach 23%), but the majority of
photovoltaic panels available are not above 20% efficiency.

Increasing efficiency of solar cell

34
 There are ways to improve the efficiency of PV cells, all of which come with an increased cost.
 One way is to decrease the number of semiconductor impurities and crystal structure deformations.
This can be achieved through the production of monocrystalline, or "single-crystal" cells. A more
pure and uniform cell has a higher chance of interacting with incoming photons.
 Another method is to use a more efficient semiconducting material such as Gallium Arsenide.
Although it's much more rare and expensive than silicon, gallium arsenide has an optimal band-gap
of 1.4 electron volts, allowing for a higher percentage of the Sun's energy to be harnessed.
 Multiple layers of semiconductor material called p-n junctions can also be used to increase cell
efficiency. These multi-junction cells harness energy from multiple sections of the solar spectrum as
each junction has a different band gap energy.
 Efficiency can also be increased through concentrated photovoltaics. This method involves
concentrating the Sun's energy through various methods to increase the intensity of energy hitting the
solar cell.

Regulations for quality

The manufacture of photovoltaic modules is governed by several standards required by the IEC
(International Electrotechnical Commission) in order to be marketed on the international market.
These standards are as follows:
 The standard IEC 61215 (crystalline) or IEC 61646 (amorph) certifies a guarantee of quality in
terms of respect for electrical parameters and mechanical stability. The requirements of this
standard refer to the qualification of the design and approval of photovoltaic modules for land
application and for long-term use.
 The standard IEC 61730 specifically addresses the topics of prevention against electric shock,
fire hazard and bodily injury due to mechanical and environmental constraints.
 This standard, whose specificities concern the safety aspects of the modules, complements the
IEC 61215 standard, which fixes the electrical performance.
At the end of May 2019, the cumulative solar power capacity of Germany reached 47.72 GW.
Series and parallel connections
Depending on the equipment that the system uses and the size of the system, your solar installer may
decide to wire your solar panels in series, in parallel, or in a combination of the two. Here are the
fundamental differences between wiring solar panels in series vs. in parallel:

Wiring solar panels in series

When a solar installer wires your solar panels in a series, each panel is connected to the next in a
―string.‖ The total voltage of each solar panel is summed together, but the amps of electrical current stay the
same. When you wire in series, there is just a single wire leading from the roof for each string of solar panels.

Wiring solar panels in parallel

When an installer wires your solar panels in parallel, each panel‘s wires are connected to a
centralized wire leading from the roof. The amps of electrical current for each solar panel are summed
together, but the system voltage stays the same. Wiring your solar panels in parallel results in more wires
running from your solar panel system.

35
 Fig. 33. Series, parallel Series parallel connections
In theory, parallel wiring is a better option for many electrical applications because it allows for
continuous operation of the panels that are not malfunctioning. But, it is not always the best choice for all
applications. When designing your solar system, your installer might decide that series wiring is better suited
for your application or he might choose a hybrid approach by series wiring some panels and parallel wiring
others.
Maximum power point tracking
MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracking is an algorithm that is included in charge controllers used
for extracting maximum available power from PV module under certain conditions. The voltage at which
PV module can produce maximum power is called maximum power point (or peak power voltage).
Maximum power varies with solar radiation, ambient temperature and solar cell temperature.
Typical PV module produces power with maximum power voltage of around 17 V when measured at
a cell temperature of 25°C, it can drop to around 15 V on a very hot day and it can also rise to 18 V on a very
cold day.
The major principle of MPPT is to extract the maximum available power from PV module by
making them operate at the most efficient voltage (maximum power point). MPPT checks output of PV
module, compares it to battery voltage then fixes what is the best power that PV module can produce to
charge the battery and converts it to the best voltage to get maximum current into battery. It can also supply
power to a DC load, which is connected directly to the battery.
MPPT is most effective under these conditions:
 Cold weather, cloudy or hazy days: Normally, PV module works better at cold temperatures and
MPPT is utilized to extract maximum power available from them.
 When battery is deeply discharged: MPPT can extract more current and charge the battery if the state
of charge in the battery is lowers.

Fig.34. Comparison of MPPT Vs Non MPPT

36
 Conditions That Limits the Effectiveness of MPPT
The Vmp of a solar module decreases as the temperature of the module increases. In very hot weather,
the Vmp may be close or even less than battery voltage. In this situation, there will be very little or no MPPT
gain compared to traditional controllers. However, systems with modules of higher nominal voltage than the
battery bank will always have an array Vmp greater than battery voltage. Additionally, the savings in wiring
due to reduced solar current make MPPT worthwhile even in hot climates.

Applications.
 Residential Application: Use of solar energy for homes has number of advantages. The solar energy
is used in residential homes for heating the water with the help of solar heater. The photovoltaic cell
installed on the roof of the house collects the solar energy and is used to warm the water. Solar
energy can also be used to generate electricity. Batteries store energy captured in day time and
supply power throughout the day. The use of solar appliances is one of the best ways to cut the
expenditure on energy.
 Industrial Application: Sun‘s thermal energy is used in office, warehouse and industry to supply
power. Solar energy is used to power radio and TV stations. It is also used to supply power to
lighthouse and warning light for aircraft.
 Remote Application: Solar energy can be used for power generation in remotely situated places like
schools, homes, clinics and buildings. Water pumps run on solar energy in remote areas. Large scale
desalination plant also use power generated from solar energy instead of electricity.
 Transportation: Solar energy is also used for public transportation such as trolleys, buses and light-
rails.
 Pool heating: Solar heating system can be used to heat up water in pool during cold seasons.
 Solar Green Houses: A green house is a structure covered with transparent material (glass or
plastic) that acts as a solar collector and utilises solar radiant energy to grow plants. It has heating,
cooling and ventilating devices for controlling the temperature inside the green house.
 Solar Cooking: The solar cooker requires neither fuel nor attention while cooking food and there is
no pollution, no charring or overflowing of food and the most important advantage is that nutritional
value of the cooked food is very high as the vita•mins and natural tastes of the food are not
destroyed.
 Solar furnace: In a Solar furnace, high temperature is obtained by concentrating the solar radiations
onto a specimen using a number of heliostats (turn-able mirrors) ar•ranged on a sloping surface.
 Solar Drying of Agricultural and Animal Products: Solar drying, especially of fruits improves
fruit quality as the sugar concentra•tion increases on drying. Other agricultural products commonly
solar-dried are potato-chips, berseem, grains of maize and paddy, ginger, peas, pepper, cashew-nuts,
timber drying and tobacco curing. Spray drying of milk and fish drying are examples of solar dried
animal products.
 Solar-pumping: In solar pumping, the power generated by solar-energy is utilized for pumping
water for irrigation purposes.
 Solar-distillation: In arid semi and or coastal areas there is scarcity of potable water. The abundant
sunlight in these areas can be used for converting saline water into portable distilled water by the
method of solar distillation.
Solar dryers are mainly devices which make use of solar energy and tap it to dry different kinds of substances.
The concept is relatively simple as it involves converting light to heat and subsequently trapping the heat so
that it can later be subjected to food to dry it up.

The Concept Of Solar Dryer

37
Let us take a closer look at how the whole concept of how a solar dryer works.

o Energy change: the first step is to trap any light which falls on it and convert it into heat. The
presence of any black surface on the dryer is likely to push the effectiveness of the energy conversion
substantially.
o The heat trap: The next step is to trap the heat so that it could be put to use later. This is why the air
is isolated inside the dryer and separated from the one outside it. A plastic bag or a glass cover is
used to make sure that light when entered inside is unable to move outside. Due to this mechanism,
regardless of the outer weather and temperature, specific temperatures can be attained with the solar
dryer.
o Transfer of heat: the final step is to apply the convection form of the heated air over the food or the
substance which is to be dried by application of this trapped heat.

The Types Of Solar Dryer

There are ideally two different types of solar dryer namely

o Direct dryer
o Indirect dryer
The Direct Solar Dryer
This kind of device exposes the substance/food to be dried directly to sunlight. Previously, subjecting the food
to the light of the sun could also be considered as a form of direct solar drying. In recent times, the drying racks
and even the solar tents could act like the right example for direct solar drying. You will also find black
absorbing surface in use in recent times. The substance to be heated is directly placed on it.
38
 Indirect Solar Dryer
In this form of device, the black surface ends up heating the incoming air instead of directly heating the
substance which is to be dried. It is this heated air which is then passed on to the substance until it gets heated
and dried completely. Once the work is done, the heat is then moved upwards and subsequently removed with
the help of a chimney. Once again, the designs are really simple and they are open to modifications based on
the requirements and needs. The basic concepts and design of a solar dryer are easy for anyone to come up
with the desired modification. Also, one can make apt use of the solar light for heating and drying of different
products/food and thereby preserving it.

Solar pond

A solar pond is a solar energy collector, generally fairly large in size, that looks like a pond. This type of solar
energy collector uses a large, salty lake as a kind of a flat plate collector that absorbs and stores energy from
the Sun in the warm, lower layers of the pond. [1] These ponds can be natural or man-made, but generally
speaking the solar ponds that are in operation today are artificial.[2]
How they Work

The key characteristic of solar ponds that allow them to function effectively as a solar energy collector is a salt-
concentration gradient of the water. This gradient results in water that is heavily salinated collecting at the
bottom of the pond, with concentration decreasing towards the surface resulting in cool, fresh water on top of
the pond. This collection of salty water at the bottom of the lake is known as the "storage zone", while the
freshwater top layer is known as the "surface zone". The overall pond is several meters deep, with the "storage
zone" being one or two meters thick.[2]
These ponds must be clear for them to operate properly, as sunlight cannot penetrate to the bottom of the pond
if the water is murky. When sunlight is incident on these ponds, most of the incoming sunlight reaches the
bottom and thus the "storage zone" heats up. However, this newly heated water cannot rise and thus heat loss
upwards is prevented. The salty water cannot rise because it is heavier than the fresh water that is on top of the
pond, and thus the upper layer prevents convection currents from forming. Because of this, the top layer of the
pond acts as a type of insulating blanket, and the main heat loss process from the storage zone is stopped.
Without a loss of heat, the bottom of the pond is warmed to extremely high temperatures - it can reach
about 90°C.[1] If the pond is being used to generate electricity this temperature is high enough to initiate and run
an organic Rankine cycle engine.[1]

Figure 1. Diagram of a solar pond showing the temperature and saline gradient.[3]
39
It is vital that the salt concentrations and cool temperature of the top layer are maintained in order for these
ponds to work. The surface zone is mixed and kept cool by winds and heat loss by evaporation. This top zone
must also be flushed continuously with fresh water to ensure that there is no accumulation of salt in the top
layer, since the salt from the bottom layer diffuses through the saline gradient over time. [2] Additionally, a solid
salt or brine mixture must be added to the pond frequently to make up for any upwards salt loses.
Applications

The heat from solar ponds can be used in a variety of different ways. First, since the heat storing abilities of
solar ponds are so great they are ideal for use in heating and cooling buildings as they can maintain a fairly
stable temperature.[4] These ponds can also be used to generate electricity either by driving a thermo-electric
device or some organic Rankine engine cycle - simply a turbine powered by evaporating a fluid (in this case a
fluid with a lower boiling point). Finally, solar ponds can be used for desalination purposes as the low cost of
this thermal energy can be used to remove the salt from water for drinking or irrigation purposes.
Wind Power

Introduction
Wind power or wind energy is the use of wind to provide the mechanical power through wind turbines
to operate electric generators. Wind power is a sustainable and renewable energy. Wind possesses energy by
virtue of its motion. Any device capable of slowing down the mass of moving air, like a sail or propeller, can
extract part of the energy and convert it into useful work. The spinning blades, attached to a hub and a low-
speed shaft, turn along with the blades. The rotating low-speed shaft is connected to a gearbox that connects
to a high-speed shaft on the opposite side of the gearbox. This high-speed shaft connects to an electrical
generator that converts the mechanical energy from the rotation of the blades into electrical energy. The key
characteristics of a good wind power site are high average wind speed, sufficient separation from noise-
sensitive neighbours, good grid connection, good site access, No special environmental or landscape
designations. The integration of wind into grid has certain challenges like, Variability, Uncertainty, Location-
specificity, Nonsynchronous generation, Low capacity factor.

Wind Energy Basics

Wind energy is a form of solar energy. Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the
sun, variations in the earth's surface, and rotation of the earth. Mountains, bodies of water and vegetation
influence wind flow patterns. Wind speeds vary based on geography, topography and season. As a result, there
are some locations better suited for wind energy generation.
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into electricity or mechanical energy using wind
turbines. Wind turbines convert the kinetic energy in the wind into mechanical power. A generator can convert
mechanical power into electricity. Mechanical power can also be utilized directly for specific tasks such as
pumping water.
The mechanism used to convert air motion into electricity is referred to as a turbine. The power in the
wind is extracted by allowing it to blow past moving blades that exert torque on a rotor. The rotor turns the
drive shaft, which turns an electric generator. The amount of power transferred is dependent on the rotor size
and the wind speed. The types of wind power plants based on capacity are
 Utility-scale wind: Wind turbines that range in size from 100 kilowatts to several megawatts, where
the electricity is delivered to the power grid and distributed to the end user by electric utilities or
power system operators.
 Distributed or "small" wind: Single small wind turbines below 100 kilowatts that are used to
directly power a home, farm or small business and are not connected to the grid.
 Offshore wind: Wind turbines that are erected in large bodies of water, usually on the continental
shelf. Offshore wind turbines are larger than land-based turbines and can generate more power.

Windmills: People have been using windmills for centuries to grind grain, pump water, and do other work.
Windmills generate mechanical energy, but they do not generate electricity.

40
Wind Turbines: In contrast to windmills, modern wind turbines are highly evolved machines with more
than 8,000 parts that harness wind's kinetic energy and convert it into electricity.

Wind farm: Oftentimes a large number of wind turbines are built close together, which is referred to as a
wind project or wind farm. A wind farm functions as a single power plant and sends electricity to the grid.
Wind Speed – Power curve
Wind speed largely determines the amount of electricity generated by a turbine. Higher wind speeds generate
more power because stronger winds allow the blades to rotate faster. Faster rotation translates to more
mechanical power and more electrical power from the generator. The relationship between wind speed and
power for a typical wind turbine is shown in Fig 2.

Fig.4 Wind power curve

Turbines are designed to operate within a specific range of wind speeds. The limits of the range are
known as the cut-in speed and cut-out speed. The cut-in speed is the point at which the wind turbine is able
to generate power. Between the cut-in speed and the rated speed, where the maximum output is reached, the
power output will increase cubically with wind speed. For example, if wind speed doubles, the power output
will increase 8 times. This cubic relationship is what makes wind speed such an important factor for wind
power. This cubic dependence does cut out at the rated wind speed. This leads to the relatively flat part of
the curve in Fig. 4, so the cubic dependence is during the speeds below 15 m/s (54 kph).
The cut-out speed is the point at which the turbine must be shut down to avoid damage to the
equipment. The cut-in and cut-out speeds are related to the turbine design and size and are decided on prior to
construction.

Tip Speed Ratio

The Tip Speed Ratio (often known as the TSR) is of vital importance in the design of wind turbine
generators. If the rotor of the wind turbine turns too slowly, most of the wind will pass undisturbed through
the gap between the rotor blades. Alternatively if the rotor turns too quickly, the blurring blades will appear
like a solid wall to the wind. Therefore, wind turbines are designed with optimal tip speed ratios to extract as
much power out of the wind as possible. The tip speed ratio is given by dividing the speed of the tips of the
turbine blades by the speed of the wind – for example if a 20 mph wind is blowing on a wind turbine and the
tips of its blades are rotating at 80 mph, then the tip speed ration is 80/20 = 4.

Force on a wind turbine

Airflow over any surface creates two types of aerodynamic forces— drag forces, in the direction of the
airflow, and lift forces, perpendicular to the airflow. Either or both of these can be used to generate the forces
needed to rotate the blades of a wind turbine.

Drag-based wind turbine

In drag-based wind turbines, the force of the wind pushes against a surface, like an open sail. In fact,
the earliest wind turbines, dating back to ancient Persia, used this approach. The Savonius rotor is a simple

41
drag-based windmill that you can make at home. It works because the drag of the open, or concave, face of
the cylinder is greater than the drag on the closed or convex section.
Lift-based Wind Turbines
More energy can be extracted from wind using lift rather than drag, but this requires specially shaped
airfoil surfaces, like those used on airplane wings. The airfoil shape is designed to create a differential
pressure between the upper and lower surfaces, leading to a net force in the direction perpendicular to the
wind direction. Rotors of this type must be carefully oriented (the orientation is referred to as the rotor
pitch), to maintain their ability to harness the power of the wind as wind speed changes.

Types of Wind Power Plants (WPPs)

A wind power plant is simply a collection of wind turbines in one area. There are several different
types of wind power plants. The following classification is based on their construction, size and usage.

Remote Wind Power Plants

Areas which are remote but are blessed with good wind speeds and frequency need a wind turbine
which is maintenance free or low-maintenance for long periods of time (just imagine a service technician
rushing across mountains and valleys on foot or bullock-cart to repair a turbine time and again). This means
that they should have the capability of standing against all odds of climate even if they are relatively smaller
in size than their conventional counterparts. These types of turbines are known as remote wind power
turbines and are specifically designed with these objectives in view.

Cumulative installed capacity of wind power (as on 31.10.2019) in India is 37,090.03 MW.
Hybrid Wind Power Plants
Wind is not fully reliable so we cannot depend on wind alone for generation of power. The best bet
would be to combine a wind power plant with some other renewable source of energy, like solar energy.
That would be certainly a better idea and you can imagine that when there is a lot of heat, the solar
generators would do their job and when the sky is overcast and winds are blowing, the wind power plants
would take over. Such an arrangement is known as hybrid arrangement and is useful in regions where there
is a lot of heat and wind.

Grid Connected Wind Power Plants

This concept is similar to a hybrid system. The wind power plant is used in conjunction with a main
grid which supplies most of the power. The main purpose of the wind turbines is to supplement the energy
supply for the grid, whereas the main function in the hybrid system is to complement the energy supply,
hence the minor difference in the set up.

Wind Farms
As the name itself suggests, a wind farm is a collection of wind turbines which collectively power a
given area or utility harnessing the wind force in a collective manner thereby amplifying the effect of a
single unit.
These configurations are used at various locations depending on the conditions of the region and the
presence of other sources of electrical supply. An optimum mix would consist of an ingenious combination of
the various sources in the best possible manner.

Types of wind turbines

Wind turbines can be separated into two basic types determined by which way the turbine spins. Wind
turbines that rotate around a horizontal axis are more common (like a wind mill), while vertical axis wind
turbines are less frequently used (Savonius and Darrieus are the most common in the group).

1. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines (HAWT)

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 Horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWT) are the common style that most of us think of a wind turbine.
A HAWT has a similar design to a windmill, it has blades that look like a propeller that spin on the horizontal
axis

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 Fig. 5. Horizontal Axis Wind Turbines
Horizontal axis wind turbines have the main rotor shaft and electrical generator at the top of a tower,
and they must be pointed into the wind. Small turbine are pointed by a simple wind vane placed square with
the rotor (blades), while large turbines generally use a wind sensor coupled with a servo motor to turn the
turbine into the wind. Most large wind turbines have a gearbox, which turns the slow rotation of the rotor into
a faster rotation that is more suitable to drive an electrical generator.
Since a tower produces turbulence behind it, the turbine is usually pointed upwind of the tower.
Wind turbine blades are made stiff to prevent the blades from being pushed into the tower by high winds.
Additionally, the blades are placed a considerable distance in front of the tower and are sometimes tilted up
a small amount.
Downwind machines have been built, despite the problem of turbulence, because they don‘t need an
additional mechanism for keeping them in line with the wind. Additionally, in high winds the blades can be
allowed to bend which reduces their swept area and thus their wind resistance. Since turbulence leads to
fatigue failures and reliability is so important, most HAWTs are upwind machines.

Important point to remember recording HAWT are

 Lift is the main force
 Much lower cyclic stress
 95% of the existing turbines are HAWTs
 Nacelle is placed at the top of the tower
 Yaw mechanism is required

HAWT Advantage
 The tall tower base allows access to stronger wind in sites with wind shear. In some wind shear sites,
every ten meters up the wind speed can increase by 20% and the power output by 34%.
 High efficiency, since the blades always move perpendicular to the wind, receiving power through
the whole rotation.

HAWT Disadvantages
 Massive tower construction is required to support the heavy blades, gearbox, and generator.
 Components of horizontal axis wind turbine (gearbox, rotor shaft and brake assembly) being lifted
into position.
 Their height makes them obtrusively visible across large areas, disrupting the appearance of the
landscape and sometimes creating local opposition.
 Download variants suffer from fatigue and structural failure caused by turbulence when a blade
passes through the tower‘s wind shadow (for this reason, the majority of HAWTs use an upwind
design, with the rotor facing the wind in front of the tower).
 HAWTs require an additional yaw control mechanism to turn the blades toward the wind.
 HAWTs generally require a braking or yawing device in high winds to stop the turbine
from spinning and destroying or damaging itself.
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 2. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWT)
Vertical wind turbines (VAWTs), have the main rotor shaft arranged vertically .The main advantage
of this arrangement is that the wind turbine does not need to be pointed into the wind. This makes them
suitable in places where the wind direction is highly variable or has turbulent winds. With a vertical axis, the
generator and other primary components can be placed near the ground, so the tower does not need to support
it, also makes maintenance easier. The main drawback of a VAWT is that, it generally creates drag when
rotating into the wind.
It is difficult to mount vertical-axis turbines on towers, meaning they are often installed nearer to the
base on which they rest, such as the ground or a building rooftop. The wind speed is slower at a lower
altitude, so less wind energy is available for a given size turbine. Air flow near the ground and other objects
can create turbulent flow, which can introduce issues of vibration, including noise and bearing wear which
may increase the maintenance or shorten its service life. However, when a turbine is mounted on a rooftop,
the building generally redirects wind over the roof and this can double the wind speed at the turbine. If the
height of the rooftop mounted turbine tower is approximately 50% of the building height, this is near the
optimum for maximum wind energy and minimum wind turbulence.

Fig. 6. Vertical Axis Wind Turbines –Darrieus type

Important points to remember for VAWT:
 Nacelle is placed at the bottom.
 Drag is the main force
 Yaw mechanism is not required
 Lower starting torque
 Difficulty in mounting the turbine
 Unwanted fluctuations in the power output

VAWT Advantages
 No yaw mechanisms is needed
 A VAWT can be located nearer the ground, making it easier to maintain the moving parts.
 VAWTs have lower wind startup speeds than the typical HAWTs.
 VAWTs may be built at locations where taller structures are prohibited.
 VAWTs situated close to the ground can take advantage of locations where rooftops, means hilltops,
ridgelines, and passes funnel the wind and increase wind velocity.

VAWT Disadvantage
 In contrast to HAWT, all vertical axis wind turbines, and most proposed airborne wind turbine
designs, involve various types of reciprocating actions, requiring airfoil surfaces to the wind leads to
inherently lower efficiency.
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  Most VAWTs have an average decreased efficiency from a common HAWT, mainly because of the
additional drag that they have as their blades rotate into the wind. Versions that reduce drag produce
more energy, especially those that funnel wind into the collector area.
 Having rotors located close to the ground where wind speeds are lower and do not take advantage of
higher wind speeds above.
 Because VAWTs are not commonly deployed due mainly to the serious disadvantage mentioned
above, they appear novel to those not familiar with the wind industry. This has often made them the
subject of wild claims and investment scams over the last 50 years.

Tamil Nadu with 9231.77 MW of installed wind capacity is well ahead of the rest and
second positioned Gujarat which has 7203.77 MW of wind generation capacity.

VAWT
Subtypes
Darrieus
Wind
Turbine
Darrieus turbine has long, thin blades in the shape of loops connected to the top and bottom of the
axle; it is often called an ―eggbeater windmill‖ as shown in fig. 6. It is named after the French
engineer Georges Darrieus who patented the design in 1931. (It was manufactured by the US company
FLoWind which went bankrupt in 1997). The Darrieus turbine is characterized by its C-shaped rotor blades
which give it its eggbeater appearance. It is normally built with two or three blades.
Darrieus wind turbines are commonly called ―Eggbeater‖ turbines, because they look like a
giant eggbeater. They have good efficiency, but produce large torque ripple and cyclic stress on the tower,
which contributes to poor reliability. Also, they generally require some external power source, or an
additional savonius rotor, to start turning, because the starting torque is very low. The torque ripple is reduced
by using three or more blades which results in a higher solidity for the rotor. Solidity is measured by blade
area over the rotor area. Newer Darrieus type turbines are not help up by guy-wires but have an external
superstructure connected to the top bearing.
The tip speed ratio (TSR) indicates the rotating velocity of the turbines to the velocity of the wind. In
this case, the TSR has a higher value than 1, meaning that the velocity rotation here is greater than the
velocity of wind and generates less torque. This makes Darrieus turbines excellent electricity generators. The
turbine blades have to be reinforced in order to sustain the centrifugal forces generated during rotation, but
the generator itself accepts a lower amount of force than the Savorius type. A drawback to the Darrieus wind
turbines is the fact that they cannot start rotation on their own. A small motor, or another Savonius turbine,
maybe needed to initiate rotation.

Advantages
 The rotor shaft is vertical. Therefore it is possible to place the load, like a generator or a centrifugal
pump at ground level. As the generator housing is not rotating, the cable to the load is not twisted
and no brushes are requires for large twisting angles.
 The rotor can take wind from every direction.
 The visual acceptation for placing of the windmill on a building might be larger than for an
horizontal axis windmill.
 Easily integrates into buildings.

Disadvantages
 Difficult start unlike the Savonius wind turbine.
 Low efficiency.

Savonius wind turbine

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 The Savonius wind turbine is a type of vertical-axis wind turbine. It is one of the simplest wind
turbine designs. It consists of two to three ―scoops‖ that employ a drag action to convert wind energy into
torque to drive a turbine. When looked at from above in cross-section, a two scoop Savonius turbine looks
like an S-shape. Due to the curvature of the scoops, the turbine encounters less drag
when moving against the wind than with it, and this causes the spin in any wind regardless of facing.

47
 Drag type wind turbines such as the Savonius turbine are less efficient at using the wind‘s energy than
lift-type wind turbines, which are the ones commonly used in wind farms. A Savonius is a drag type turbine,
they are commonly used in cases of high reliability in many things such as ventilation and anemometers.
Because they are a drag type turbine they are less efficiency than the common HAWT. Savonius are excellent
in areas of turbulent wind and self starting.

Fig. 7. Savonius wind turbine

Advantages
 Having a vertical axis, the Savonius turbine continues to work effectively even if the wind changes
direction.
 Because the Savonius design works well even at low wind speeds, there‘s no need for a tower or
other expensive structure to hold it in place, greatly reducing the initial setup cost.
 The device is quiet, easy to build, and relatively small.
 Because the turbine is close to the ground, maintenance is easy.

Disadvantages
 The scoop system used to capture the wind‘s energy is half as efficient as a conventional turbine,
resulting in less power generation.

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Fig.8. Types of wind turbines

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 Classification of Wind Energy Conversion Systems
(1) Based on axis
(a) Horizontal axis machines
(b) Vertical axis machines
(2) According to size
(a) Small size machines (upto 2k W)
(b) Medium size machines (2 to 100k W)
(c) Large size machines (100k W and above)
i. Single generator at single site
ii. Multiple generators
(3) Types of output
(a) DC output
i. DC generator
ii. Alternator rectifier
(b) AC output
i. Variable frequency, variable or constant voltage AC.
ii. Constant frequency, variable or constant voltage AC
(4) According to the rotational speed of the area turbines
(1) Constant speed and variable pitch blades
(2) Nearly constant speed with fixed pitch blades
(3) Variable speed with fixed pitch blades
(a) Field modulated system
(b) Double output indication generator
(c) AC-DC-AC link
(d) AC commentator generator
(4) Variable speed constant frequency generating system.
(5) As per utilization of output
(a) Battery storage
(b) Direct conversion to an electro magnetic energy converter
(c) Thermal potential
(d) Inter convention with conventional electric utility guides

Mupandal wind farm in Tamilnadu with 3000 turbines and total nominal power of 1,500,000 kW
is India’s largest Onshore wind farm
Components of WPPs
There are three categories of components: mechanical, electrical, and control. The following is a
brief description of the main components:
 The tower is the physical structure that holds the wind turbine. It supports the rotor, nacelle, blades,
and other wind turbine equipment. Typical commercial wind towers are usually 50–120 m long and
they are constructed from concrete or reinforced steel.
 Blades are physical structures, which are aerodynamically optimized to help capture the maximum
power from the wind in normal operation with a wind speed in the range of about 3–15 m/s. Each
blade is usually 20m or more in length, depending on the power level.
 The nacelle is the enclosure of the wind turbine generator, gearbox and internal equipment. It
protects the turbine‘s internal components from the surrounding environment.
 The rotor is the rotating part of the wind turbine. It transfers the energy in the wind to the shaft. The
rotor hub holds the wind turbine blades while connected to the gearbox via the low-speed shaft.
 Pitch is the mechanism of adjusting the angle of attack of the rotor blades. Blades are turned in their
longitudinal axis to change the angle of attack according to the wind directions.
 The shaft is divided into two types: low and high speed. The low-speed shaft transfers mechanical
energy from the rotor to the gearbox, while the high-speed shaft transfers mechanical energy from
gearbox to generator.
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 Yaw is the horizontal moving part of the turbine. It turns clockwise or anticlockwise to face the
wind. The yaw has two main parts: the yaw motor and the yaw drive. The yaw drive keeps the rotor
facing the wind when the wind direction varies. The yaw motor is used to move the yaw.
 The brake is a mechanical part connected to the high-speed shaft in order to reduce the rotational
speed or stop the wind turbine over speeding or during emergency conditions.
 Gearbox is a mechanical component that is used to increase or decrease the rotational speed. In wind
turbines, the gearbox is used to control the rotational speed of the generator.
 The generator is the component that converts the mechanical energy from the rotor to electrical
energy. The most common electrical generators used in wind turbines are induction generators (IGs),
doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs), and permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs).
 The controller is the brain of the wind turbine. It monitors constantly the condition of the wind
turbine and controls the pitch and yaw systems to extract optimum power from the wind.
 Anemometer is a type of sensor that is used to measure the wind speed. The wind speed information
may be necessary for maximum power tracking and protection in emergency cases.
 The wind vane is a type of sensor that is used to measure the wind direction. The wind direction
information is important for the yaw control system to operate.

Fig. 9. Components of wind turbine

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 Working of WPPs (Refer Fig.10 with the following serial no)
1. Wind (moving air that contains kinetic energy) blows toward the turbine's rotor blades.
2. The rotors spin around, capturing some of the kinetic energy from the wind, and turning the central
drive shaft that supports them. Although the outer edges of the rotor blades move very fast, the
central axle (drive shaft) turns quite slowly.
3. In most large modern turbines, the rotor blades can swivel on the hub at the front so they meet the
wind at the best angle (or "pitch") for harvesting energy. This is called the pitch control mechanism.
On big turbines, small electric motors or hydraulic rams swivel the blades back and forth under
precise electronic control. On smaller turbines, the pitch control is often completely mechanical.
However, many turbines have fixed rotors and no pitch control at all.
4. Inside the nacelle (the main body of the turbine sitting on top of the tower and behind the blades), the
gearbox converts the low-speed rotation of the drive shaft (perhaps, 16 revolutions per minute, rpm)
into high-speed (perhaps, 1600 rpm) rotation fast enough to drive the generator efficiently.
5. The generator, immediately behind the gearbox, takes kinetic energy from the spinning drive shaft
and turns it into electrical energy. Running at maximum capacity, a typical 2MW turbine generator
will produce 2 million watts of power at about 700 volts.
6. Anemometers (automatic speed measuring devices) and wind vanes on the back of the nacelle
provide measurements of the wind speed and direction.
7. Using these measurements, the entire top part of the turbine (the rotors and nacelle) can be rotated by
a yaw motor, mounted between the nacelle and the tower, so it faces directly into the oncoming wind
and captures the maximum amount of energy. If it is too windy or turbulent, brakes are applied to
stop the rotors from turning (for safety reasons). The brakes are also applied during routine
maintenance.
8. The electric current produced by the generator flows through a cable running down through the
inside of the turbine tower.
9. A step-up transformer converts the electricity to about 50 times higher voltage so it can be
transmitted efficiently to the power grid (or to nearby buildings or communities). If the electricity is
flowing to the grid, it is converted to an even higher voltage by a substation nearby.
10. The consumer enjoy clean, green energy: the turbine has produced no greenhouse gas emissions or
pollution as it operates.
11. Wind carries on blowing past the turbine, but with less speed and energy and more turbulence (since
the turbine has disrupted its flow).

Fig. 10. Working of wind power plant

Pitch control and yaw control
Suzlon Energy Limited, Regen Powertech private limited, Inox Wind limited, Orient Green Power
Limited, Vestas India, Enercon India Pvt limited, Gamesa wind turbines private limited.

Different control methods are used either to optimize or limit power output. You can control a turbine
by controlling the generator speed, blade angle adjustment and rotation of the entire wind turbine. Blade
angle adjustment and turbine rotation are also known as pitch and yaw control, respectively.
52
 The purpose of pitch control is to maintain the optimum blade angle to achieve certain rotor speeds
or power output. You can use pitch adjustment to stall and furl, two methods of pitch control. By stalling a
wind turbine, you increase the angle of attack, which causes the flat side of the blade to face further into the
wind. Furling decreases the angle of attack, causing the edge of the blade to face the oncoming wind. Pitch
angle adjustment is the most effective way to limit output power by changing aerodynamic force on the
blade at high wind speeds. This maintains the turbine‘s safety in the event of high winds, loss of electrical
load, or other catastrophic events.

Fig. 11. Pitch control

Yaw refers to the rotation of the entire wind turbine in the horizontal axis. Yaw control ensures that
the turbine is constantly facing into the wind to maximize the effective rotor area and, as a result, power.
Because wind direction can vary quickly, the turbine may misalign with the oncoming wind and cause
power output losses.

Fig. 12. Yaw control

Stall control

(Passive) stall controlled wind turbines have the rotor blades bolted onto the hub at a fixed angle. The
geometry of the rotor blade profile, however has been aerodynamically designed to ensure that the moment
the wind speed becomes too high, it creates turbulence on the side of the rotor blade which is not facing the
wind. This stall prevents the lifting force of the rotor blade from acting on the rotor. In other words, as the
actual wind speed in the area increases, the angle of attack of the rotor blade will increase, until at some
point it starts to stall.
If you look closely at a rotor blade for a stall controlled wind turbine you will notice that the blade is
twisted slightly as you move along its longitudinal axis. This is partly done in order to ensure that the rotor
blade stalls gradually rather than abruptly when the wind speed reaches its critical value (other reasons for
twisting the blade are mentioned in the previous section on aerodynamics).
The basic advantage of stall control is that one avoids moving parts in the rotor itself, and a complex
control system. On the other hand, stall control represents a very complex aerodynamic design problem, and
related design challenges in the structural dynamics of the whole wind turbine, e.g. to avoid stall-induced
vibrations. Around two thirds of the wind turbines currently being installed in the world are stall controlled
53
machines.

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 Siting of WPPs
The power available in the wind increases rapidly with the speed, hence wind energy conversion
machines should be located preferable in areas where the winds are strong and persistent. Although daily
winds at a given site may be highly variable, the monthly and especially annual average are remarkably
constant from year to year.
The major contribution to the wind power available at a given site is actually made by winds with
speeds above the average. Nevertheless, the most suitable sites for wind turbines would be found in areas
where the annual average wind speeds are known to be moderately high or high.
The site choice for a single or a spatial array of WECS is an important matter when wind electrics is looked
at from the systems point of view of aero turbine generators feeding power into a conventional electric grid. If
the WECS sites are wrongly or poorly chosen the net wind electrics generated energy per year may be sub
optimal with resulting high capital cost for the WECS apparatus, high costs for wind generated electric
energy, and low Returns on Investment. Even if the WECS is to be a small generator not tied to the electric
grid, the siting must be carefully chosen if inordinately long break even times are to be avoided. Technical,
economic, environmental, social and other factors are examined before a decision is made to erect a
generating plant on a specific site. Some of the main site selection consideration are given below:
1. High annual average wind speed
2. Availability of anemometry data
3. Availability of wind V(t) Curve at the proposed site
4. Wind structure at the proposed site
5. Altitude of the proposed site
6. Terrain and its aerodynamic
7. Local Ecology
8. Distance to road or railways
9. Nearness of site to local centre/users
10. Nature of ground
11. Favourable land cost
1. High annual average wind speed: The speed generated by the wind mill depends on cubic values of
velocity of wind, the small increases in velocity markedly affect the power in the wind. For example,
Doubling the velocity, increases power by a factor of 8. It is obviously desirable to select a site for
WECS with high wind velocity. Thus a high average wind velocity is the principle fundamental
parameter of concern in initially appraising WESCS site. For more detailed estimate value, one would
like to have the average of the velocity cubed.
2. Availability of anemometry data: It is another improvement sitting factor. The anemometry data
should be available over some time period at the precise spot where any proposed WECS is to be built
and that this should be accomplished before a sitting decision is made.
3. Availability of wind V(t) Curve at the proposed site: This important curve determines the maximum
energy in the wind and hence is the principle initially controlling factor in predicting the electrical
output and hence revenue return o the WECS machines.
It is desirable to have average wind speed ‗V‘ such that V>=12-16 km/hr (3.5 – 4.5 m/sec) which is
about the lower limit at which present large scale WECS generators ‗cut in‘ i.e., start turning. The V(t)
Curve also determines the reliability of the delivered WECS generator power, for if the V(t) curve goes
to zero there be no generated power during that time.
If there are long periods of calm the WECS reliability will be lower than if the calm periods are short. In
making such reliability estimates it is desirable to have measured V(t) Curve over about a 5 year period
for the highest confidence level in the reliability estimate.
4. Wind structure at the proposed site: The ideal case for the WECS would be a site such that the V(t)
Curve was flat, i.e., a smooth steady wind that blows all the time; but a typical site is always less than
ideal. Wind specially near the ground is turbulent and gusty, and changes rapidly in direction and in
velocity. This departure from homogeneous flow is collectively referred to as ―the structure of
the wind‖.
5. Altitude of the proposed site: It affects the air density and thus the power in the wind and hence the
useful WECS electric power output. Also, as is well known, the wind tend to have higher velocities at

55
 higher altitudes. One must be carefully to distinguish altitude from height above ground. They are not
the same except for a sea level WECS site.
6. Terrain and its aerodynamic: One should know about terrain of the site to be chosen. If the WECS is
to be placed near the top but not on the top of a not too blunt hill facing the prevailing wind, then it may
be possible to obtain a ‗speed-up‘ of the wind velocity over what it would otherwise be. Also the wind
here may not flow horizontal making it necessary to tip the axis of the rotor so that the aeroturbine is
always perpendicular to the actual wind flow.
It may be possible to make use of hills or mountains which channel the prevailing wind into a pass
region, thereby obtaining higher wind power.
7. Local Ecology: If the surface is base rock it may mean lower hub height hence lower structure cost. If
trees or grass or vegetation are present, all of which tend to destructure the wind, the higher hub heights
will be needed resulting in larges system costs that the bare ground case.
8. Distance to road or railways: This is another factor the system engineer must consider for heavy
machinery, structure, materials, blades and other apparatus will have to be moved into any choosen
WECS site.
9. Nearness of site to local centre/users: This obvious criterion minimizes transmission line length and
hence losses and cost. After applying all the previous string criteria, hopefully as one narrows the
proposed WECS sites to one or two they would be relatively near to the user of the generated electric
energy.
10. Nature of ground: Ground condition should be such that the foundation for a WECS are secured.
Ground surface should be stable. Erosion problem should not be there, as it could possibly later wash
out the foundation of a WECS, destroying the whole system.
11. Favourable land cost: Land cost should be favourable as this along with other siting costs, enters into
the total WECS system cost.
12. Other conditions such as icing problem, salt spray or blowing dust should not present at the site,
as they may affect aeroturbine blades or environmental is generally adverse to machinery and electrical
apparatus.

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