Received: 29 May 2021 Revised: 24 July 2021 Accepted: 9 August 2021

DOI: 10.1002/er.7197

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Renewable energy adoption: Design, development, and

assessment of solar tree for the mountainous region

Roushan Kumar1 | Kamal Bansal2 | Adesh Kumar2 | Jitendra Yadav1 |

2 3
Mukul Kumar Gupta | Vivek Kumar Singh

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
School of Engineering, University of Summary
Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, The primary objective for promoting clean energy in India is sustainable devel-
India
opment, improving energy poverty, energy security, access to energy, and miti-
2
Department of Electrical & Electronics
gate climate change. Solar-based renewable energy systems are considering as
Engineering, School of Engineering,
University of Petroleum and Energy clean energy because of it does not emit any greenhouse gases when producing
Studies, Dehradun, India electricity. The solar tree is a very good example of the integration of various
3
Energy for Sustainability Initiative, technologies. The study presents the design, development, and validation of a
University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
solar tree in the Himalayan region. The solar tree is emerged out as one of the
Correspondence most creative and environmentally friendly solutions in the mountainous
Roushan Kumar, Department of
region as it overcomes the problem of the scarcity of land. A modular design
Mechanical Engineering, School of
Engineering, University of Petroleum and approach for the solar tree is adopted. The tree design is a nontracking solar
Energy Studies, Dehradun, India. tree, equipped with LED lights, multiple USB ports, electrical sockets for
Email: [email protected]
charging laptops, mobile phones, electric bicycles, and electric vehicles. It gen-
erates 28% more power in comparison to the land-based system. Its annual
electricity generation is 2160 to 2520 units at the rate of 6 to 7 units per day.
The factor of safety at a wind speed of 100 km/h and 200 km/h are 6 and 1.52.
The photovoltaic energy density improvement and solar energy footprint
improvement with the land-based system during sunny and bright environ-
mental conditions are 42.37% and 39.47%, respectively.

KEYWORDS
modular design, non-tracking, renewable energy, solar tree, sustainable development

1 | INTRODUCTION such promising alternative energy sources is solar

energy,3 which is clean, renewable, safe, and abundant.4
In the present era, rigorous research is going on to dis- Solar photovoltaic (SPV)5 installations are growing
cover techniques that can harness clean and renewable rapidly,6 due to their demand for economic, technical,
energy sources. Which indeed has become necessary to and environmental benefits.7 To cater to the energy
overcome the challenges imposed by the rapid depletion demand currencies, the photovoltaics (PVs)8 are the most
of fossil fuels and the increasing demand for energy sup- promising source of sustainable9 power generation,
plies. Presently, the rapid exploitation of conventional which can be installed in solar trees.10 The solar tree is a
fossil fuel, global warming due to the thermal power fixed mechanical structure with solar energy11 technol-
plant, and high-energy demand1 substantiate the adop- ogy. It is aesthetically as well as functionally a great
tion of green and renewable sources of energy.2 One of source of renewable12 and clean energy.13

Int J Energy Res. 2021;1–17. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/er © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1
2 KUMAR ET AL.

The solar tree design is based on mechanical struc- system but limited findings are available for the solar tree
tures, which are called stems. Stems are attached to e in terms of factors of safety, PV energy density, solar
central trunk, which is named as a pillar of the solar tree. energy footprint, and economic analysis. The present
The solar tree replicates the tree wherein the solar panels research work considers these factors into account to get
mounted14 on stems are analogous to leaves at the bra- the real-time solution. These factors derived the interest
nches of the tree. A solar tree is a great source of solar toward present work. The present study intended to
energy15 and electricity, and its panels are arranged in design and built a solar tree system, which is capable of
the form of a tree-like tower/pole.16 The function of a producing electricity in an eco-friendly environment for
solar tree is to receive heat from the Sun and to harness it domestic, agricultural, and commercial uses. The
through multiple progressing techniques, such as solar research study also covers performance comparison of PV
thermal electricity, photovoltaic17 cell, solar heating, energy density and solar energy footprint for different
solar fuels, and artificial photosynthesis. The energy gen- environmental conditions. The research outcomes will
erated from photovoltaic cells18 is the most prominent provide useful evidence for policymakers, investors, asso-
and popular practice to harness the solar energy.19 Solar ciated stakeholders researchers, and scientists.
irradiance patterns, local climatic conditions, and robust The organization of the paper is as follows: Section 2
technology20 are the main factors for deciding the effi- describes the approach for the solar tree with system
ciency of the solar PV system. The robust design21,22 of operation. Section 3 presents control design parameters
the solar tree23 should have proper solar irradiance pat- includes incremental conductance algorithm, electrical
tern assessment and radiation data assessment24 through- and electronic control design. Section 4 explains the oper-
out the year, which enables the optimum design for a ation of the solar tree system. Section 5 shows the results
proficient solar energy conversation system.25 and discussions which include azimuth angle, elevation
The Sun movement14 changes throughout the day angle, collector/receiver geometry, and its orientation,
round the year. Therefore, it is essentially required to monthly solar radiation data, PV and IV Characteristics
optimize the performance of the solar system with mov- of a photovoltaic module with different irradiation levels,
able plates as the fixed angle solar plates limit the maxi- the factor of safety (FOS), and solar tree output compari-
mum efficiency. However, the overall cost of the variable son and economic analysis. Finally, Section 6 offers con-
plate base system is very high in comparison to that for a clusions and future works.
fixed26 plate-based system. The concept of a solar tree is
rapidly attracting researchers to achieve higher energy
generation27 per unit ground footprint area.10 In the 2 | A P P R O A C H F O R SO L A R T R E E
urban and hilly areas, the biggest challenge is the avail-
ability of land for the installation of the solar trees 2.1 | Design components for solar tree
because procurement of land from private and govern-
ment bodies is a very complex and tedious job due to the The proposed solar tree system is a standalone system
various restriction imposed by local and central authori- that ensures the quality and reliability of power genera-
ties in these areas. In urban areas, the land is a premium tion and can stop the dependency on others for power
commodity, whereas in hilly areas clearance from agen- requirements. Thus, the land-based system35 is slightly
cies like forest departments has to go through a very com- oversized to meet the load requirement during the low
plex mechanism.28 The alternate solution to the problem radiation36 period in winters. In the stand-alone inverter
may be rooftop-based solar systems29 in urban areas, but mode of operation, SPV is the main source. It ensures a
limited space available on the rooftop limits the capac- stable and reliable37 energy supply at different loads. The
ity30 of solar modules. The solar tree is one of the novel standalone power plant design38 is based on the data
and promising methods4 to integrate photovoltaic available in Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India.
plates31 in a limited constructed environment.32 The solar Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the SPV power
tree needs high initial investments primarily to bear the plant.
cost of structure.10,33 The novel mechanical structure The PV arrays are mounted on a structure comprising
plays a vital role in the successful and economical imple- PV modules connected in series and parallel combina-
mentation34 of the solar tree, land usage, and public tions39 and facing toward the south direction. The struc-
acceptability. ture is fixed at an angle equal to the latitude of that
The research objective is to design, develop, fabricate location, having a provision for seasonal adjustment
and analyze the solar tree and extend the model for eco- between 0
and 30
to maximize the solar radiation inci-
nomic mountainous region solutions. Even though sev- dence on the PV array.40 Further, daily trekking arrange-
eral research findings are available for the land-based ments (at least three times a day) enhance the annual
KUMAR ET AL. 3

power generation and generate optimum power from the solar tree is fabricated and installed to check its feasibility
PV array. in the Himalayan region. The main components of the
The system DC voltage, battery voltage, and the input solar tree are the central trunk with 200 mm external and
DC voltage of the standalone inverter are either 240 or 192 mm internal diameter. The stems are welded to the
360 V. It is supported with maximum power point track- central trunk as shown in Figure 2. The stems are
ing (MPPT) operating system41 that occurs in the range 100 mm external and 95 mm internal diameter. The SPV
of 300 to 600 V. This enables the optimum supply of gen- plates are mounted on the tips of the stem as cantilever
erated energy to the charge controller42,43 and battery support.
banks.44 The purpose of selecting DC voltage is to mini- The total weight of the tree is 600 kg and the com-
mize the current losses45 in cables and voltage drop. The plete structure is made of low-grade cast iron. The total
standalone inverters of the solar system are connected to height of the central trunk is 2971 mm. The analysis
either a 240 or 360 V battery bank46 to minimize loss load through the three-dimensional model helps to make
probability losses. The MPPT, charge controller, and the tree aesthetically soothing and helps in under-
inverters are installed in a suitably designed enclosure standing the shading and wind effects after the instal-
that protects the system from dust, wind, rain, and adul- lation.29,30 The fabricated working model of the solar
teration.47 The latest IT-enabled technology48 is used in tree is installed on the university campus as shown in
the development process. Figure 3.

2.2 | Fabrication of solar tree 2.3 | Design and development of

components for solar tree
The solar tree39 subsystem is listed in Section 2 and the
proposed system is fabricated at the laboratory level to The design process of a solar tree involves multiple steps.
test the different design parameters of the system. The The first step is the prototype development,49 followed by
various real-time steps for laying down a strong founda-
tion so that the solar tree may stand firmly during normal
as well as extreme conditions such as earthquakes and
high wind speed. The metallic tree structure is used for
the development of solar trees to hold the solar plates.
The structure is designed with the optimum orientation
of the plates to avoid the shadowing effect through the
time of exposure to the Sun. The exact orientation of
solar panels (28
inclination with horizontal) is crucial
for electricity generation.50 The circuit design51 of the
solar system consists of solar panels, array junction box,
tubular battery, solar inverter, AC distribution box, and
LED cob lights.
The proposed design ensures the safety of the struc-
ture against the high-speed wind flow and storms. The
FIGURE 1 Standalone solar photovoltaic power plant structure is safe against wind blow even up to 200 km/h,

F I G U R E 2 (A) Three-
dimensional view of solar tree;
(B) two-dimensional view of the
solar tree (front view)
4 KUMAR ET AL.

FIGURE 5 Solar tree foundation design layout

and only the bending effect due to the air impact on vari-
ous panels are considered. The maximum bending
moment will occur at point O that is the base of the trunk
of the tree. The maximum bending moment at point O is
FIGURE 3 Final layout of functional solar tree
represented in Equation (2).

M o ¼ F  OF þ F  OE þ F  OD þ 2F
ð2Þ
 OC þ F  OB þ 2F  OA

M o = F  L m.
where Lm is the effective lever arm length of 19.3 m for
the structure and F is the force acting on a single plate.
The induced bending stress is calculated by
Equation (3)

π 3

M¼ d 1  K 4 σB, ð3Þ
32 o

where do = 0.2 m, di = 0.184 m, K = 0.92, and σB is the

bending stress.
The FOS, defines the safety of the trunk against bend-
ing failure represented in Equation (4) and the material
FIGURE 4 Solar structure load diagram for the trunk is low-grade cast iron with a bending capac-
ity of 190 N/mm2.

which is the highest intensity of storm ever faced by the FOS ¼ σpermissible =σinduced : ð4Þ
region. The dynamic energy6 in the air is converted to
high pressure when airstrikes to the solar panels and
pressure force acts on projected surfaces of the solar 2.3.1 | Design of solar tree foundation
panels, which ultimately leads to the bending of the cen-
tral trunk. Figure 4 layouts the load distribution over the A solar tree foundation is used for connecting mechanical
trunk of the solar tree. Equation (1) represents the wind structures with the ground for the transfer of the struc-
pressure force. tural load to the ground. A strong foundation is required
to hold solar tree structures against adverse environmen-
1 tal conditions such as storms and earthquakes. The civil
F w ¼ ρ v2 A, ð1Þ
2 work consists of the foundations52 for the solar tree, shed
for the controller, ACDB, and battery bank. The height,
where Fw is wind force (N), A is the maximum projected weight, orientation, and wind velocity are the factors of
surface area (m2), ρ is the density of air (kg/m3), and v is the solar tree that determines the actual design width
the wind speed (m/s). The torsional effects are ignored and depth of the foundation.
KUMAR ET AL. 5

Figure 5 shows the design layout of the foundation

for the solar tree. Live load and dead load forces are con-
sidered in the design of solar tree foundations.
Force = 600 kg  10 = 6 kN.
Fbolt = 45 kW.
Total force on 8 bolts = 360 kW, Considering, bolt
grade = 4.6 and concrete grade = M 35.

2.3.2 | Design of mechanical structure of the

solar tree

The mechanical structure of the solar tree includes a cen- F I G U R E 6 Mechanical structure design of a solar tree with
tral trunk, stubs, and branches. Solar PV panels are multiple stubs and branches
attached at the tip of branches. The height and number
of solar panels are fixed as per the 2 kW load. It consists
of eight solar panels with a maximum output of 2000
Wp. To maintain solar plate inclination of 28
33 following
calculation adopted.
Figure 6 explains the solar tree stubs hold PV panels
with supporting branches. The design of branch length
and appropriate angle is 28
to maintain PV plate inclina-
tion. The design assumptions for length and calculation
are considered as: I = 1645 mm, x = 259 mm,
h0 = 500 mm and pivot at midpoint of AB = lx 2 =
1645259
2
= 693 mm. The outer diameter of the solar tree stub is
102 mm, connected to the main central trunk having an
outer diameter of 200 mm. Where I1 and I2 are the
lengths of supporting rod 1 and rod 2, respectively, θ1, θ2
are the inclinations of rod 1 and rod 2 with the horizontal
axis respectively, z is the horizontal projection of plate
supported by rods at point A and B and x is the overhung
of the plate attached to rod 2. FIGURE 7 Front view of solar tree
Considering the horizontal length and pivot point are
represented in Equation (5).
Y’ = 1386 sin 28
= 650 mm, first branch length and
Z angle calculation.
cos 280 ¼ ð5Þ
lx
y0 þ y00 650 þ 174:5

tan θ2 ¼ ¼ ¼ 1:471, ð8Þ
Z = 1386 cos 28 = 1223 mm. 2  51
z
560:5
Similarly, perpendicular height and half-point the
first and second branch length and angle calculation are
represented by Equations (6) to (10). θ2 = tan1(1.471) = 56
.
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
z 2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

P y
sin 28 ¼ ¼ , ð6Þ l2 ¼ ðy0 þ y00 Þ2 þ  51 ¼ ð650 þ 174:5Þ2 þ ð560:5Þ2
h ðl  x Þ=2 2
¼ 996:97mm:
Y = 693 sin 28
= 325.5 mm. ð9Þ
Y” = h’ - y = 500 - 325.5 = 174.5 mm.

y0 Similarly, second branch length and angle

sin 28
¼ , ð7Þ
lx calculation.
6 KUMAR ET AL.

y00
2.4.2 | Size of the solar plate system
tan θ1 ¼ z , ð10Þ
2  51
The size of the solar plate used in the solar tree installa-
tion is represented by Equation (11). It is the ratio of solar
θ1 = tan1(174:5 560:5) = 17.2 .


tree system peak watt rating and tilted surface daily sun
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi hours.

2ffi
l1 ¼ ðy00 Þ2 þ 2z  51 = ð174:5Þ2 þ ð560:5Þ2 = 587 mm.
W peak ¼ Parray =T average , ð11Þ
Therefore,
l1 ¼ 587 mm , θ1 = 17.2
, l2 ¼ 996:97 mm and θ2 = 56
. where Wpeak = Peak Power = 5044/5 = 1008 WP;
Similarly, other stubs and branches of the solar tree Parray = Solar tree system peak watt rating;
are calculated and accordingly installation and commis- Taverage = Tilted surface daily sun hours (Uttarakhand
sioning are done. The front view of the solar three is pres- Region average value is 5 hours29).
ented in Figure 7.

2.4.3 | PV array size determination

2.4 | Electrical design parameters for
solar tree Photovoltaic array size design is based on different equip-
ment efficiency. The efficiencies of the lead-acid battery
The electrical design parameters of the solar tree are load and the smart hybrid controller are 85%, wire and
estimation, solar plate size, PV array size, system voltage, battery bank losses are considered as 3%. The energy
battery size, charge/discharge cycle, charge controller, requirement through the photovoltaic cell is represented
electrical wiring, and solar tree layout. in Equation (12) and the peak wattage rating of the PV
module in Equation (13).

The energy requirement through photovoltaic cell ¼

1
¼ 1=ð0:85  0:85  0:97Þ ¼ 1:42 ≈ 1:40:
ð charge controller efficiency  battery efficiency  battery bank and wiring lossÞ
ð12Þ

2.4.1 | Load estimation Therefore, the energy required from the PV mod-
ule is.
The load is estimated based on the daily use of equip-
ment, the total load requirement for the electrical devices E arr ¼ E L  1:4: ð13Þ
is estimated and shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Load estimation for different electrical appliances

Rated Hours/
Appliances Power (W) Qty day (H) W kW Wh/day kWh/day
Lightning/bulbs 7 3 4 21 0.021 84 0.084
Lightning bulbs for panel and system 2 20 4 40 0.04 160 0.16
Laptop charger 80 4 12 320 0.32 3840 3.84
USB mobile charger 10 8 12 80 0.08 960 0.96
Total load 5.044
KUMAR ET AL. 7

where EL = Daily energy consumption in watt-hour per TABLE 2 Battery rating parameters calculation
day. Earr = 5044 Wh  1.4 = 7061 Wh. = 7100 Wh Households Nos. 1
approximately. Epeak = Earr/average daily sun hours on
Spare household Nos. 0
the tilted surface at latitude angle.
Total household Nos. 1
Epeak = 7100/5 = 1420.
where Epeak is the peak wattage rating of the PV module Power supply (in Watt) Watts/House 461
and average daily sun hours on the tilted surface at lati- Number of hours Hours 10
tude angle is taken as 5 hours29 from actual Uttrakhand Load kW 0.461
industrial data. Demand increase considered percent 0%
Actual load kW 0.46
Load kVA kVA 0.58
2.4.4 | System voltage selection and total
array current Total energy required kWh 4.610
Total energy generated kWh 8.000
System voltage has been taken as 48 VDC since the AC Battery design
load required is less than 5 kW. Direct current (IDC) is System voltage Volts 48
calculated based on peak wattage rating and system volt- Single cell battery voltage volts 2
age VDC as per Equation (14).
No. of battery cells nos. 24

I DC ¼ E peak =V DC ¼ 1420=48 ¼ 29:5A: ð14Þ Conversion efficiency 0.80

Depth of discharge 0.80
Battery Ah rating Ah 260
2.4.5 | Calculation for battery size w.r.t PV system capacity
charging and discharging Power generation factor (GHI) 5.00
System efficiency 80%
The charging/discharging rate is given as the amount of
Generation/kW 4.00
charge added/removed from the battery per unit time.
Table 2 lists the calculation parameters for the battery PV capacity 2.00
bank size in terms of current, voltage, conversion effi-
ciency, usage hour, and depth of discharge.
temperature handling capacity. The cable link from the
PV module to the battery bank is represented in
2.4.6 | Charge controller Equation (16) and the cable link from the inverter to
ACDB or DCDB in Equation (17).
A charge controller is also known as a battery regulator. a. Cable link from PV solar module to 48 V bat-
The purpose of a charge controller is to regulate the cur- tery bank.
rent flow through the battery bank. It is intended to pre-
vent undercharging and overcharging of the battery. I Cable ¼ I sc  N pm  F safe , ð16Þ
Desired charge controller current (Icc) is calculated
based on Equation (15). ICable = 8.58  2.6  1.3 = 29 A ≈ 30 A.
Based on DC from PV solar module to 48 V battery
I cc ¼ I sc M  N pm  F safe , ð15Þ bank with proper gauge size and material, the copper
conductor wire is used with single-core cable viz
Icc = 8.58  2.6  1.3 = 29 A ≈ 30 A. 4 sq. mm.
Where IscM is the short circuit current of the PV module b. The DC cable from the battery bank inverter has a
and Fsafe is the appropriate safeguard factor to allow sys- single core (10 sq. mm). The single-core cable is designed
tem expansion. to connect the inverter to the power supply system and
can be used for both outdoor as well as indoor installa-
tion. It is also instrumental in stable and flexible
2.4.7 | Solare tree wiring rating and sizing installations in extreme weather conditions, with good
mechanical strength.
The rating and size of the solar tree wire determine the c. The AC/DC cable is used for the inverter to the ACDB
wire gauge size, current rating, voltage rating, and and DCDB. The inverter current output is as follows:
8 KUMAR ET AL.

9
I Inv ¼ Ptotal =ðV oi  p:f:Þ ¼ 3750=ð230  0:8Þ ¼ 20:3 A: dP >
>
> 0 then VP < VMPP >
>
ð17Þ dV >
>
=
dP
¼ 0 then VP ¼ VMPP ð22Þ
dV >
>
>
>
As per electrical standards, 3 core 4 sq. mm. cable is dP >
>
< 0 then VP > VMPP ;
used to handle 20.3 A of the current rating. dV

The incremental conduction algorithm in the photo-

3 | C ON T R O L DE S IG N F OR S OL A R voltaic system plays an important role in controlling the
TREE SYSTEM duty cycle of the buck booster converter according to
the changes in solar radiation, thus the converter remains
The control design covers structure design, simulation, at the maximum power. The INC algorithm53 minimizes
and implementation of a solar tree control system for an the design system cost and allows MPPT to operate with
off-grid energy storage system. The design covers incre- maximum efficiency. The algorithm is a gradient of cur-
mental conductance algorithm (INC algorithm), electri- rent and voltage and is instrumental in tunning the duty
cal and electronic control design, and data exchange. cycle.54 The working principle of instantaneous conduc-
tance, incremental conductance, and maximum power is
represented in Equations (18) to (21).
3.1 | Incremental conductance The maximum number of power points can be decided
algorithm (INC algorithm) with the help of Equation (22). The negative difference of
output conduction will actuate the module to operate at the
The incremental conductance technique is the most pop- maximum power points. The flow chart for incremental
ular the algorithm used in PV system due to its simplicity conductivity is shown in Figure 8. It is palpable from the
and low cost.21,22 This technique is based on the slope of flow chart that V(k) is the new detection voltage, I(k) is the
the power–voltage curve of PV panel, as explained by the new detection current, and V(δ) and I(δ) are the previous
following equation: detection value of voltage and current respectively. It works
on a feedback loop55 namely, it compares the new value
I dI with the previous value to calculate the voltage difference
¼ ð18Þ
V dV whether it is zero or not. If the current and voltage differ-
ence both are zero then impedance will be the same and
where VI ¼ Instantaneous Conductance and dI
dV = Incre- the duty cycle will remain as it was.
mental Conductance. The zero value of voltage difference with the nonzero
value of the current difference is the indication of the
dP change in insulation. The duty ratio increases with a pos-
And if ¼ 0, maximum power with respect to voltage is zero
dV itive value of the current difference and vice versa. If the
ð19Þ voltage difference value is calculated to be none zero, it
will check whether Equation (22) is satisfied or not. The
dP dV I dV dI slope of the power curve is zero when Equation (22) will
¼ ¼I þV
dV dV dV dV : be satisfied which implies that the system is operating at
the maximum power point.56 If the conduction deviation
dP dI is greater than the negative conductivity then the slope of
¼IþV ð20Þ
dV dV the power curve is positive and correspondingly the duty
ratio increases and vice versa.
From Equations (17) and (18)

0¼IþV
dI 3.2 | Electrical and electronics control
dV design
dI I The block diagram of the electrical and electronic control
¼ ð21Þ
dV V circuit is shown in Figure 9. The control system processes
four PIR sensor inputs (PIR1, PIR2, PIR3, and PIR4) and
The following observations are recognized concerning one RTC input (DS1307).24,25 The PIR sensors are con-
Equations (19), (20), and (21). nected to the Arduino Nano digital input/output pins D1,
KUMAR ET AL. 9

F I G U R E 8 Flow chart of
incremental conductance algorithm

main function of the first relay is to control the eight

white COB light which has been installed under the solar
plate, automatically (using real-time clock that is, RTC).
If a user wants to turn it on manually, he or she may use
the manual switch S1. Similarly, the function of the sec-
ond relay is to control the three-cob light, installed on
the main central trunk of the solar tree that will automat-
ically turn “ON” (using four PIR sensor pairs with a
microcontroller board).

4 | SY ST E M O P E R A T I O N

Solar energy is one of the sources of electricity that char-

ges battery banks and supplies power to the different
FIGURE 9 Block diagram of the control circuit
loads. First, the solar energy is converted to DC electrical
energy using solar panels then the DC electrical energy is
D2, D3, and D4. The RTC module is connected to analog converted to AC electrical energy by using an adaptive
I/O ports A5 and A6 via two lines, that is, serial data algorithm57 for high-efficiency MPPT solar chargers and
(SDA) and serial clock (SCL).26,27 SCL line of the I2C bus high efficient inverters. The inverter converts DC power
generates a clock signal by coordinating the data transfer to AC power to feed the microgrid. Moreover, the MPPT
between the Arduino Nano and the I2C bus. The SDA charge controller53,58 is intended to utilize the SPV mod-
line transfers real-time clock information to the micro- ules at peak value that indeed forces the PV modules to
controller. The two lines operate on the principle of operate at peak radiation. Whenever the DC power is
“open-drain” and are equipped with 5 kΩ resistors that generated, it is delivered to the load requirement directly
need to be attached to them so that the lines remain high if needed; otherwise, the battery bank is used to store the
in default nonconductive state. The two-output relays energy for the time when the sunlight is not available.
belong to the D5 and D6 pins of the microcontroller. The The generated solar power will charge the battery bank
10 KUMAR ET AL.

during the sunshine hours if the load requirement is not

at its peak. In the absence of sunlight, the charged battery
banks will be able to drive the load. The advantage of the
solar tree47 is that the generated solar power will be used
directly for the loads and prioritize to charge the battery
banks if the loads are not operative. It is difficult to gen-
erate electrical energy during the night for the entire
electric load but the available power in battery banks can
serve the purpose.40 The solar panels charge the battery
during the daytime. In the evening, solar tree switches
are “ON” automatically, and LED lights glow accord-
ingly. The internal control also regulates the extent of FIGURE 10 Solar azimuth and elevation angle for apparent
light produced according to the charge is left in the bat- position
tery. The solar tree is equipped with a PIR sensor59 and a
luminance sensor (Lux). The PIR sensor and luminance
sensor (Lux) measure human movement and light inten- 5.1.1 | Azimuth angle
sity, respectively in the atmosphere, and triggers the LED
lights accordingly. The LED light triggers “ON” at sunset It defines the directive angle of sunlight impingement
and “OFF” at sunrise. with horizontal. It is measured due north for the south-
The research work considered a 2 kWp solar tree for ern sphere and vice versa. It is considered positive west-
the Himalayan region, having India's geographical coor- ward and represented in Figure 10.
dinates of 30.345
N and 78.029
E and an elevation of The variation of azimuth angle for moving solar plate
447 m above sea level for Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The with the progression of the day for the Himalayan region
location receives the maximum and minimum average is shown in Figure 11. The azimuth angle is like a com-
global horizontal irradiance of 6.5 kWh/m2 (April, May, pass direction at the North Pole showing zero degrees,
and June) and 3.1 kWh/m2 (December and January). The while at the south pole it shows 180
. The azimuth angle
solar tree consists of eight solar panels each rating is instrumental in obtaining maximum energy production
250 Wp. The dimension of the solar panel is considered over the considered period. Since the highest irradiance
as 1955 mm  9820 mm  36 mm. Tilt angle and azi- in Dehradun is from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, the Azimuth
muth angle are varied to obtain the power generation angle for all the plates is taken as 7
.
curve and irradiance for various combinations. The per-
formance of the solar tree is ascertained based on five
influencing parameters, namely, azimuth angle, elevation 5.1.2 | Elevation angle
angle, monthly solar radiation data, and PV and IV char-
acteristics of a photovoltaic module with different irradia- The elevation angle, also called altitude angle, is the mea-
tion levels. sure of the height of the Sun from the horizontal. It is
used to represent elevation in meters above sea level. The
angle of elevation is 90
when the Sun is overhead while
5 | R ESULTS A ND DISCUSSIONS zero degrees at the time of sunrise. As the day progresses,
the angles of elevation change concerning the day, as
The comparative results regarding the solar tree assess- well as the latitudes shown in Figure 12. The design of a
ment cover solar radiation geometry, structural analysis, solar tree requires maximum and minimum azimuthal
the FOS, and economic analysis herein considered and angles and elevation angles to determine the maximum
presented. height of the Sun throughout the year. In the Himalayan
region, the availability of Sun irradiation is optimum for
an elevation angle of 30
to 100
.
5.1 | Solar radiation geometry

Sun geometry is determined with a different aspect of 5.1.3 | Monthly solar radiation data
heat gain, shading, and daylight potential. Here, we cal-
culated that various sun angles as azimuth, elevation India Meteorological Department (IMD) is the premier
angle and solar radiation, PV characterization of different government agency and is instrumental in maintaining
irradiation levels in the next sub-section. the solar radiation network by collecting data from
KUMAR ET AL. 11

F I G U R E 1 1 Azimuth angle
variation with the progression of
the day

FIGURE 12 Elevation
angle plot

45 ground stations. The solar radiation pattern of the different loading conditions using the solid mechanic's
Dehradun district, Uttarakhand has shown in Table 3. approach in stationary mode. The wind speed, wind force
on each solar plate, maximum bending moment, stress
magnification factor, and FOS were calculated and repre-
5.1.4 | PV and IV characteristics of a PV sented in Table 4. The calculated results fit into the
module with different irradiation level desired range of a FOS parameters.

Figure 13 explains the relation between P-V voltage and

P-V power and Figure 14 explains current and voltage 5.3 | Solar tree comparison and
characteristics at room temperature with unstable radia- economic analysis
tion levels. The current and PV power increase when the
total radiation level is high. The performance of the solar tree depends on the length
of the day, temperature, and irradiation level. The cur-
rent, voltage, and improvement percentage of the solar
5.2 | Optimization of structural design tree is compared with the land-based system29 and cap-
tured in Table 5. The energy generated, PV energy den-
In the Himalayan region, high wind speed creates drag sity, and solar energy footprint are captured in Table 6 in
forces that are responsible for solar tree mechanical fail- comparison29 with the land-based system under different
ure. The stress analysis of the solar tree design under environmental conditions. During testing, the
12 KUMAR ET AL.

performance of the solar tree is tabulated concerning dif- solar energy footprint (CO2e/kWh), and PV energy den-
ferent environmental factors. sity (kWh/m2) in comparison with the land-based system.
Tables 5 and 6 list the increased percentage in DC It can be seen in the tables that solar tree generates more
voltage, AC voltage, current, energy generated (kWh), current, voltage output in comparison with the land-
based solar system. For sunny and bright environmental
conditions, DC voltage improvement is 7.69% and for clo-
T A B L E 3 Solar radiation pattern for Dehradun, Uttarakhand udy and breezy conditions current improvement is 9.52%.
(kWh/m2/day) Similarly, energy generated, PV energy density, and solar
energy footprint under sunny and bright environmental
Dehradun District (Bidholi Village)
conditions have been improved by 28.02%, 42.37%, and
Direct Global Radiation 39.47%, respectively.
normal horizontal at
Months irradiance irradiance latitude tilt
January 7.32 4.71 5.75 5.3.1 | Simple payback period
February 7.52 5.43 6.36
March 6.74 5.76 6.10 The payback period of the solar tree is the amount of
April 5.58 5.92 5.74
time for total electricity harvest per/year, it takes to
recover the initial costs of the installation of a solar tree
May 4.41 5.37 4.99
system shown in Equation (23).
June 2.87 4.55 4.45
X
July 2.09 4.11 3.84 SPTi ¼ IISi= ðFS  310Þ ð23Þ
August 2.65 4.25 4.03
September 3.31 4.19 4.20
October 4.04 3.98 4.32 where SPi is simple payback time and IISi is the initial
investment of solar tree system and EH as annual elec-
November 4.93 3.86 4.59
tricity harvest during 310 effective operational days. The
December 5.93 3.91 4.77
approximate cost of the initial investment of a solar tree
Annual 4.79 4.91 4.93 system is 4000 ($). the simple payback period is nearly
average
3 years in Table 7.

F I G U R E 1 3 PV Characteristics
of a photovoltaic module with
different irradiation level

F I G U R E 1 4 IV Characteristics
of a photovoltaic module with
different irradiation level
KUMAR ET AL. 13

TABLE 4 Solar tree safety parameters against wind speed

S. Wind Wind force on each Maximum bending Stress- Factor of

no speed (kmph) plate (N) moment (Nm) induced (N/mm2) safety
1. 100 363.10 7007.83 31.14 6
2. 150 816.99 15 767.9 69.77 2.72
3. 200 1452.42 28 031.7 124.5 1.52

TABLE 5 Comparison of the solar tree and land-based system for different conditions

DC output (V) Current output (A) AC output (V)

S. Environmental Solar Land29 Improvement Solar Land29 Improvement Solar Land29 Improvement
no conditions tree based (%) tree Based (%) tree based (%)

1 Sunny and bright 28 26 7.69 8.1 7.3 9.87 230 221 3.91

2 Cloudy and breezy 12.4 11.1 10.48 4.6 4.2 9.52 121 114 5.78
3 Rainy 10 8.1 23.4 3.9 2.4 38.46 80 71 11.25

4 Dusty and dirty 24.5 22.6 8.4 6.8 5.9 13.23 210 195 7.14
5 Humid 22 20.4 7.27 6.1 4.8 21.3 165 151 8.48
atmosphere

TABLE 6 Comparison of the solar tree and land-based system on different attributes

S. Environmental
Energy generated (kWh) PV energy density (kWh/m2) Solar energy footprint (CO2e/kWh)
no conditions
Solar Land Improvement Solar Land Improvement Solar Land Improvement
tree based29 (%) tree based29 (%) tree based29 (%)

1 Sunny and Bright 2312 1664 28.02 291.2 167.8 42.37 3.8 5.3 39.47

2 Cloudy and 1582 1256 20.6 171.6 137.9 19.63 3.3 4.4 33.33
Breezy
3 Rainy 1421 1121 21.11 165.8 149.3 9.95 1.9 1.2 36.84

4 Dusty and Dirty 2156 1954 9.36 272.1 251.9 7.43 2.7 2.4 11.11
5 Hot and Humid 2048 1866 8.88 249.6 231.3 7.33 2.3 1.8 21.73

TABLE 7 Simple payback of solar tree system

Solar Simple
tree Electricity Operational Life Total electricity Investment Energy payback
/unit harvest unit/ day day/year spans harvest per/year cost ($) trarif ($) (years)
7 310 25 2170 4000 0.7 2.6

5.3.2 | Saving to investment ratio where Ii is the total investment cost in solar tree sys-
tem i supported by the public authority, ESit is the yearly
The savings to investment ratio (SIR) considers the total energy savings (in INR), according to electricity cost,
present value of electricity saving cost ($) over the life- d represents the discount rate and t is the lifetime of the
time of the solar tree system divided by the cost of the solar tree. In the economic analysis, the considered dis-
investment ($) represented by Equation (24). count rate of 6% and 4.5% according to the SIR is also
known as a benefit-cost ratio and an effective approach
PT ESit
t¼1 ð1þdÞt
to the analysis's relative merits of variables or alternative
SIRi ¼ ð24Þ system. Similar to payback extended approaches,
Ii
extended SIR studies of the solar tree system. Annual fuel
14 KUMAR ET AL.

TABLE 8 Saving to investment ratio with solar tree system

Total electricity harvest Life SIR SIR PV PV NPV NPV

cost ($)/year spans (6%) (4.5%) (6%) (4.5%) (6%) (4.5%)
1519 25 4.9 1.5 19 418 22 294 15 418 18 294

TABLE 9 Carbon dioxide mission mitigation of solar tree system

Annual electricity harvest Life Kaya Carbon dioxide for Carbon price in Carbon
Solar
per year spans identity life spans tonne credit
tree/unit
kWh years kgCO2/kWh $
2170 25 0.9832 53 339 21 1120

saving cost obtained with Table 7. Discount rate at 6% 3. The tree output has DC voltage and current improve-
and 4.5% based SIR, Net Present Value (NPV), and Pre- ment of 7.69% and 9.52%, respectively, in comparison
sent Value (PV) for solar tree given in Table 8. The SIR of with the land-based system. Similarly, the improve-
solar trees in acceptable ranges (greater/higher than 1.0). ment in energy generation, PV energy density and
If SIR is equal to 1.0, the PV of future savings is also solar energy footprint are found as 28.02%, 42.37%,
equal to obtain these savings. SIR is higher than 1.0, the and 39.47%, respectively.
investment of return is better than easily obtain a return. 4. The structure is capable to withstand with the wind
load in Himalayan region and the FOS against
wind speed of 100 km/h and 200 km/h are 6 and 1.52,
5.3.3 | Carbon dioxide emission mitigation respectively.

Kaya identity is formulated by Japanese energy econo- International agencies like United Nations Development
mist Yoichi Kaya, for calculating emission factors of the Program, Global Environment Facility, and United
greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. In the case of a country Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
like India, the carbon conversion factor for solar electric- should focus on any pilot case study in urban/rural
ity is 0.9832 kgCO2/kWh. Kaya identity calculation based areas. Energy security based on renewable sources such
on the annual harvest of electricity of the solar tree sys- as solar tree plays a very important role in the eco-
tem is obtained in Table 7. The proposed carbon credit nomic and social development of all nations. Hence, it
earned by the solar tree is given in Table 9. is essentially required to include any alternate energy
production source for the economic development of a
country. Therefore, developing countries such as India
6 | C ONCLUSIONS A ND need to promote solar tree-based installation systems.
FUTURE WORKS In this context, energy self-sufficiency plays an impor-
tant role in the economic/social development and pros-
The study describes the detailed road map for the design perity of developing countries. The government should
and development of the solar tree for electricity be involved in providing financial support in terms of
harvesting in detail. The research and development bar- subsidy for procurement and installation of a solar tree,
gain many benefits in outlining the implementation of making it a popular choice and promote the eco-
solar trees at mass level in the mountainous region: friendly energy solution. The future development of
solar trees includes use of biological-solar cells, res-
1. The design provides guidelines to implement similar haping solar spectrum to turn light into electricity, and
systems as an innovative solution for lighting systems FPGA hardware integration for faster computation. The
in smart cities and offers optimal land use and cost- electrical and electronic components of the solar tree
efficiency. need to be addressed with exhaustive study on electro-
2. The design structure is instrumental in creating magnetic compatibility. Electromagnetic interference
awareness about solar technology, which indeed will impact analysis is required at every stage of the devel-
encourage people to adopt it for their electricity needs. opment process.
KUMAR ET AL. 15

A C K N O WL E D G M E N T S research opportunities. Int J Energy Res. 2021;45:3464-3494.

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