Assessing the environmental risks and lifecycle impacts of floating photovoltaic systems

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH: On the Job with Solar PV

On the Job with Solar PV

Components of photovoltaic (PV) systems undergo rigorous safety and reliability testing protocols during manufacturing and fulfill the electrical safety requirements established by various codes and standards. These systems do not pose health, safety, or environmental risks under normal operating conditions if properly installed and maintained by trained personnel as required by electrical codes. However, with the ever-growing deployment of PV systems globally and the myriad of applications - from traditional rooftop and ground-mounted installations to more advanced building-integrated and facade systems - it is becoming increasingly important to develop practices and share knowledge on the safe management and risk mitigation of PV systems under non-routine circumstances. This focus includes conditions in which firefighters encounter a PV system that may have been installed improperly or has become damaged. This report aims to facilitate the exchange of knowledge on the best practices and standards of firefighters' operations in relation to selected countries with considerable deployment of PV systems.

Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, which seamlessly integrate solar photovoltaic components into building structures, have garnered widespread attention for their aesthetic appeal and energy efficiency. However, the promotion of BIPV systems has also raised new fire safety concerns. This paper reviews recent fire incident cases and conducts risk identification for factors such as building and environmental risks, photovoltaic systems, electrical equipment, and safety protection. A fire risk assessment is performed using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate the overall fire safety of BIPV systems. Based on the assessment, corresponding safety design strategies are proposed to ensure the safety of buildings and occupants. The research results indicate that BIPV systems pose certain fire hazards, and that proper design and regulation are crucial to mitigate these risks.

A stochastic sustainable Closed-Loop Supply Chain Networks for used solar photovoltaic systems: Meta-heuristic comparison and real case study

Access to electricity has been linked to improved livelihood, education, health, economic growth and overall poverty reduction. Yet, most people living without electricity or with unreliable electricity access are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Whilst the largest economy in Africa, Nigeria suffers from severe power outages, forcing many residents to seek self-generation options. By far the most adopted option has been diesel generators which have a relatively low initial investment cost but carry health and environmental risks. Solar photovoltaic systems are a viable alternative, but the higher initial investment is a barrier for many Nigerians. This paper addresses making cleaner electricity through solar PV more attainable, increasing access to more reliable power, and reducing or eliminating the use of diesel generators. It proposes a pathway for securing residential solar PV systems at no additional cost through fuel savings and effective policy. Leveraging real data from a monitoring campaign in Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria, results show an opportunity to reduce or eliminate the use of diesel generators. Furthermore, financial analysis of the home solar PV option shows a cost savings of 60–65% over the project life compared to the traditional use of diesel generators for backup power generation.

Unintended environmental risks of regional PV expansion: A climate-adjusted lifecycle analysis for sustainable deployment.

The subsidence pond is an important water resource for coal mining areas in China. In order to take full advantage of the subsidence pond, a floating photovoltaic cover or a pillaring photovoltaic cover were installed on the surface water of the subsidence pond in the Huainan coal field. Different photovoltaic systems (floating/pilling cover) equipped in the subsidence pond may affect the water quality; thus, assessing the metals in the subsidence pond with the solar photovoltaic system is of great importance for environment control. In this research, surface water samples were collected from three different subsidence ponds, with or without the solar photovoltaic system. The concentrations of Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Mn, and Zn in the water of the subsidence pond were determined using ICP-MS and AFS. Then, the health risk posed by the heavy metal in different subsidence pond waters via the ingestion pathway was evaluated and analyzed using the assessment model recommended by USEPA. The results indicated that the mean concentrations of Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Mn, and Zn in the water of different subsidence ponds were less than the environmental quality standards for surface water (China, Grade II). Cr showed a higher non-carcinogenic risk than the other metals, and the photovoltaic cover actually decreased the total non-carcinogenic risk in the photovoltaic subsidence pond compared with the natural subsidence pond. Non-carcinogenic risks of single and total heavy metals in the subsidence ponds with or without solar photovoltaic systems were below 1; thus, these risks in different subsidence ponds were considered to be at an acceptable level. However, the potential single carcinogenic risks of Cr, Ni, and As; and the multielement carcinogenic risks of Pb, Cr, Ni, and As exceeded the limits of 1 × 10−6 and 1 × 10−4, respectively, suggesting that these metals showed single and total potential health risks in the subsidence pond, with or without the solar photovoltaic system. Further, the subsidence pond with the photovoltaic cover showed higher total carcinogenic risks in comparison with the natural subsidence pond. Therefore, a subsidence pond with a solar photovoltaic system should be monitored periodically to ensure the water safety.

Policies and regulations for solar photovoltaic end-of-life waste management: Insights from China and the USA

Energy Issues for Vehicles: R&D, Carbon Sequestration, Fuel Conversion

A documented quantitative analysis is presented of knowledge and uncertainty of the potential health and environmental consequences of producing electricity by photovoltaic energy systems. Potential health and environmental risks are identified by systematic examination of all steps in representative fuel and material supply cycles including extraction, processing, refining, fabrication, installation, operation, and disposal for four photovoltaic energy systems (silicon N/P single crystal, silicon metal/insulator/semiconductor (MIS) cell, cadmium sulfide/copper sulfide backwall cell, and gallium arsenide heterojunction cell) delivering equal amounts of useful energy (10/sup 12/ Btu). For each step in the fuel and material supply cycles, materials demands, by-products, public health, occupational health, and environmental hazards are identified and assessed.

Africa holds significant proportions of deposits and reserves of critical minerals- such as lithium, bauxite, cobalt, manganese and chromium- required for the global energy transition. These minerals are essential in the production of low-carbon technologies and energy sources (such as wind turbines, solar photovoltaics, and electric vehicles). Mapping of the distribution of critical minerals on the continent indicates that most of the critical mineral deposits intersect with territories and estates of land connected peoples’- including Indigenous people, peasants, hunter-gatherers and pastoralists. These land connected people are found in different ecosystem settings across the continent and their livelihoods and cultural practices depend heavily on the local landscapes and natural resources. Critical minerals extraction is characterized by social and environmental risks and impacts that can have a bearing on land connected communities located on, or near, resource frontiers. This perspective has three broad objectives: (a) showing the intersections of critical minerals with land connected peoples’ lands; (b) discuss the potential socio-ecological impacts that land connected communities and their environments can experience; (c) propose different ways through which land connected people can be involved fairly in critical minerals supply chains. In achieving the third objective, the perspective assesses the Africa’s Green Minerals Strategy identifying its strengths and weaknesses when it comes to ensuring fair and just participation of land connected communities in critical minerals governance across the continent. From this assessment, the perspective provides policy recommendations and sketch some directions for future research.

<span lang="EN-US">The electrical energy is necessary for daily life, but there is a continuous increase in the usage rate of electric energy. Such an increase is a big problem, which makes us think about using alternative energy for conventional energy, in addition to the problem of pollution resulting from the use of energy generation. Solar energy is a solution for energy in terms of consumption, besides there is no environmental risk in the use of solar energy. In this work, an integrated solar system operating in the daytime has been designed to operate a 3-phase induction motor (IM). The study begins by simulating the system in the MATLAB/Simulink program in order to find out the results and verify them using the same components of the proposed algorithm. The system with photovoltaic (PV) modules 1080 W, whereas the PV array is a direct source of the designed split source inverter (SSI). This SSI is controlled by sine pulse width modulation (SPWM). The maximum power point tracking (MPPT) incremental conductance (INC) method is monitored by a computer connected to the system via a Wi-Fi connection, the 3-phase IM (373) W. The results reveal the efficiency of the system and that it can be versatile.</span>

Replacing diesel by solar in the Amazon: short-term economic feasibility of PV-diesel hybrid systems

Distributed photovoltaic (PV) has gradually become the main power source for new PV installations, and there is an urgent need to systematically analyze the risk of the electric power business environment in the process of serving distributed PV grid connection and consumption. A distributed PV on-grid consumption risk indicator system is constructed, covering four first-level indicators and 11 second-level indicators for distributed PV on-grid service, operation monitoring service, safety service, and participation in market-oriented trading service, etc. Based on the key success factors method, six of the indicators are identified as key risk indicators. A distributed PV grid-connected consumption risk grading model is constructed, and the grading is optimized by considering the average value of risk, and the scientific nature of the model is verified through the analysis of examples. The development scale and time sequence of distributed PV should be scientifically determined, the market-oriented trading mechanism of distributed PV should be improved, the technical means of distributed PV operation should be strengthened, the standard system should be improved, and the sustainable development of distributed PV should be promoted.