Solar Capacity Research Articles

Optimal storage for solar energy self-sufficiency

We determine the energy storage needed to achieve self sufficiency to a given reliability as a function of excess capacity in a combined solar-energy generation and storage system. Based on 40 years of solar-energy data for the St. Louis region, we formulate a statistical model that we use to generate synthetic insolation data over millions of years. We use these data to monitor the energy depletion in the storage system near the winter solstice. From this information, we develop explicit formulas for the required storage and the nature of cost-optimized system configurations as a function of reliability and the excess generation capacity. Minimizing the cost of the combined generation and storage system gives the optimal mix of these two constituents. For an annual failure rate of less than 3%, it is sufficient to have a solar generation capacity that slightly exceeds the daily electrical load at the winter solstice, together with a few days of storage.

Maximising the benefits of renewable energy infrastructure in displacement settings: Optimising the operation of a solar-hybrid mini-grid for institutional and business users in Mahama Refugee Camp, Rwanda

Humanitarian organisations typically rely on expensive, polluting diesel generators to provide power for services in refugee camps, whilst camp residents often have no access to electricity. Integrating solar and battery storage capacity into existing diesel-based systems can provide significant cost and emissions savings and offer an opportunity to provide power to displaced communities. By analysing monitored demand data and using computational energy system modelling, we assess the savings made possible by the integration of solar (18.4 kWp) and battery (78 kWh) capacity into the existing diesel-powered mini-grid in Mahama Refugee Camp, Rwanda. We find that the renewables infrastructure reduces fuel expenditure by $41,500 and emissions by 44 tCO2eq (both 74%) over five years under the generator’s current operational strategy. An alternative strategy, with deeper battery cycling, unlocks further savings of $4100 and 12.4 tCO2eq, using 33% of battery lifetime versus 15% under the original strategy. This reduces the cost of electricity by 33% versus diesel generation alone, whilst more aggressive cycling strategies could prove economical if moderate battery price decreases are realised. Extending the system to businesses in the camp marketplace can completely offset the system fuel costs if the mini-grid company charges customers the same tariff as the one it uses in the host community, but not the national grid tariff. Humanitarian organisations and the private sector should explore opportunities to integrate renewables into existing diesel-based infrastructure, and optimise its performance once installed, to reduce costs and emissions and provide meaningful livelihood opportunities to displaced communities.

A Review on Techno-Economic Study for Supporting Building with PV-Grid-Connected Systems under Saudi Regulations

As the demand for electricity continues to grow in Saudi Arabia, finding ways to increase power generation becomes increasingly important. However, conventional power generation methods such as burning fossil fuels contribute significantly to environmental pollution and harm human health through the emissions of greenhouse gases. One potential solution to this problem is the use of solar energy, which has the advantage of being abundant in Saudi Arabia due to its location in the sun belt. When compared to conventional power generation methods, solar energy is a viable alternative, particularly when the indirect costs of fossil fuels, such as harm to the environment and human health, are considered. Using photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electrical energy is a key method for producing clean energy. Despite the initial cost of investing in solar energy infrastructure, it is ultimately less expensive than electricity derived from fossil fuels. In recognition of the potential of solar energy, the Saudi government has outlined an ambitious plan to install 41 GW of solar capacity and invest USD 108.9 billion by 2032. Additionally, financing and significant tax benefits have been provided to promote the development of the solar industry. This research article reviews the techno-economic analysis of PV power plants and examines previous policy papers and the existing research on the topic.

Experimental Research on a Solar Energy Phase Change Heat Storage Heating System Applied in the Rural Area

Thermal energy storage technology can effectively promote the clean heating policy in northern China. Therefore, phase-change heat storage heating technology has been widely studied, both theoretically and experimentally, but there is still a lack of engineering application research. According to the characteristics of heating load in northern rural areas, a kind of solar heating system using phase-change materials (PCMs) for heat storage is proposed. Furthermore, a farmhouse is used to demonstrate the practical engineering applications of the heating system. The heating system consists of the phase-change heat storage device (PCHSD), solar thermal panels, and a floor radiant heating terminal, which can realize the effective utilization of solar energy. Considering solar power generation capacity, heating load characteristics of farm buildings, and the local electricity price model, four potential operation modes of the heating system are established. Then, the corresponding control strategies are proposed for the four operating modes. The actual operation data of the heating system under different operating modes were collected continuously, and the application effect of the heating system was evaluated from the aspects of thermal efficiency of the device, the renewable energy efficiency, thermal comfort level, and economy. The experimental results show that: (1) The thermal efficiency of the device is mainly affected by the heating load, which can reach more than 80% during the test period; (2) the renewable energy efficiency of the system is positively correlated with the solar radiation intensity, and the maximum can reach 100% when the solar radiation is sufficient; (3) the system maintains excellent thermal comfort in all conditions, with the average and the highest thermal comfort time accounting for 80% and 100%, respectively; (4) compared with the average level of existing clean heating technology, the annual operating cost of the system is reduced by 27.3%, and the economy is significant. The results show that the system achieves effective performance during the test period.

Key Technologies and Development Challenges of High-proportion Renewable Energy Power Systems

China promises to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. It will need to make every effort to achieve these objectives. Among all, the development of the renewable industry is the key way and roadmap. When high-proportion wind and solar energy are integrated into the power grid. The randomness and uncertainty of renewable energy reduced the safety margin and influenced the stability of the power grid. In this paper, the present situation of renewable energy in China is introduced. Total installed solar generation capacity was about 250 GW in China by the end of 2020, accounting for one-third of the world's total installed capacity. The capacity for wind energy generation was about 280GW. It has the highest generation capacity in the world. It also presents the potential challenges of integrating large-scale renewable energy into the power system and proposes mitigation techniques and is valuable for further research.

Resource assessment for green hydrogen production in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has long been regarded as a major exporter of fossil fuel energy. As the global energy sector is undergoing an unprecedented transition to low-carbon solutions, new emerging energy technologies, such as hydrogen production, require more different resource bases than present energy technologies. Kazakhstan needs to consider whether it has enough resources to stay competitive in energy markets undergoing an energy transition. Green hydrogen can be made from water electrolysis powered by low-carbon electricity sources such as wind turbines and solar panels. We provided the first resource assessment for green hydrogen production in Kazakhstan by focusing on three essential resources: water, renewable electricity, and critical raw materials. Our estimations showed that with the current plan of Kazakhstan to keep its water budget constant in the future, producing 2–10 Mt green hydrogen would require reducing the water use of industry in Kazakhstan by 0.6–3% or 0.036–0.18 km3/year. This could be implemented by increasing the share of renewables in electricity generation and phasing out some of the water- and carbon-intensive industries. Renewable electricity potential in South and West Kazakhstan is sufficient to run electrolyzers up to 5700 and 1600 h/year for wind turbines and solar panels, respectively. In our base case scenario, 5 Mt green hydrogen production would require 50 GW solar and 67 GW wind capacity, considering Kazakhstan's wind and solar capacity factors. This could convert into 28,652 tons of nickel, 15,832 tons of titanium, and many other critical raw materials. Although our estimations for critical raw materials were based on limited geological data, Kazakhstan has access to the most critical raw materials to support original equipment manufacturers of low-carbon technologies in Kazakhstan and other countries. As new geologic exploration kicks off in Kazakhstan, it is expected that more deposits of critical raw materials will be discovered to respond to their potential future needs for green hydrogen production.

Long-term solar PV planning: An economic-driven robust optimization approach

Renewable energy represents an excellent opportunity for improving the living standard of communities. This is even more important in high-density urban systems, where space becomes a key resource and a growing population drives the demand to levels that traditional electricity sources can hardly manage. In this context, the presence of multiple stakeholders with competing objectives needs to be taken into account for long-term planning. Moreover, as the decisions of adopting renewable energy options may be driven by economic considerations and risk-aversion of consumers when facing uncertain future scenarios, the behavior of stakeholders should be considered. To address these challenges, we propose an efficient robust-optimization-based approach for long-term solar PV planning, where the objective is the maximization of the total economic surplus between producers and consumers of solar PV systems. The uncertainty affects the price that risk-averse consumers (i.e., residential, commercial, and industrial) are willing to pay for solar-PV systems. Land-space constraints are included to describe the relationship between installed capacity and available space, which is a scarce resource. Singapore is employed as a case study because of its high solar-energy production potential, limited space profile, ambitious solar PV capacity installation targets, and past data availability that made it possible to calibrate the model. Results show that the projections of our model are compatible with existing assumptions. The analysis of the solution allows quantifying the incentives required for achieving national capacity installation targets in 2025 and 2030, which may otherwise be underestimated by 20–30%.

A Facile yet Versatile Strategy to Construct Liquid Hybrid Energy-Saving Windows for Strong Solar Modulation.

Smart windows with light management and indoor solar heating modulation capacities are of paramount importance for building energy conservation. Thermochromic poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm) hydrogel smart windows exhibit advantages of the relatively suitable transition temperature of 32 °C, high cost-effective and automatic passive sunlight regulation, but sustain slow response rate and unsatisfactory solar modulation efficiency. Herein, a strategy of one-step copolymerization of NIPAm and different olefine acids (OA) using reverse atom transfer radical polymerization method is developed to fabricate various chain/microparticle hybrids (CMH) for liquid energy-saving windows. Synergetic mechanisms of thermal-induced dissolution and aggregation of linear polymer chains integrated with water capture and release of microgel particles contribute to tunable light-scattering behaviors and adaptive solar modulation. Without any post-treatment, the as-prepared poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) (P(NIPAm-co-AA))-based CMH suspension is injected into sandwich glass to construct energy-saving windows, which exhibits appreciated near-room-temperature transition (26.7 °C), rapid response (5 s), extraordinary luminous transmittance (91.5%), and solar modulation efficiency (85.8%), resulting in a substantial decline of indoor temperature of 24.5 °C in simulation experiment. Combining the versatile strategy with flexible adjustment on transition temperature, multifarious P(NIPAm-co-OA)-based CMH windows with eminent light management capacity are obtained. This work will powerfully promote the development and renovation of energy-efficient windows.

Multi-objective optimal sizing of hybrid micro-grid system using an integrated intelligent technique

An optimal sizing model for a hybrid micro-grid system (HMGS) consisting of solar photovoltaic, wind turbine, diesel generator and battery is developed. A tri-objective formulation, considering techno-socio-economic factors, is proposed for finding the optimal size and configuration. Dynamic domain search is employed using a hybrid intelligent computational technique that integrated the improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm with an enhanced differential evolution (DE) model for improving the search efficiency. The idea behind the hybridization of these two popular paradigms is to deploy the higher exploration capability of the PSO during the initial search and then employ the fast convergence property of the DE to achieve an optimal solution through exploitation. A fuzzy attainment module (FAM) is appended to identify the best solution based on the highest possible attainment level for all objectives. Two power management strategies are modelled and their effect on emission curtailment is studied. Optimal sizing is analysed considering the effect of selected optimization objective(s) and multiple choices are offered to the designer based on preferences. For the selected remote island, the system with solar PV capacity 78.44 kW, wind turbine of 95 kW with a battery of 2 kW is found to be the best option. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) is 0.0799 $/kWh, human development index (HDI) is 0.6454, unmet power is zero and the satisfaction level of all the three objectives is 72.82%.

Investigating the impact of variable energy prices and renewable generation on the annualized cost of hydrogen

Hydrogen can be produced from onsite renewable energy, energy from the power grid, or a combination of both. While the cost of grid energy is driven by the energy prices, onsite renewable investments are driven by the levelized cost of renewable energy. Energy prices can widely vary in time and in different locations, potentially having a large impact on the annualized cost of hydrogen (ACOH). Renewable sources can also vary significantly for different locations and seasons. In this paper, we develop a semi-empirical model to find key ACOH locational drivers and trends. The model finds the optimal capacity of the onsite solar and wind generators and the electrolyzer, together with the optimal use of grid energy. We found that an optimal balance between onsite renewable investments and grid energy use is strongly driven by the type of energy price (fixed or variable) and location.

Analisis Performa PLTS Off Grid Untuk Sistem Desalinasi Metode Osmosis Terbalik

Bondan Hamlet is a hamlet in Kampung Laut District, Cilacap. One of the community's problems is the lack of clean water and the PLN electricity network. In 2020, a desalination facility named Sidesi Mas will be built in Bondan Hamlet with a capacity of 240 liters/hour and using the reverse osmosis principle. The energy source for desalination uses a solar power plant (PLTS). Desalination management requires economic analysis, especially in determining the selling price of desalinated water. The cost of producing desalinated water can be calculated using the Cost of energy (CoE) value of the PLTS or the costs incurred to produce electrical energy per 1 kWh. To get the PLTS CoE, this article discusses a simulation to analyze the performance of PLTS desalination systems with Homer software. Homer performs analytical calculations based on a location input, solar energy potential, capacity, and costs of PLTS components as well as electrical load data. The simulation results show that PLTS energy production is 535 kWh/year, the CoE value is IDR 21,975/kWh and the production cost for producing clean water is IDR 183.13/liter.

Solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of more than9% in photocatalytic water splitting.

Production of hydrogen fuel from sunlight and water, two of the most abundant natural resources on Earth, offers one of the most promising pathways for carbon neutrality1-3. Some solar hydrogen production approaches, for example, photoelectrochemical water splitting, often require corrosive electrolyte, limiting their performance stability and environmental sustainability1,3. Alternatively, clean hydrogen can be produced directly from sunlight and water by photocatalytic water splitting2,4,5. The solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency of photocatalytic water splitting, however, has remained very low. Here we have developed a strategy to achieve a high STH efficiency of 9.2 per cent using pure water, concentrated solar light and an indium gallium nitride photocatalyst. The success of this strategy originates from the synergistic effects of promoting forward hydrogen-oxygen evolution and inhibiting the reverse hydrogen-oxygen recombination by operating at an optimal reaction temperature (about 70 degrees Celsius), which can be directly achieved by harvesting the previously wasted infrared light in sunlight. Moreover, this temperature-dependent strategy also leads to an STH efficiency of about 7 per cent from widely available tap water and sea water and an STH efficiency of 6.2 per cent in a large-scale photocatalytic water-splitting system with a natural solar light capacity of 257 watts. Our study offers a practical approach to produce hydrogen fuel efficiently from natural solarlight and water, overcoming the efficiency bottleneck of solar hydrogen production.

Performance study of a novel supercritical CO2 solar-coal supplementary power generation system

• New supercritical CO 2 solar-coal supplementary power generation system is proposed. • The annual solar generating power accounts for 61.29% of the total power output. • Standard coal consumption rate is 161.11 g/kWh lower than pure coal-fired system. • The new system performances with the change of the load rate are revealed. • Effects of solar multiple and thermal energy storage capacity on new system are studied. To reduce the CO 2 emission and improve the solar energy utilization rate, a novel supercritical CO 2 solar-coal supplementary power generation system is proposed. Compared with the previous studies on supplementary systems, the novel system takes solar energy as the main heat source instead of coal, which greatly increases the proportion of solar energy input. The results show that, when the solar multiple (parameter representing the area of the heliostat field) is 3 and the thermal energy storage capacity is 16 h, on the summer and winter solstices, the proportions of solar generating power are 100% and 57.15%, respectively. The novel system can operate steadily during the whole year. The annual solar generating power is 161.07 GWh, accounting for 61.29%. The standard coal consumption rate of the novel system is 101.76 g/kWh, 161.11 g/kWh lower than that of the pure coal-fired system. The exergy efficiency for the novel system increases with an increasing operation load rate. Under 50%, 75%, 100%, and 125% load rates, the exergy efficiencies are 16.7%, 25.0%, 33.4%, and 38.0%, respectively. It is the first time to study the effects of the solar multiple and the thermal energy storage capacity on the energy, exergy, environmental, and economic performances of the supercritical CO 2 solar-coal supplementary power generation system. When the thermal energy storage capacity is 16 h, the solar multiple corresponding to the optimal economic performance is 2.5.

Soiling Effect and Remedial Measures of Solar Photovoltaic System Performance in Kuwait

The Gulf Cooperation Countries have the advantages of fundamental characteristics and abundant natural resources due to the high proportion of solar radiation, which helps to expand the transition to renewable energy, especially in solar projects. The Kuwait location was chosen for this research because of its high dust levels and average daily sunshine of 9.4 hours. The soiling map of Kuwait was then created using PVsyst software. A theoretical and mathematical model for 100 MW was developed based on many environmental and technical parameters. The model was run with Kuwait parameters and 100 MW solar PV power plant capacity. The results show that more than 25% of total generated electricity could be lost annually without any mitigation strategy. Furthermore, the efficiency loss could increase by around 50% during the seasons with sandstorms and high soiling rates. Additionally, manual and automatic cleaning methods were found to increase energy production from 112,092 MWh to 207,300 MWh. Moreover, manual cleaning reduced energy costs by 4.9%, but automated cleaning resulted in a 17.34% higher energy-saving cost than a system without cleaning. In addition, when using the automatic cleaning system, the system’s payback period was reduced from 9.22 to 7.86 years. Therefore, an automated cleaning system is recommended for use in Kuwait.

Marketing component of green technologies energy efficiency at traditional and renewable energy facilities

The article examines the economic aspects of the production of electrical engineering and electricity at traditional and renewable energy facilities. The authors emphasized that Ukraine has great potential for the development of wind and solar energy capacities, but the relatively high current price of such technologies compared to conservative sources of electricity generation makes new power generation capacities from RES twice as expensive. The authors consider, improving energy efficiency could significantly reduce the growth in energy consumption: according to the International Energy Agency, the implementation of measures to improve energy efficiency on a global scale by 2030 would lead to an increase in energy consumption by 40%, while failure to implement these measures would mean a 60% increase in demand. It is proved that in Ukraine the most promising direction is the use of solar energy. The authors focused on the direct conversion of wind and solar energy into direct current electrical energy. The possibility of converting wind and solar energy into thermal energy without preliminary concentration of the solar radiation flux for heating the coolant and subsequent supply to heating objects has been proved. It was noted that a significant modernization of power plants using renewable energy sources or the construction of additional capacities (for an amount exceeding 50% of their initial cost) after 2014, 2020 led to a reduction in the rates of the “green” tariff for the entire power plant by 10%, 20% respectively and will lead to 2024 by 30%.

A Powerful Tool for Power System Monitoring: Distributed Dynamic State Estimation Based on a Full-View Synchronized Measurement System

Modern power systems are witnessing a rapid transition with the increasing penetration of intermittent nonsynchronous renewable generation and distributed energy resources. According to the National Energy Administration, China’s installed wind and solar energy capacity accounted for 26.7% of the country’s total power generation capacity at the end of 2021. In terms of electricity generation, wind and solar energy accounted for 11.8% percent of the total electricity use that year. In the renewable energy development plan in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025), China aims for renewables to meet 33% of national power consumption and for nonhydro renewables to satisfy 18%. This transition poses challenges for system operators to grasp the actual status of power systems accurately and comprehensively.

Optimizing Decision-Making of A Smart Prosumer Microgrid Using Simulation

Distributed renewable energy sources offer significant alternatives for Qatar and the Arab Gulf region’s future fuel supply and demand. Microgrids are essential for providing dependable power in difficult-to-reach areas while incorporating significant amounts of renewable energy sources. In energy-efficient data centers, distributed generation can be used to meet the facility’s overall power needs. This study primarily focuses on the best energy management practices for a smart microgrid in Qatar while taking demand-side load management into account. This article looked into a university microgrid in Qatar that primarily aimed to get all of its energy from the grid. While diesel generators are categorized as a dispatchable distributed generation with energy storage added to handle solar radiation from the sun and high grid power operating costs in the suggested scenario, wind turbines and solar Photovoltaic (PV) are classified as non-dispatchable distributed generators. The resulting linear math issues are assessed and displayed in MATLAB optimization software using a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) strategy. According to the simulation results, the suggested energy management strategy reduced the university microgrid’s grid power costs by 38.8%, making it an affordable solution which is somehow greater than the prior case scenario’s 23% savings. The installed solar system capacity’s effects on the economy, society, and finances were also assessed, and it became clear that the best option for the smart microgrid was determined that would be 325 kW of solar PV, 25 kW of wind turbine, and 600 kW of diesel generators, respectively. Given the current situation, university administrators are urged to participate in distributed generators and adopt cutting-edge designs for energy storage technologies due to the significant environmental and financial benefits.

Short-term procurement of an optimal mix of solar and wind capacities in Texas

Short-term procurement of an optimal mix of solar and wind capacities in Texas

Explore the Energy Performance of a University Building Integrated with Solar PV and Energy Storage

In order to explore the energy performance of a university building integrated with solar PV and energy storage, in this paper, DesignBuilder was used to establish the teaching building model and calculate the load based on the characteristics of the teaching building of a university, a simulation model of the photovoltaic & energy storage integrated system was built with TRNSYS. Then analysing the energy performance and economy of the system. The results show that, from the overall demand, the solar electricity generation capacity of the photovoltaic & energy storage integrated teaching building can basically meet the demand for air conditioning electricity, and there is more remaining electricity for the electricity grid. The energy performance of the system in different seasons (summer, spring and autumn transition season, winter) and the complementarity among various electric quantities are studied, including electricity consumption, electricity generation, municipal electricity supply, remaining electricity on grid, battery charge, battery discharge. The economic analysis of the system shows that Solar fraction (SF)=0.93, Self-Consumption Ratio (SCR)=0.13, Return on Investment (ROI)=0.219 years, Payback Period (PBP)=4.75 years, which proves its feasibility.

Frontiers in multi-benefit value stacking for solar development on working lands

Abstract Global solar power generation is predicted to expand significantly in the coming decades. Croplands and rangelands - commonly called working lands - will likely absorb a significant share of new utility-scale solar capacity due to land availability and proximity to existing load centers and transmission infrastructure. Beyond meeting energy needs, working lands already provide critical ecosystem services like food production, nature-based recreation, and biodiversity conservation. In the context of such competition for working lands, studies and real-world experiments have begun to investigate the co-location of solar with agriculture, habitat conservation, and water conservation, including through low-impact solar development. This has resulted in a patchwork of co-location approaches across multiple disciplines such as energy planning and policy, food systems science, and natural resources management. Prior work is also largely dominated by approaches to co-locate just one activity with solar development. However, beyond this patchwork lies a new frontier — an emerging need for broader and more deliberate consideration of multiple energy and non-energy activities on working lands. Therefore, in lieu of the current array of fragmented approaches and to facilitate a more systematic exploration of this new frontier, we offer a new Multi-Benefit Value Stacking (MBVS) framework to explore land use efficiencies from co-location of solar generation and non-energy uses on working lands, a clear conceptual definition of such opportunities and the scales at which they can be considered, a table of compiled examples, and key gaps for research and policy.