Solar Power Water Research Articles

MODELING OF SYSTEMS WITH THE PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER SOURCE AND WATER PUMPS

The article is devoted to the calculation of systems consisting of a solar photovoltaic power source and water pumps. It is noted that such systems can be used both in households or industry, and in agriculture, in particular for irrigation. Several variants of water pumps are shown. An analysis of the operational modes where the photovoltaic power source is connected to the pump has been carried out. The selection of equipment was carried out and the expediency of using a system with an electric energy booster was indicated. A booster for providing current during start-up modes can be a capacitor, a battery of capacitors or an ionistor. Emphasis is placed on the fact that for doing of such systems it is necessary to apply modeling with the use of electrical models. It is shown that for developing of electric models of solenoid-based pumps and pumps based on rotating direct current motors, it is necessary to use the methods of electromechanical analogies. Electrical models of a photovoltaic power source and, based on analogies, a solenoid-based pump and a direct current motor-based pump with permanent magnet excitation and parallel excitation were developed. When developing electrical models, controlled sources of voltage and current were used with mutual influence of the electrical and mechanical parts of the pumps. The need to use direct current motors with parallel excitation is indicated, as they are more stable to emergency modes. It is also stated that in general, the mechanical load of the rotating part of motors is non-linear and depends on the number of revolutions of the shaft. A nonlinear resistance that models a nonlinear mechanical load is shown, and it is noted that the higher-order nonlinearity is insignificant. Conclusions are drawn and further development in the direction of the use of digital technologies is outlined.

A case study of an integrated solar chimney power plant and water desalination plant in Qatar

The study proposes a novel solution of integrating a solar chimney power plant (SCPP) with a water desalination pilot plant (WDPP) to enhance generating energy and fresh water. The integration was accomplished by coupling the excess heat from the WDPP to the collector of the SCPP. Hence, enhance the temperature profile within the structure for better energy production. Hourly weather data (temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar irradiance) were gathered during the entire year and their impacts on the efficiency of the SCPP were analyzed. The performance of SCPP+WDPP was assessed in terms of the production of electrical power and desalinated water. The temperature differences between the inside and exterior of the SCPP had a significant impact on the airflow pattern within the chimney and the resulting energy production. The results emphasized the superior performance of SCPP+WDPP, especially in terms of continuous 24-h electrical and water production. The proposed system increased water production from 139,443.4 tons to 224,513.7 tons and energy production from 633,125.9 kWh to 1,103,435 kWh compared with SCPP. The SCPP+WDPP could reduce the annual CO2 emissions by 993,091.5 kg and increased power efficiency by 98 %. Performing further techno-economic assessments is advised to enhance the system efficiency.

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

Measurement tool for training needs of farmers for solar power water pump system

Measurement tool for training needs of farmers for solar power water pump system

An Exploration of the Application to Buildings of an Organic Rankine Cycle Power Generation System Driven by Solar Evacuated Glass Tubes

Abstract Solar technologies are an efficient means of addressing environmental pollution and climate change challenges. In this study, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system driven by solar evacuated glass tubes named solar water power generation (SWPG) system was experimentally investigated to explore the performance of the SWPG system in powering buildings. For ORC, a new mixture called TD-3 was introduced for the experiment after comparing the thermodynamic characteristics of five working fluids using refprop software. The solar radiation intensity was simulated for solar collectors to determine the best installation angle of the evacuated glass tubes to be 30 deg in Tianjin, China. The power generating efficiency was tested as high as 4.5% at 1:00 pm on July 15. The optimization of operating parameters and the modification of generating equipment contributed to the increase in power generation. The SWPG system could achieve an optimal power output when the system guaranteed a small superheat and no more than 3 °C subcooling using the TD-3. The transmission ratio between the generator and expander also impacted power generation that the ratio of 2:1 helped optimize the power generation.

Converting a Water Pressurized Network in a Small Town into a Solar Power Water System

The efficient management of water and energy is one challenge for managers of water pressurized systems. In a scheme with high pressure on the environment, solar power appears as an opportunity for nonrenewable energy expenditure reduction and emissions elimination. In Spain, new legislation that eliminates old taxes associated with solar energy production, a drop in the cost of solar photovoltaic modules, and higher values of irradiance has converted solar powered water systems into one of the trendiest topics in the water industry. One alternative to store energy (compulsory in standalone photovoltaic systems) when managing pressurized urban water networks is the use of head tanks (tanks accumulate water during the day and release it at night). This work intends to compare the pressurized network running as a standalone system and a hybrid solution that incorporates solar energy supply and electricity grids. The indicator used for finding the best choice is the net present value for the solar power water system lifespan. This study analyzed the possibility of transferring the energy surplus obtained at midday to the electricity grid, a circumstance introduced in the Spanish legislation since April 2019. We developed a real case study in a small town in the Alicante Province, whose findings provide planning policymakers with very useful information in this case and similar case studies

Stochastic Online Generation Control of Cascaded Run-of-the-River Hydropower for Mitigating Solar Power Volatility

To exploit the massive solar energy available in the region, photovoltaic plants have been built in the mountain areas in Southwest China, coexisting with many small cascaded run-of-the-river hydropower plants, interconnected by short-distance transmission lines. Network constraints inside these systems are often negligible. However, due to the volatile nature of solar power and the weak connection to the external power grid, without proper coordination, solar power curtailment and water spillage are inevitable. To address this issue, this paper proposes an ultra-short-term stochastic generation control method for cascaded hydropower to mitigate solar power volatility. Two technical challenges are specifically addressed: to tackle the time-varying stochastic volatility of solar power, the Itô process model is introduced; to characterize the spatial-temporal hydraulic coupling of the cascaded hydropower plants and river operation constraints, a state-space dynamic river model derived from shallow water equations is included. Followingly, a stochastic control (SC) approach for hydropower generation based on stochastic programming is proposed, where hydropower generation commands are parameterized as affine functions of measured solar power, enabling quick response to solar power volatility. Simulation of a real-life cascaded hydro-solar system and a modified system verifies the proposed control method.

Low-cost and reusable carbon black based solar evaporator for effective water desalination

Solar distillation is considered a low-cost, environmental-friendly approach for freshwater production. However, water output and photothermal efficiency of conventional solar evaporators are low. This study developed highly efficient bilayer photothermal functional films (noted as CBMCE) by depositing carbon black nanoparticles (CBNPs) dispersion on mixed cellulose ester (MCE) support via simple vacuum filtration. To further increase water production, multilayer enhanced evaporators (MEER) were fabricated by coupling optimal CBMCE with polystyrene foam and air-laid paper. The effects of operating conditions on solar evaporation were systematically investigated, including loading rate of CBNPs on MCE, solar power densities, water depths, relative humidity, and different water types (deionized water, synthetic seawater, municipal wastewater, and 13.5 wt% NaCl solution). Experimental results indicated that the average water evaporation rate (AER) increased with increasing incident solar density and decreased with increasing water depths, aqueous solution salinity, and relative humidity. For 13.5 wt% NaCl solution, MEER achieved maximum AER of 5.6 kg·m−2·h−1, enhanced evaporation rate and evaporation efficiency by ~124.0% and ~123.5%, respectively. Economic analysis showed desalination of 13.5 wt% NaCl solution using MEER had a life cycle cost of ~$1.89/m3 fresh water produced. This study demonstrates that MEER are highly efficient, low-cost, and reusable functional materials for solar desalination.

Potential Map for the Installation of Concentrated Solar Power in Northeast of Brazil Using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)

Brazil has a predominantly renewable energy matrix, with large participation of water resource in domestic supply of energy. Data from 2019 National Energy Balance show that renewable sources (water, biomass, wind and solar photovoltaic) together represented 83% of domestic electric supply in 2018, where the remaining percentage (16.7%) represented non-renewable sources. The generation of electricity through thermal solar technology was not representative. However, it is known that Brazil presents high potential for the installation of solar thermal plants, especially in the Northeastern Region, where direct normal solar irradiation values are high. It is observed that the (high) costs of the projects associated to the absence of a specific incentive program make Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants installation more and more time consuming. As a way to contribute to the insertion of solar thermal energy in Brazil, this article presents a methodology for the location of parabolic trough solar thermal plants of 80 MW for the State of Bahia, located in the Northeastern Region of Brazil. Such methodology was based on the application the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and the Geoprocessing Technologies to define potentially available sites for the implementation of the projects. For the analysis, parameters related to energy production in the solar power plant, electric, roadways and water infrastructure of the plant were taken into account, as well as the occupation, slopes and land use. Considering the analyses performed, it was confirmed that Bahia disposes of many sites with great generation potential, especially in the western region of the State (at Barreiras), where favorable conditions were found for the development of the technology. Localities situated in other region of the State were also confirmed as suitable, however with less site availability for the insertion of plants. Methodology validations were also carried out and indicated that the model reached the proposed objective, faithfully representing the real-world simplifications that were made.

Design and Analysis of Parabolic Trough Solar Water Heating System

Renewable energy technology is one of the prospective sources which can meet the energy demand and can contribute to achieve sustainable development goals. Concentrated collectors are widely used in solar thermal power generation and water heating system also. It is very popular due to its high thermal efficiency, simple construction requirements and low manufacturing cost. This paper is concerned with an experimental study of parabolic trough collector for water heating technology. It focuses on the performance of concentrating solar collector by changing the reflector materials (aluminum sheet, aluminum foil and mirror film). In Bangladesh, it is possible to use low cost solar concentrating technologies for domestic as well as industrial process heat applications. The line focusing parabolic trough collectors have been designed, developed and evaluated its performance by collecting solar radiation, inlet and outlet water temperature, flow rate, efficiency etc.

Perancangan Sistem Pompa Irigasi Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Surya (PLTS) Untuk Pertanian Subak Semaagung

In general the average rice harvest in Indonesia is three times in one year with a rice age of 115-120 days. Subak is an organization owned by farmers in Bali that specifically regulates traditional rice field irrigation systems. Subak Semaagung every year there is a shortage of water on agricultural land. Subak area of approximately 55 hectares consisting of six groups of farmers called "tempek". Agricultural water supplied to each tempek interchangeably because the water supply is very limited, so any tempek can only grow rice once in 2 years. The situation is very difficult for farmers to maintain their own rice fields with a limited water supply, so that the fields in the Subak has been largely abandoned. Previously, the Ministry of Agriculture has provided assistance in the form of diesel-powered irrigation pump system, but the diesel-powered water pumping systems are only used for 1 year because it requires a very complicated way of operational and fuel costs are enormous. This research will be designed water pump system Solar Power Plant (PLTS) for more effective than previous diesel pump. From the discussion and analysis has been done that with an area of 300 m2 can be mounted solar panels monokristaline 52.14 kW with a maximum capacity of solar modules totaling 158 units, inverter 33 kW two units, and Submersible pumps SP 60-9 two units. So that the result of the calculation of water that can be lifted inthe dry season every day is 1.275.000/liters/day. With a total investment cost of solar power water pumps Subak Semaagung ????????1.168.137.010.

Autonomous coop cooling system using renewable energy and water recycling

Extreme temperature in a chicken coop can significantly affect the growth and productivity of poultry. Therefore, the temperature inside the chicken coop need to be controlled to protect it from extreme temperatures. Most of the technology use electrical energy supplied to an evaporative cooling system to control the temperature of a coop. This paper presents an autonomous chicken coop cooling system using renewable energy and water recycling (REMACT). In this study, a monitoring system with necessary hardware, control application, powered with solar power source and water recycling, has been developed. The proposed cooling system consists of hardware part such as an Internet of Things (IOT) controller platform, temperature sensor, solar panel, water pump, water storage, water drain and pipe. When the temperature sensor detects extreme temperature more than 28℃ in a chicken coop, the water in storage tank will flow throughout the pipe and pass into water pump before it irrigates the chicken coop roof. When the temperature is below 22℃, the bulb will light up to transfer heat to the chicken coop and cause the temperature drop back to a healthy range. The water drain that is attached to the roof will collect the water and return the water back to the water storage again. The software components required by the project are Arduino IDE, Thinger.io, and Android Studio Framework. Several experiments have been conducted with hot and cold scenarios. The system was able to stabilise the temperature back to a healthy range. A usability testing result demonstrates 80% satisfactory rate. The findings from the experiments show that IoT, renewable energy and water recycling have the potential for temperature control of a chicken coop.

Development and Testing of Solar Power Water Pumping System for Domestic Purpose

Development and Testing of Solar Power Water Pumping System for Domestic Purpose

The Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA) version 2017: a database for worldwide measured surface energy fluxes

Abstract. The Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA) is a database for the central storage of the worldwide measured energy fluxes at the Earth's surface, maintained at ETH Zurich (Switzerland). This paper documents the status of the GEBA version 2017 dataset, presents the new web interface and user access, and reviews the scientific impact that GEBA data had in various applications. GEBA has continuously been expanded and updated and contains in its 2017 version around 500 000 monthly mean entries of various surface energy balance components measured at 2500 locations. The database contains observations from 15 surface energy flux components, with the most widely measured quantity available in GEBA being the shortwave radiation incident at the Earth's surface (global radiation). Many of the historic records extend over several decades. GEBA contains monthly data from a variety of sources, namely from the World Radiation Data Centre (WRDC) in St. Petersburg, from national weather services, from different research networks (BSRN, ARM, SURFRAD), from peer-reviewed publications, project and data reports, and from personal communications. Quality checks are applied to test for gross errors in the dataset. GEBA has played a key role in various research applications, such as in the quantification of the global energy balance, in the discussion of the anomalous atmospheric shortwave absorption, and in the detection of multi-decadal variations in global radiation, known as global dimming and brightening. GEBA is further extensively used for the evaluation of climate models and satellite-derived surface flux products. On a more applied level, GEBA provides the basis for engineering applications in the context of solar power generation, water management, agricultural production and tourism. GEBA is publicly accessible through the internet via http://www.geba.ethz.ch. Supplementary data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.873078.

Synthesis of efficient solar thermal power cycles for baseload power supply

Limited fossil fuel reserves and increasing greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels make it essential to develop alternative renewable energy conversion processes to meet energy needs. Advancements in renewable power production are especially important since electric power is the largest consumer of primary energy resources with the highest growth rate among alternate energy use sectors, and is currently responsible for greater than 40% of the global CO2 emissions. Among the renewable energy sources, solar energy is prominent due to its abundance. Here, we introduce an efficient solar thermal power cycle, solar water power (SWP) cycle, with water as the working fluid, which undergoes reheats between expansions. SWP cycle is developed to maximize exergy efficiency, allow flexible operation and process intensification. Simulation and optimization of the SWP cycles are performed in an integrated Aspen Plus/MATLAB modeling environment. Modeling results predict that SWP cycle with 1 solar reheating stage has a potential to generate electricity with sun-to-electricity efficiencies greater than 30% at solar heat collection temperature as low as 750K. The cycle also promises sun-to-electricity efficiencies in the unprecedented range of 40–46% for the corresponding temperatures above 1400K. Further efficiency increase is estimated by the addition of more reheating stages.

Water Requirements for Large‐Scale Solar Energy Projects in the West

AbstractThis study estimates how much water would be required to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards for electricity generation in five western states if 100 percent of this demand were supplied by solar power. Future renewable electricity demand (net of current supplies) is estimated for 2025 and 2035. One scenario assumes the most water‐intensive solar thermal technology supplies all this future demand. Although not a feasible scenario, the assumed water intensity (1057 gallons/MWh) provides an upper‐bound estimate of solar power water consumption that may be compared with regional water balances. A second scenario assumes the water intensity of future projects is comparable to the average of solar projects actually being deployed. Water intensity for these 34 projects with 8.7 GW of capacity averages 228 gallons/MWh – a lower rate than many conventional electricity facilities (i.e., coal, natural gas, nuclear). Water requirements by 2035 would be 0.8 percent of regional consumptive use of water under the upper bound scenario and 0.2 percent of consumptive use based on current, average water intensities.

Solar power water distillation unit

Clean drinking water is the basic necessity for every human being, but about 1.1 billion people in the world lacked proper drinking water. There are many different types of water purification processes such as filtration, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet radiation, carbon absorption, but the most reliable processes are distillation and boiling. Water purification, such as distillation, is especially important in regions where water resources or tap water is not suitable for ingesting without boiling or chemical treatment. In design project It treats the water by combining different methods such as Filtration, Distillation and a technique called concentrated solar power (CSP). Distillation is literally the method seen in nature, whereby: the sun heats the water on the earth's surface, the water is turned into a vapor (evaporation) and rises, leaving contaminants behind, to form clouds. As the upper atmosphere drops in temperature the vapors cool and convert back to water to form water. In this project distillation is achieved by using a parabolic mirror which boils water at high temperature. Filtration is done by sand filter and carbon filter. First sand filter catches the sand particles and the carbon filter which has granules of active carbon is used to remove odor dissolved gases from water. This is the Pre-treatment of water. The filtered water is then collected in a water container at a focus of parabolic mirror where distillation process is done. Another important feature of designed project is the solar tracking of a parabolic mirror which increases the efficiency of a parabolic mirror [1],[2].

The rising potential of competitive solar desalination

Recent advances in solar-cell technology and membrane-separation technology do promise the economic viability of distributed seawater and brackish-water solar desalting systems in the near future. Reverse osmosis desalting processes driven by photovoltaic solar electricity can have the potential of displacing fossil fuel and curbing the rise of CO2 in the environment. This paper models desalination by spiral-wound RO membrane modules driven by solarto-power photovoltaic converter panels with the purpose of revealing the economic potential of the combination. The paper then investigates the variability of the cost of desalted water with the major efficiency parameters of the desalting process and of the solar-to-power conversion process given water product rate, initial salt content, provisional reject brine salt content, design solar intensity and solar duration. Systems are generated by grouped input parameters of interest to the unit costs of solar power and product water. Runs covering a wide range of system input parameters are made and sample results are presented. The results already show two designs close to competitiveness. As fuel prices rise and/or technology advances, competitiveness becomes more assured. The obvious statement that high-efficiency solar and high efficiency desalting processes are keys to competitive solar desalination within the constraint of cost-effectiveness is confirmed in this study. The study also proposes a dimensionless number for RO membranes that may be useful.