By : Swapan Bhattacharyya
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Unlike fossil fuel based technologies, solar power does not lead to any harmful emissions during operation, but the production of the panels leads to some amount of pollution. This is often referred to as the energy input to output ratio. In some analysis, if the energy input to produce it is higher than the output it produces it can be considered environmentally more harmful than beneficial. Also, placement of photovoltaics affects the environment. If they are located where photosynthesizing plants would normally grow, they simply substitute one potentially renewable resource (biomass) for another. It should be noted, however, that the biomass cycle converts solar radiation energy to chemical energy ( with significantly less efficiency than photovoltaic cells alone). And if they are placed on the sides of buildings (such as in Manchester) or fences, or rooftops (as long as plants would not normally be placed there), or in the desert they are purely additive to the renewable power base.
GREENHOUSE GASES
Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions are now in the range of 25-32 g/kWh and this could decrease to 15 g/kWh in the future. For comparison, a combined cycle gas-fired power plant emits some 400 g/kWh and a coal-fired power plant 915 g/kWh and with carbon capture and storage some 200 g/kWh. Only nuclear power and wind are better, emitting 6-25 g/kWh and 11 g/kWh on average.
ENERGY FROM SUN
The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of solar light at the Earth’s surface is mostly spread across the visible and near-infrared ranges with a small part in the near-ultraviolet.
Earth’s land surface, oceans and atmosphere absorb solar radiation, and this raises their temperature. Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises, causing atmospheric circulation or convection. When the air reaches a high altitude, where the temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the earth’s surface, completing the water cycle. The latent heat of water condensation amplifies convection, producing atmospheric phenomena such as wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones. Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14°C. By photosynthesis green plants convert solar energy into chemical energy, which produces food, wood and the biomass from which fossil fuels are derived.
THEORY OF ENERGY CONVERSION
Simple Explanation
- Photons in sunlight hit the solar panel and are absorbed by semiconducting materials, such as silicon.
- Electrons (negatively charged) are knocked loose from their atoms, allowing them to flow through the material to produce electricity. Due to the special composition of solar cells, the electrons are only allowed to move in a single direction. The complementary positive charges that are also created (like bubbles) are called holes and flow in the direction opposite of the electrons in a silicon solar panel.
- An array of solar cells converts solar energy into a usable amount of direct current (DC) electricity.
When a photon is absorbed, its energy is given to an electron in the crystal lattice. Usually this electron is in the valence band, and is tightly bound in covalent bonds between neighboring atoms, and hence unable to move far. The energy given to it by the photon “excites” it into the conduction band, where it is free to move around within the semiconductor. The covalent bond that the electron was previously a part of now has one fewer electron — this is known as a hole. The presence of a missing covalent bond allows the bonded electrons of neighboring atoms to move into the “hole,” leaving another hole behind, and in this way a hole can move through the lattice. Thus, it can be said that photons absorbed in the semiconductor create mobile electron-hole pairs.
A photon need only have greater energy than that of the band gap in order to excite an electron from the valence band into the conduction band. However, the solar frequency spectrum approximates a black body spectrum at ~6000 K, and as such, much of the solar radiation reaching the Earth is composed of photons with energies greater than the band gap of silicon. These higher energy photons will be absorbed by the solar cell, but the difference in energy between these photons and the silicon band gap is converted into heat (via lattice vibrations — called phonons) rather than into usable electrical energy.
PHOTOVOLTAICS (PV) CELL
A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell (PV), is a device that converts light into direct current using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. Although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light into electricity, both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the importance of this discovery. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and reached efficiencies of 4.5–6%.Now the PV cells of different composition (such as, mono /polly crystalline, CIGS thin-film) have different efficiencies of the order 8 to 20% and cost within 1.5 to 2 USD/watt.
PHOTOVOLTAICS PANELS & ARRAYS
Solar cells are often electrically connected and encapsulated as a module. PV modules often have a sheet of glass on the front (sun up) side, allowing light to pass while protecting the semiconductor wafers from the elements (rain, hail, etc.). Solar cells are also usually connected in series in modules, creating an additive voltage. Connecting cells in parallel will yield a higher current. Modules are then interconnected, in series or parallel, or both, to create an array with the desired peak DC voltage and current.
The power output of a solar array is measured in watts or kilowatts. In order to calculate the typical energy needs of the application, a measurement in watt-hours, kilowatt-hours or kilowatt-hours per day is often used. A common rule of thumb is that average power is equal to 20% of peak power, so that each peak kilowatt of solar array output power corresponds to energy production of 4.8 kWh per day (24 hours x 1kW x 20% = 4.8 kWh).
To make practical use of the solar-generated energy, the electricity is most often fed into the electricity grid using inverters (grid-connected PV systems); in stand alone systems, batteries are used to store the energy that is not needed immediately.
SOLAR POWER INVERTER (ON-GRID or OFF-GRID)
The solar inverter is a critical component of an entire solar energy system. It performs the conversion of the variable DC output of the PV cells into a clean sinusoidal 50- or 60 Hz current suitable for supplying the commercial electrical grid or local electrical network.
DSP Controller – The digital signal controller effectively executes the very precise algorithms required to charge the battery of the system and provide power to the electrical grid without power losses. This is called executing the system at its maximum power point. The drive of the main bridge of the DC/AC is performed by highly flexible PWM peripherals of the controller.
The inverter has efficiecy upto 97% available in the market and price 0.2USD/watt (max price update on : July 23, 2009).
The isolated power generation is done by off-grid inverters in remote areas where grid is absent. On-grid inverters tie up the pv generation with electrical power grid system. It synchronised automatically with power grid as per pv generation and grid characteristics following the grid power system requirements and become isolated in abnormal situation. The on-grid inverter has own electronics and software to meet grid parameters while synchronized.
There are many domestic PV installations using either on-grid or off-grid inverters. In many countries like Japan the consumers sale excess electricity at double the rate purchase from electricity company using PV panels and on-grid inverters. For monitoring and billing purpose of bi-directional electricity consumption,monitoring meters are installed in the house. in addition they obtain other incentive from government organizations as green energy for such PV production. They also encourage with some discounts during intial money investment for solar installation to minimise total emmission level in the country.
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