Solar Plant Research Articles

Study on the Equivalent Conversion and Utilisation Model of Solar Energy and its Benefits

Relying on the energy local area network (LAN), we study the equivalent conversion relationship between different “energy qualities” in the process of solar energy conversion and utilisation and its benefit model. Considering the impact of load demand characteristics and current energy consumption price factors on solar energy utilization, a multi-objective optimization model of solar energy conversion and utilization is constructed with the goals of maximizing solar energy utilization and maximizing the comprehensive benefits of system operation; then, the particle swarm optimization algorithm with quantum behaviour is used to optimize and solve the model, and a comparative analysis is carried out with the traditional single-energy supply mode. The results show that the proposed model can effectively improve the comprehensive utilisation and consumption of solar energy by the energy consumption system, and achieve higher energy sales benefits. Therefore, with the help of energy storage technology, the fluctuation and intermittency of the solar PV system output can be suppressed, and flexible grid connection can be realised, so as to enhance the grid-connected capacity of solar energy; at the same time, higher economic benefits can be obtained with the help of optimisation, coordination and control system operation. Optimised control of solar PV power generation systems under different scenarios ensures the safety and stability of the system’s power output and improves the grid-connected capability of solar PV power generation systems. The validity and feasibility of the proposed model and its operation mode are verified, providing a new idea for the development and utilisation of large-scale solar energy.

Using an engineered turf cover to support PV solar systems on landfills

Using landfills as solar sites saves natural lands from destruction. The large space of a closed landfill usually has limited redevelopment options due to restricted site access and long-term operation and maintenance requirements. A solar farm built on top of a closed landfill can generate additional revenue to offset post-closure maintenance costs and transform the otherwise undevelopable site into a renewal energy asset. A new solution has been developed in recent years to use an engineered turf cover to close a landfill, which serves as a foundation to support a low-profile photovoltaic (PV) solar power generation system. Case studies are presented to demonstrate field installation and performance of this new landfill closure and solar development solution.

Barriers and variable spacing enhance convective cooling and increase power output in solar PV plants

When the temperature of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules rises, efficiency drops and module degradation accelerates. Thus, it is beneficial to reduce module operating temperatures. Previous studies of solar power plants have illustrated that incoming flow characteristics, turbulent mixing, and array geometry can strongly impact convective cooling, as measured by the convective heat transfer coefficient h. In the fields of heat transfer and plant canopy flow, previous work has shown that system-scale arrangement modifications—e.g., variable spacing, barriers, or windbreaks—can passively alter the flow, enhance turbulent mixing, and influence convection. However, researchers have not yet explored how variable spacing or barriers might enhance convective cooling in solar power plants. Here, high-resolution large-eddy simulations model the air flow and heat transfer through solar power plant arrangements modified with missing modules and barrier walls. We then perform a control volume analysis to evaluate the net heat flux and compute h, which quantifies the influence of these spatial modifications on convective cooling and, thus, module temperature and power output. Installing barrier walls yields the greatest improvements, increasing h by 3.4%, reducing module temperature by an estimated 2.5 °C, and boosting power output by an estimated 1.4% on average. These findings indicate that incorporating variable spacing or barrier-type elements into PV plant designs can reduce module temperature and, thus, improve PV performance and service life.

Development of an combined energy complex consisting of a micro-hydroelectric power plant and a solar photoelectric plant for the conditions of Uzbekistan

The article develops a block diagram of an energy device that serves as the embodiment of a microhydroelectric power station and a solar photovoltaic installation. Based on this structural diagram, a combined energy device consisting of a solar photovoltaic power plant and a microhydroelectric power station was developed and installed for experimental research at the family enterprise “Akbarzhon Korki” in the Sokchilik microdistrict, Toshlok district. Based on the needs of the family business, the electricity generated by a combined power plant consisting of a 4 kW solar photovoltaic system and a 0.7 kW microhydroelectric power plant was used for lighting systems, a refrigerator, an electric cooking stove, and a modem. Internet connection device and video surveillance equipment. As a result of the implementation at the family enterprise, 2 124 000 soums of electricity produced by the combined energy device were used for the enterprise’s own needs during the year, and economic efficiency of 12 599 000 soums was achieved.

A falling particle receiver thermal model for system-level analysis of solar tower plants

Falling particle receivers are one of the most promising new generation solar tower technologies. They have the advantage of being directly heated, thus relaxing flux limitations associated with conventional receivers, and being able to achieve very high temperatures (>1000 °C) without degradation. The goal of this work is the development of a thermal model able to describe the behaviour of a falling particle receiver under different operating conditions, to provide the value of its thermal efficiency within reasonable computational time so that the model can be applied for optimization of solar tower plants at system-level. The thermal model was developed starting from models described in literature, upgrading them with various features (e.g., 2D/3D discretization, drag force effect, etc.) to describe more in detail the heat transfer phenomena occurring during receiver operation. The obtained model results were verified against CFD showing better agreement than the original model. Furthermore, the thermal model was employed in a case study with the goal of optimizing the receiver size for a given solar field and performing off-design and annual performance analyses. Results showed that the adoption of multiple stages increases performance compared to a free-falling particle receiver both under nominal and off-design conditions, and the higher the number of stages the better is the performance. A free-falling particle receiver showed a yearly thermal efficiency of 72.0 %, while the five stages one achieved 75.3 %. In addition, recirculation was investigated as part load strategy for improving performance of the free-falling receiver, but the benefits in terms of performance were limited.

Examining the northern region of Iraq and the imperative for establishing photovoltaic power stations

The construction of a photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Iraqi province of Salah al-Din marks a significant step towards enhancing the region's energy infrastructure and transitioning towards sustainable, renewable energy sources. The project aims to harness the abundant solar resources in the area to generate clean and reliable electricity, contributing to both environmental sustainability and energy security. The chosen location, Salah al-Din province, is strategically positioned to receive ample sunlight, making it an ideal site for a photovoltaic installation. This solar plant is expected to have a considerable impact on the local energy landscape by diversifying the energy mix and reducing reliance on conventional, non-renewable sources. The construction process involves the installation of photovoltaic panels designed to capture and convert solar radiation into electricity. These panels, often mounted on support structures, form an array that maximizes exposure to sunlight. The energy generated by the PV plant is then fed into the local power grid, supplementing the existing energy supply. The benefits of this solar initiative extend beyond environmental considerations. The project is likely to create employment opportunities during the construction phase, boosting the local economy. Additionally, the operation of the photovoltaic plant will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with global efforts to combat climate change. Furthermore, the PV plant in Salah al-Din exemplifies Iraq's commitment to embracing renewable energy solutions as part of its sustainable development agenda. As the world transitions towards cleaner energy sources, projects like these play a crucial role in meeting the growing energy demand while mitigating the environmental impact associated with traditional energy generation. In conclusion, the construction of a photovoltaic plant in Salah al-Din energy a represents infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and energy resilience for the Iraqi province and contributing to the broader global shift towards clean and sustainable energy systems.

A New Approach to Enhance Smart City Applications Through Integrating GIS BIM Technology

The research deals with the study and analysis of smart cities, the requirements for their establishment, and the role of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in building sustainable, energy-efficient smart cities. The primary objective is to put a smart city transformation methodology and apply it on Lattakia city as a case study, using Building Information Modeling (BIM). We proposed new tools in an integrated methodology to transform from ordinary to smart city, and implemented basics of its objects, including GISBIM technologies integration, insuring both sustainable and energy saving vision at general planning designs. Implementing the chosen methodology steps at an organized area in Syria – Lattakia City, starting with building an accurate geodatabase, then, obtaining Sun Shadow Frequency analysis, which shows that December contains the highest shade values, with cumulative coverage rate 79.84%, while June instead contain the lowest shade value, reaching only 33.84%. But in general, most of the area has shade coverage that does not exceed 15% most of the day, therefore no need to make an adjustment to the distribution of building blocks. After that, in order to secure the energy needed for the study Area, analyzing the Land Surface Temperature (LST) done using the ArcGIS Pro® software, and locating a renewable energy station site (solar plant). On the other hand, analyzing a residential building energy through annual PV analysis has been done, by using Revit® software through Insight™ extension, with two cases: first one, building without changing building material, while second one done after changing building material to save solar energy inside and rising roof slope up to 10%, and we achieve valuable energy savings by applying this modification to building material. And finally, introducing the infrastructure underground network, that serving transformation to smart city.

Women roles for saving energy and net-zero emissions for solar energy

Climate change and energy issues for saving, consumption, and renewability suffer from illiteracy and ignorance. In the patriarchal society like Indonesia, women performed vital roles in the households. Women can play strategic roles as agents of change i.e. transformation of energy sectors and decision makings. Indonesian Directorate General of Mineral and Coal launched regulation 26/2021 stated that household sector is the main consumer targets for solar energy plant using grid connected. The facts showed middle-high income’s households unlikely install solar panel. Electricity motorcycles and cars do not mean so much when the batteries must be charged with non-renewable sources. Meanwhile, the heat in Pekanbaru is abundance and has potential for solar energy. The research will elaborate perception of 20 educated person and 10 career women on how their energy consumption and the possibility of solar panel usage in their houses using in-depth interviews. The research showed women in Pekanbaru spent at least a half million even two million rupiah per month, especially for air conditioning and hot water. The lack of knowledge of solar energy and solar plant installation led to women roles indecisive.

Optimizing Thermal Performance in Parabolic Trough Solar Power Systems: An Experimental Design and Analysis

The efficiency of a Parabolic Trough (PT) Solar Power Plant heavily relies on its thermal performance. Modern technology has allowed for the creation of more efficient methods of producing steam and of collecting solar energy for thermal power generation. Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) built and tested an 11.1 m2 parabolic trough concentrator (PTC). A system that generates steam indirectly by using concentrating solar power (CSP) is examined. The study examined absorbers' thermal properties, thermal efficiency of combined thermal exchangers, concentration ratio, heat efficiency, and steam generation to determine their influence on energy efficiency. The experimental findings display that 557.85 watts of energy are absorbed by the PTC receiver. The PT solar plant system has a thermal energy efficiency of 25 to 29 % and a concentration factor of about 200 on average. The parabolic trough concentrator generates a maximum of 9.1 kg.h-1 of steam.

Levelized cost of energy and storage of compressed air energy storage with wind and solar plants in Morocco

Levelized cost of energy and storage of compressed air energy storage with wind and solar plants in Morocco

Potential and Achievement of Floating Solar Photo Voltage in India

India’s contributions to the development of alternative energy sources are substantial. India has almost tripled the capacity of its renewable energy installations over the last five to six years, with coastal wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) installations accounting for the vast bulk of this growth. Since land scarcity is a big challenge nowadays, it is an excellent idea to construct solar plants on rivers, lakes, and dams, which are otherwise idle water bodies. The progressive depletion of fossil resources and the ever-increasing need for electricity both pose serious obstacles to progress. The electricity generated by floating solar photovoltaic systems is significant. India has completed a number of large-scale projects, including the 100MW Ramagundam, Telangana project and the NTPC Simhadri Solar Plant. This investigation highlights the potential benefits and challenges of these plants. Feasibility analysis of 5MW FSPV at Somasila Dam, Andhra Pradesh is also done in this paper. Additional to this, the article gave the economic and technological analysis of floating solar photovoltaics, in addition to discussing several case studies.

Real Time Monitoring and Analysis of String Faults in Solar Plant Using IoT

Real Time Monitoring and Analysis of String Faults in Solar Plant Using IoT

Studies on the thermal cycle performance of solar thermal power generation under different heat sources

Solar thermal power generation is an important way to solve the future power demand, and some countries have entered the commercial application stage. According to the heat source temperatures provided by different solar thermal collector systems, different thermodynamic cycle modes of power generation systems were proposed so that the appropriate thermal cycle modes and working mediums at different heat source temperatures were obtained. The results show that, under a low-temperature heat source, in an organic Rankine cycle with R600 as the working medium, the cycle efficiency is 13.40% when the temperature of the turbine inlet is 100°C and the pressure is 1.5 MPa; the cycle thermal efficiency is 12.00% when the temperature of turbine inlet is 90°C. Under the conditions of medium temperature heat source, in the Rankine cycle with regenerative heat and R141b as a working medium, the efficiency is about 26.59% when the temperature of the turbine inlet is 220°C and the pressure is 3.0 MPa. Under the conditions of a high-temperature heat source, in the reheat extraction steam Rankine cycle, the theoretical cycle efficiency can reach 34.32% when the temperature of the turbine inlet is 380°C, the pressure is 8 MPa, and the condensation temperature is 41.5°C. The studies can provide a fundamental basis for the design of solar thermal power generation systems with different heat source conditions.

Design of Solar Power Generation and Water Cycle Heat Storage System Based on Beidou Positioning Optimization

Design of Solar Power Generation and Water Cycle Heat Storage System Based on Beidou Positioning Optimization

Future costs of power-to-liquid sustainable aviation fuels produced from hybrid solar PV-wind plants in Europe

Geographic variation of PtL jet fuel production cost from standalone hybrid solar PV-wind plants is estimated for Europe through 2050.

Solar parallel feed multi effect distillation plant: An experimental study

This paper discusses about the parametric studies carried out on 10 m3/day capacity multi effect distillation desalination plant. In the present work studies were performed to determine the effect of process parameters on the production capacity of the MED plant. GOR of plant is around 3.6. Effect of solar irradiation on the evaporation rate in each effect is determined and presented with respect to time. Influence of the operating pressure and temperature on the performance of each effect is measured during the experiment and presented in the current work. Influence of steam input on the system performance is discussed. It was observed that increase in solar irradiation influences the steam production. Increase in the steam production rate influences GOR. Increase in the solar irradiation by 24% maximum on a typical day resulted in increase of evaporation rate by 20.6%, 17.3%, 15.7% and 12.3% corresponding to the effect 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. It was also observed that the production rate is found to be higher after the mid noon compared to the forenoon even though the solar irradiation is measured to be comparatively higher in forenoon than after mid noon.

Effects of solar thermal energy on district heating systems: the case of parabolic trough collectors in a high-latitude region

System perspective of solar themal: effects of solar water heating plants depend on configurations of district heating systems and uses of saved biomass.

Uncertainty-aware estimation of inverter field efficiency using Bayesian neural networks in solar photovoltaic plants

Solar inverters are one of the most important components in a Photovoltaic plant. Their main function is to convert the DC power produced by the solar modules into AC power that can be injected into the grid. Although inverter efficiency has reached exceptionally high values, thanks to recent technological advancements, it is typically measured at dedicated laboratories under strict testing conditions, which makes its validation after deployment extremely challenging, both from a logistic and financial point of view. This paper presents a methodology for the calculation of inverter field efficiency based on Bayesian neural networks. The goal of the neural network is to model inverter efficiency and its variance as a function of the inverter's operational state. Results show that an optimised Bayesian neural network can effectively model inverter efficiency with small reconstruction errors and negligible bias. Furthermore, the model has been proven useful to replicate the calculation of the European efficiency along with a full uncertainty characterisation.

Analysis of thermophysical parameters of solar water desalination plant with an external camera

In this work, an analysis of the thermophysical processes taking place inside a specially designed chamber with a geometry different from other works was carried out. This process is designed in COMSOL Multiphysics software. Boundary conditions were investigated for ambient temperature of 293.15 K and solar radiation of 1000 W/m2. The process was taken as natural convection. In this case, the flow of air with high humidity inside the solar water heater was analyzed. It can be seen that the air temperature rises to 450 K. At the same time, the speed of moist air inside the chamber, heat flow and other thermophysical quantities were determined and analyzed.

Performance Evaluation of Distribution System Interconnected with Solar PV Plants Using DIgSILENT

Many African countries, such as Botswana, receive high insolation that can be used to generate electricity. However, they still rely on thermal power generation and imports from neighbouring countries through various African power pools. Thermal generation methods result in an increase in carbon footprint. Therefore, in pursuance of the global climate change goals, the Government of Botswana has subscribed to allow all end users with the capacity to install solar rooftops and sell extra electricity to the power utility. These interconnections of solar PV plants to the grid are bound to bring challenges to the steady state system performance. This research, therefore, evaluates the performance of the integrated system focusing on the greater Gaborone distribution system (GGDS), where five government projects are being piloted. The study has adopted two scenarios by providing a performance comparative analysis between the system baselines to a solar integrated system using DIgSILENT Power Factory software. The system studies conducted include power flow, effects on voltage and line loading. This research found out that integrating PV plants to GGDS distribution network improves voltage profiles and a decrease in overall percentage loading of the feeders and interconnectors. However, some notes could only permit a limited loading. In conclusion, the implications of the effects of solar PV on the distribution system differ from one circuit to another; therefore, it calls for utilities to conduct an intensive network assessment for each particular feeder before interconnecting with solar.