Unit 2

Solar Photovoltaic system and Solar Power Plants

2.1. Basic concept of Solar Radiation Geometry – Latitude, Longitude, Declination, Surface azimuth
angle, Solar azimuth angle, Slope of surface, Hour angle, Angle of incidence.
2.2. Solar Map of India: Beam, Diffuse & Global solar power radiation. 2.3 Radiation on inclined surface
(Expression only).
2.3 Measurement of solar radiation using Pyranometer.
2.4 Types of Solar Collectors: Liquid Flat plate collectors; Parabolic Trough, Parabolic Dish, Fresnel
Reflectors. (Brief description)
2.5. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) system:
2.5.1 Principles for Electron-Hole Pair generation by Photon absorption, Photo-electric effect,
Photo-conductive effect and Photovoltaic effect.
2.5.2 Solar cell and its classification.
2.5.3 Working principle of photovoltaic cell.
2.5.4 Current-voltage (I-V) and power voltage (P- V) characteristics of photovoltaic cell,
Maximum power point (MPP),dark current, Fill factor, Short circuit current (Isc), Open circuit voltage
(Voc), Cell efficiency.
2.5.5 Concept of PV module, PV panel, PV array and its formation.
2.5.6 Classification of PV system – Centralized Solar PV System. Distributed Solar PV System
(Brief concept only)
2.6. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) power plant: Components, Layout, Construction, Working principle,
Applications.
2.7 Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants – Components, Layout, Construction, Working principle,
Applications.
2.8 Rooftop solar PV power system.
Solar Radiation Geometry

• Latitude.
• Longitude.
• Declination.
• Surface azimuth angle.
• Solar azimuth angle.
• Slope of surface.
• Hour angle.
• Angle of incidence.

Latitude & Longitude

Angle of Latitude (ϕ)

Declination angle (δ)

Surface azimuth angle.

Solar azimuth angle.

Slope of surface (β)

Hour angle

The solar hour angle is a measure of the angular distance between the sun at the local
solar time and the sun at solar noon. It is expressed in degrees or radians.

The sun rises from the east and reaches its highest position at solar noon. Then, it
descends to the west. Hence the solar hour angle is zero degrees at solar noon.

There are 24 hours in a day, and in that period, the earth rotates 360°. So, the earth
rotates 15° every single hour.

Angle of incidence
Potential of solar energy

The sun is a hydrodynamic spherical body of extremely hot ionized gases

(plasma), generating energy by the process of thermonuclear fusion.

Fusion reaction

Four Hydrogen atoms combine to form one Helium atom, with some energy release
inside the sun. 4 x 1H1 → 2He4 + 26.7MeV
The temperature of the interior of the sun is estimated at 8 x 10 6K - 40x 106K. Energy
from the sun is radiated to the external world by electromagnetic waves. This radiated heat
energy from the sun is called solar energy and it is provided the need of sustain life in our solar
system

This radiated energy reached in earth in spectral region

a. Ultraviolet - 6.4% [ λ < 0.38μm]
b. Visible range - 48% [0.38 < λ< 0.78μm]
c. Infrared - 45.6% [ λ˃ 0.78μm]

Due to the large distance from Sun to earth (1.495x10 11m ±1.7%) The Beam radiation
at Earth is almost parallel. The estimated output from the Sun - 2.8 x 1023kW/year, and
reaching here at Earth is about 1.5 x 10 18kW/year.

Beam radiation
Solar radiation is received on the earth's surface without changing the direction.
Diffused radiation
Which are scattered by atmospheric particles like clouds, dust, etc from all parts of the
sky, called diffused radiation.
Total radiation
The sum of these two arrived at earth on a particular location is called total radiation
or solar insolation. If solar insolation is measured on a horizontal surface, then it is called
Global radiation.
Solar map of India

2.3 Radiation on inclined surface (Expression only).

Radiation on an inclined/ tilted surface

In addition to direct beam and diffuse light, on a surface will also receive rays reflected off the
ground.
Therefore, irradiation on a tilted surface has three components:
HTglobal = HTbeam+ HTdiffused+ HTreflected
For surfaces with inclinations, this may be approximated as:
β
HRβ = ρE. HGh. Sin2 ( 2 )

where ρE is the reflectivity of the earth surface,

HGh is the global solar radiation on horizontal surface,
β is the inclination angle of the surface.
The global solar radiation also varies with space and time

2.3 Measurement of solar radiation using Pyranometer.

A pyranometer is a sensor that converts the global solar radiation it receives into an electrical
signal that can be measured. Pyranometers measure a portion of the solar spectrum
Pyranometers must also account for the angle of the solar radiation, which is referred to as the
cosine response.
The sun generates radiation over the range of wavelengths from 0.15 to 4.0 µm which is known
as the solar spectrum. The amount of this radiation is called as global solar radiation or
sometimes known as short-wave radiation.

Pyranometer Construction

A pyrometer design has the following three components.

Thermopile

It uses a thermocouple used to measure dissimilarity in temperature between two surfaces.

These are hot (labeled active) and cold (reference) accordingly. The labeled active surface is a
black surface in flat shape and it is exposed to the atmosphere. The reference surface depends
on the difficulty of the pyranometer because it changes from a second control thermopile to the
covering of the pyranometer itself.

Glass Dome

Glass dome in the pyrometer limits the response of spectral from 300 nm to 2800 nm from 180 0
of view. It also protects the thermopile sensor from rain, wind, etc. This construction of the
second dome gives extra radiation protection among the inner dome & sensor compared to a
single dome because a second dome will reduce the instrument offset.
Occultation Disc

The occultation disc is mainly used to measure the radiation of blocking beam & diffuse
radiation from the panel surface.

The most common types of pyranometers used for measuring global solar radiation are
thermopiles and silicon photocells.

Thermopile pyranometers
Thermopile pyranometers use a series of thermoelectric junctions (multiple junctions of two
dissimilar metals—thermocouple principle) to provide a signal of several µV/W/m 2 proportional
to the temperature difference between a black absorbing surface and a reference. The
reference may be either a white reflective surface or the internal portion of the sensor base. The
thermopile pyranometer’s black surface uniformly absorbs solar radiation across the solar
spectrum.
The thermopile pyranometer accurately captures the sun’s global solar radiation because its
special black absorptive surface uniformly responds to most of the solar spectrum’s energy.
These pyranometers are normally used in climatology, meteorology, building engineering
physics, photovoltaic systems & climate change research.

The advantages of thermopile pyranometers relate to their broad usage and accuracy.
Although thermopile pyranometers can be the most accurate type of solar short-wave radiation
sensors, they are typically significantly more expensive than silicon photocell pyranometers.

Silicon photocell pyranometers

This is used to detect the segment of the solar spectrum between 400 nm & 900 nm. This
photodiode changes the frequencies of the solar spectrum to current at high speed. This change
will be influenced through the temperature with the raise in current, generated by the
temperature rise.

Silicon photocell pyranometers are often used in all sky conditions, but measurement errors are
higher when clouds are present. The uniformity of the daylight spectrum under most sky
conditions limits errors typically to less than ±3%.
Silicon photocell pyranometers are typically several times less expensive than thermopile
pyranometers.

The disadvantage of silicon photocell pyranometers is that their spectral response is limited to a
smaller portion of the solar spectrum from 0.4 to 1.1 µm.

These are used in cinema, lighting technique & photography; sometimes these are connected
closely to photovoltaic system modules.

Pyranometer Applications

The applications are

 The solar intensity data can be measured.

 Climatological & Meteorological studies
 PV systems design
 Locations of the greenhouse can be established.
 Expecting the requirements of insulation for building structures

2.4 Types of Solar Collectors: Liquid Flat plate collectors; Parabolic Trough, Parabolic Dish,
Fresnel Reflectors. (Brief description)

Solar collector
The solar collector is a device that can absorb and store solar energy. Its ability
depends on its design and solar insolation of that area.

The main objective of solar collector

a. To collect and absorb solar radiation

b. To transfer the heat to another secondary heat collector for further use.

Classification of solar collector

1. Non concentrating ( flat plate) type
2. Concentrating type

Flat plate collector

Solar radiation on the collector is absorbed, reflected, and transmitted by the

collector; hence the proper design is a must.
The absorption can be increased by painting the body black and emission can be
reduced by (i) insulating the body and (ii) putting a glass cover on the top. Radiation intensity
can further be increased by (i) increase the effective surface area and (ii) tilt the collector
according to the position of the Sun.
The efficiency of this device can be up to 50 - 60% for practical cases. A commercial
collector has an effective surface area of about 2m2.
Essential components of flat plate collector

1. Absorber plate
Made of metal sheet (copper, steel, or aluminum), generally black coated.
Thickness range 0.5 -1mm
2. Transparent cover
Glass cover placed over the absorber plate. It allows Sun radiation and prevents
re-radiation from the collector
3. Tube channel or passage
The set of hollow tubes containing fluid in contact with the absorber plate. The
diameter of such tube is about 1.25cm and header pipes for inlet and outlet ends are
2.5cm.
4. Thermal insulation
Fiberglass insulation at the bottom and the sidewall are used of a thickness of
2.5 -8cm to reduce loss due to convection.
5. Container/ box
The whole assembly is fitted inside a box made of a metallic sheet of weather
tight.

Concentrating collector

To get a higher concentration ratio, a high temperature is required to build a point

focusing collector.
A parable disc collector is a point focusing type receiver, where the collector is placed at
the focus point. Typically a disc of 6 m in diameter with about 200 numbers curved mirror
segments forming the parabolic surface. The absorber has a cavity shape, made of zirconium-
copper alloy with black chrome paint.
The maximum possible temperature for this type of collector is 2000 0C. It is the most
efficient type compared to others.
Parabolic Troughs

These troughs, also known as line focus collectors, are composed of a long, parabolic-
shaped reflector that concentrates incident sunlight on a pipe that runs down the trough.
The collectors sometimes utilize a single-axis solar tracking system to track the sun across
the sky as it moves from east to west to ensure that there is always maximum solar energy
incident on the mirrors. The receiver pipe in the center can reach temp upward of 400 0C as
the trough focuses Sun at 30-100 times its normal intensity.
These troughs are lined up in rows on a solar field. A heat transfer fluid is heated as it is run
through the pipes in the parabolic trough. This fluid then returns to heat exchangers at a
central location where the heat is transferred to water, generating high-
pressure superheated steam. This steam then moves a turbine to power a generator and
produce electricity. The heat transfer fluid is then cooled and run back through the solar
field
 Parabolic Dishes
These are large parabolic dishes that use a servo motor to
track the Sun. This ensures that they always receive the
highest possible amount of incoming solar radiation that they
then concentrate at the focal point of the dish. These dishes
can concentrate sunlight much better than parabolic troughs
and the fluid run through them can reach temperatures
upwards of 750°C.
In these systems, a Stirling engine (one kind of heat engine)
converts heat to mechanical energy by compressing working
fluid when cold and allowing the heated fluid to expand outward in a piston or move through a
turbine. A generator then converts this mechanical energy

Fresnel reflector

A Linear Fresnel Reflector is another type of solar power collector. It uses flat mirrors as
opposed to parabolic mirrors that are used in solar parabolic troughs. The basic principle
remains the same with the mirrors collecting solar power which is then utilized to generate
steam which in turn drives a turbine. This technology leads to the production of steam directly
and do not use heat transfer fluid or other medium. The sunlight that is concentrated with the
help of mirrors boils the water which is present in the receiver tubes thereby generating steam.
No heat exchangers are used in this system.
A linear Fresnel reflector works by utilizing the Fresnel lens effect which was first developed by
French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel. The design allows the construction of lenses of large
aperture and short focal length without the mass and volume of material that would be required
by a lens of conventional design. It helps in cost reduction as parabolic reflectors proved to be
costly. However, nowadays since the advent of nanotechnology, the cost has come down.
They stand in the middle of a large array of mirrors that all concentrate sunlight on a point in the
tower. These large numbers of flat, sun-tracking mirrors are known as heliostats. In the tower,
there is a mounted heat exchanger where the heat exchange fluid is warmed. The heat
concentrated to this point can be 1500 times as intense as incident sunlight. The hot fluid is then
used to create steam to run a turbine and generator, producing electricity