Unit 03: Solar Energy Storage and Applications

Subject: Renewable Energy Sources Class: TY BTech Electrical

Unit: 03
Solar Energy Storage and Applications
Unit content:
Different methods, Sensible, latent heat and stratified storage, solar ponds, Solar Applications-
solar heating/cooling technique, solar distillation and drying, photovoltaic energy conversion.

3.0: Introduction
The solar energy is generally transformed into thermal or electric energy using solar devices. The
solar energy is, however, available during sunshine hours, and the demand of thermal or electric
energy may also exist during non-sunshine hours. Also, the maximum availability of solar energy
may not coincide exactly with the demand of thermal or electric energy. The availability of solar
energy is sometimes low for several days due to cloudy days, resulting in the substantial lowering
of the output of thermal and electric energy from the solar radiation. Hence, it is essential to store
energy output (thermal and electric) from solar devices during high insolation (in = incident, sol =
solar and ation = radiation) times which is used afterwords to meet the thermal and electric load
demand during peak demand times. During low insolation times, solar energy storage system
enables delivery of more power than what is generated by the solar electric or thermal plant, and
so it enables to match the generation of energy with the load demand.
3.1: Different methods of solar energy storage
The solar energy storage systems can be classified as follows:
 Thermal energy storage system
 Chemical energy storage system
 Electrical energy storage system
 Hydrogen energy storage system
 Electromagnetic energy storage system
 Biological storage system
Thermal energy storage
Thermal energy storage can be (i) sensible heat storage by the virtue of heat capacity and the
change in temperature of the material and (ii) latent heat storage by the virtue of latent heat
necessary to change the phase of the storage medium.
Chemical energy storage
Lead acid batteries are the most commonly used means in chemical energy storage system. The
advantages are (i) good working efficiency (up to 80%), (ii) low cost, (iii) rapid change from
charging to discharging mode and (iv) slow discharge rate. A storage battery takes electrical energy
generated by solar radiation and stores it as chemical energy. It later supplies electric energy by
converting this stored energy.

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 Unit 03: Solar Energy Storage and Applications
Electrical energy storage
A capacitor is used to store electrical energy in an electrostatic field when it is charged. The
capacitor of large capacity is required to store a significant amount of energy.
Hydrogen energy storage
The electrical energy is used to decompose water by the electrolysis reaction into hydrogen and
oxygen. These substances can be recombined to release the stored energy when required.
Electromagnetic energy storage
The electrical energy is used to store energy in a magnetic field. The resistance of the coil wire is
made almost negligible so that the stored energy in the coil is not dissipated out and stored energy
in the magnetic field can be maintained indefinitely. The electromagnetic energy storage requires
the use of superconducting materials. These materials develop almost zero resistance to electricity
flow when cooled below a critical or transition temperature. This method of storing
electromagnetic energy is also called super conducting magnetic energy storage (SMES). The
electric energy can be recovered when coil is discharged.
Biological storage
The solar energy is stored in plants by a process known as photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the
process in which organic compounds are formed in green plants using carbon from atmospheric
carbon dioxide in the presence of sunlight. The plants on decaying form biomass which can be
converted into various types of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels.
3.2: Sensible Heat Storage

Fig. (a): Short-term sensible heat storage by water

Thermal energy is stored in this types of storage by virtue of heat capacity and temperature
difference developed during charging and discharging. The temperature of the storage material
rises when thermal energy is absorbed and temperature drops when thermal energy is taken out. In
this storage, the charging and discharging can be performed reversibly for an unlimited number of
times. The sensible heat storage can be liquid media storage and solid media storage. Water is
considered as the most suitable media for storage below l00°C. Liquids such as oils, liquid metals
and molten salts are also used as liquid media storage.
The water thermal energy storage can be short term and long term. A short-term thermal energy
storage system has a well-insulated storage tank as shown in Figure (a). The storage in such tank
is economical for few days only as heat losses over long duration make the storage uneconomical.
Long-term sensible heat storage by water is possible in underground reservoirs having special
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insulation. In this system, water is heated in charging mode by passing it through a heat exchanger
and then it is stored in an underground reservoir. In the discharge mode, the hot water is made to
flow back through the heat exchanger, where it releases the stored energy as shown in Figure (b)
but with reverse circulation.

Fig. (b): Long-term sensible heat storage by water.

Advantages: Water has the following advantages,

 It is abundantly available.
 It is inexpensive.
 It has high specific heat which enables to store more heat per unit mass.
 It has low viscosity requiring less energy to pump through the pipe system.
 It can be used for both storage and working medium.
 It is stable.
 It has no harmful effect.
Disadvantages: Water has the following disadvantages,
 It has limited temperature range of 0–l00°C.
 It results in the corrosion of pipes.
 It can leak easily as it has low surface tension.
3.3: Latent heat Storage
In the latent heat storage, heat energy is stored by virtue of latent heat which is required to bring
about phase change of storage medium. The heat required to bring about phase change of a material
is much larger compared to sensible heat change of the same material. The phase change of a
material also involves absorption or release of a large quantity of heat energy at constant
temperature, which is impossible in the case of sensible heating and cooling. Therefore, latent heat
storage system is more compact for a certain heat storage compared to sensible heat storage system.
The phase change which can be used for storage system are solid–solid, solid–gas, solid–liquid
and liquid–gas. Solid–gas and liquid–gas transformation involves large volume changes, thereby
making such storage systems impractical and complex. However, solid–solid transition involves
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transformation of the material from one crystalline form to another, thereby resulting in the
transformation with small volume changes. Hence, such storage systems are practical and
preferred in spite of small changes in latent heat possible during transformation.
For phase-change storage media, salt hydrates called Glauber’s salt (Na2SO4·l0H2O) are preferred.
These have solid–liquid transformation. Besides hydrates, paraffins (C18H36) and non-paraffins
(ester, fatty acids, alcohols and glycols) are also suitable for such storage. The hydrate crystals
have water of crystallization and these can be represented by X(Y)n·mH 2O (one atom of X, n
atoms of Y and m molecules of water in one crystal). When hydrate crystals are heated to transition
temperature, these crystals release their water of crystallization and anhydrous salt (hydrates
without water) get dissolved in the released water. The reaction is as follows:

The problems faced with the use of salt hydrate for latent heat storage are as follows:
i. The released water of crystallization is insufficient to dissolve all the solid salt produced
on heating. The anhydrous salt settles down at the bottom of the container. The
recrystallization becomes impossible on removal of heat. The process becomes irreversible
and performance degradation takes place.
ii. Mechanical means (vibration or stirring), the suspension media or thickening agents have
to be used to make the system work in reversible manner without performance degradation.
The problem can also be resolved by limiting vertical height of the container.
iii. Heat of fusion is small (25l kJ/kg).
3.4: stratified storage

Stratified storage is hot water storage tank, typically for solar thermal energy. The warmest storage
layer is the top storage cylinder and below this there are colder storage layers through natural
layering. The water is fed into different storage levels, depending on the available feed temperature
and current temperature layering. The feed takes place via a vertical line via valves, in each case
the feed water is fed into the storage layer with the corresponding water temperature. This is
achieved by means of self-acting valves, feeding the respective temperature or water density into
the temperature layer. The advantage is that there is no mixing of the storage temperature. Swirling
of the water is therefore to be avoided as far as possible in stratified storage tanks because this
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could lead to intermingling of storage layers. This is reduced by means of measures such as
limiting flow velocity and baffle plates at the inlets.
Heating is therefore only necessary later, since warm water can be taken from above for longer, as
opposed to mixed storage. In addition, water can be drawn with almost the same temperature very
quickly after filling with hot water, since not all of the storage tank has to be heated. This
optimises energy efficiency.
At the moment, they are generally more expensive than combined storage tank, but the storage
volume can be a bit smaller and they are considered more modern because of better energy
consumption.
In addition to storage for, for example, single-family houses with a few hundred to over one
thousand litres, they can also be found in larger and significantly larger forms, for example, as
long-term thermal storage tanks with a few thousand litres of storage volume.
Areas of application:
 For solar thermal systems, to bridge periods of no sun
 For wood heating, since wood heating is otherwise difficult to control
 If a heat pump is installed in order to maintain blocking and standstill times
 For combined heat and power plants, to use them more efficiently
 For connecting different heating systems
3.5: Solar Pond
Solar Ponds are solar thermal energy systems that collect and store solar energy, thereby providing
a sustainable source of heat and power. Solar ponds differ from other solar thermal energy systems
as they store the collected heat instead of transferring it through fluids or devices. Solar ponds may
use any number of different fluid heating and cooling mechanisms.

Fig. The concept of solar pond. (a) Variation of density, (b) The three zones in the pond, (c)
Variation of temperature.
In ordinary pond, when water is heated up by the sun rays, the heated water rises to the top of the
pond. The hot water loses heat to the atmosphere, and so the net temperature at the top of the pond
remains nearly at atmospheric temperature. The solar pond technology ensures that heated brine
water remains at the bottom of the pond due to more brine concentration and density in it.

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The solar pond serves the dual purpose of a large flat collector and a thermal storage system. It
consists of a large size brine or salty pond (depth of about l m) which has salt concentration
gradient in such a way that the most concentrated and dense part of the brine solution is at the
bottom of the pond and brine/salty concentration gradually reduces from bottom to top of the pond
based on the variation of salt solution density. A solar pond has three zones as shown in above
figure.
i. The top zone is Surface Convective Zone (SCZ) having a thickness of about 10cm to 20cm,
which has the least salt content and its temperature is the atmospheric temperature.
ii. The middle zone is Non-Convective Zone (NCZ) occupying more than half the depth of
the pond. It serves as an insulating layer from heat losses in the upward direction.
iii. The bottom zone is Lower Convective Zone (LCZ) having thickness nearly equal to NCZ.
It has the maximum salt content and it has a high temperature (70–85°C). This is the zone
that collects and stores the solar energy as heat energy.
The hot brine solution from the bottom of solar pond is taken out without disturbing the brine
gradient existing in the solar pond. This solution is taken to heat exchanger to remove heat from
the brine solution by evaporating a refrigerant in the evaporator. These vapours are used to run a
turbine which is coupled to a generator to generate power. The refrigerant vapours exiting from
the outlet of the turbine are condensed to liquid state in a condenser and pumped to heat exchanger.
Solar pond electric power plant is shown in figure below.

Fig. Layout of a solar pond electric power plant

Applications of solar pond:
 Heating and Cooling of Buildings
 Power generation
 Industrial process heat (IPH)
 Desalination
 Salt production
 Heating the animal houses

Properties of salt used in solar ponds:

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The salt used in a solar pond for creating density gradient should have the following characteristics:
 High solubility
 No variation in solubility with temperature.
 Its solution must be adequately transparent to solar radiation.
 It must be environmentally benign, safe to handle the ground water.
 It must be available in abundance near site so that its total delivered cost is low, and It must
be inexpensive.
3.6: Solar water heater
A small capacity water heating system with natural circulation is as shown in figure below (Fig.
a). It is suitable to supply hot water for domestic purposes. It has two main components which
include (i) flat plate collector to convert solar radiation into heat energy and (ii) water storage tank
to store hot water. The tank is located above the level of collector. Heat is transferred to the water
in the solar collector and hot water rises to flow in the water tank. The hot water enters the top of
the water tank and cold water from the water tank moves out from the bottom of the tank so as to
enter the inlet of the collector. The natural circulation of water is established from the collector to
water tank and then from water tank to the collector. The hot water for use is withdrawn from the
top of tank, which is replaced by cold water entering at the bottom of the tank. Water heating
system is also provided with an auxiliary heating system so that the system can also work during
cloudy and rainy days when sufficient solar radiation is unavailable.

Fig. (a): Solar water heater with natural circulation

A small capacity water heating system with forced circulation is as shown in figure below (Fig.
b). A forced circulation solar system is a solar thermal installation in which water circulates within
the circuit driven by a pump. Unlike solar installations with a thermosiphon, this system does not
move hot water to the highest point of the closed circuit, but rather makes it go down from the solar
collectors to where the storage tank is located.
In many cases it is not feasible to install solar thermal energy equipment to obtain domestic hot
water by thermosyphon, given that the location of the solar collectors is often above the tank.

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Fig. (a): Solar water heater with forced circulation

This renewable energy system is required in underfloor heating systems. In these solar thermal
systems, the water that circulates between the solar collectors and the accumulator cannot do so
by natural convection since the hottest water is already at its highest point. To do this, you will
need a conventional water pump and, therefore, an external electrical power source.
Forced systems are always indirect, except for pool air conditioning uses where the pool's water
filtering drive system itself can be used.
By using an external energy source, this form of solar energy harvesting can no longer be
considered a passive solar energy system.
3.7: Solar furnace

Fig. Solar furnace

Solar furnace is used to study the properties of the materials, such as physical, mechanical,
chemical and electrical properties at high temperatures. The focusing type solar collectors can
concentrate solar radiation over a small area in a furnace for heating of materials being tested. It is
possible to obtain high temperatures which can be about 3500°C.
The solar furnace has basically two main components: (i) a concentrator with arrangement to
position testing materials at its focus and (ii) a system of a large number of small heliostats. The

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large number of heliostats are located and positioned in such a manner that they direct solar
radiation onto a paraboloidal collector (above figure). The solar radiation after reflection from the
heliostats moves parallel to the optical axis of the concentrator. The heliostats are provided with
the systems of sun tracking. The concentrator focuses the incoming solar rays on to the test material
to heat up.
The advantages of a solar furnace are as follows:
 It gives pure heating without contamination.
 It provides easy control of temperature.
 No adverse effect is produced on the test material by the sun rays.
 It has simple working principle.
 It provides an easy observation of test material while heating.
 It gives high rate of heating by intense radiation concentrated at a point.
The disadvantages are as follows:
 It can be used during sunshine hours.
 The cost of equipment is high.
 Materials with small area can be only heated and tested.
3.8: Solar passive heating or Solar air heater
Solar energy can be used for passive heating of buildings to maintain comfortable temperature
inside the buildings. Passive heating of buildings does not require any mechanical device. This
heating consists of natural processes such as convection, radiation and conduction which are used
to transport heat in the space. The heating necessitates a suitable building design to ensure natural
flow of heat in the space inside building. Such specially designed building is called solar house.

Fig. Passive solar heating using solar collector.

Solar passive space heating, which is shown in above figure. In this method, a flat plate collector
is provided to face south. The collector is provided with rock bed type storage system. During

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sunshine hours, the collector transfers and stores heat energy from incident solar radiation into the
rock bed storage system. The available stored energy in the rock bed is used later at night when
air is passed through the rock bed, and so warm air enters into the space to be heated.
3.9: Solar cooker
A solar cooker consists of (i) an insulated box of blackened aluminium in which utensils with food
materials can be kept, (ii) reflector mirror hinged to one side of the box so that the angle of reflector
can be adjusted and (iii) a glass cover consisting of two layers of clear window glass sheets which
also serves as the box door as shown in figure below.

Fig. Solar Cooker

The box is kept in such a way that solar radiation falls directly on the glass cover and reflector
mirror is also adjusted in such a way that additional solar radiation after mirror reflection is also
incident on glass cover. The glass cover traps heat owing to the greenhouse effect, that is, short-
wavelengths radiation can pass inside the box but long-wavelengths radiation coming out from the
box is entrapped in the box, thereby providing more heating effect. The air temperature obtained
inside the box ranges from l40 to l60°C. This provides sufficient heat for boiling and cooking
purposes.
3.10: Solar drying

Fig. Solar dryer

A solar dryer is another technology to harness the solar energy that is used to dry fruits, vegetables,
and crops for preservation. Solar dryers are of two types: direct and indirect. In direct solar dryers,
the substance that is to be dehydrated is exposed to the sunlight in a vast field. Indirect solar dryers
consist of an insulated box coated inside with a black absorption surface, an air inlet and an air

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outlet, and a single- or double-glazed glass. A solar dryer works on the principle of the density
differential. The inlet air hole is at the lower side for the entrance of the cold air and the outlet air
is at the upper side of the opposite wall. The sunlight coming through the glazing keeps the inner
environment warm, which dehydrates the substance. The cold air takes the hot air enriched with
moisture content from the box and, because of the difference in the density, the air is ventilated
through the hot air outlet. Above figure illustrates the working principle of a solar dryer.
3.11: Solar distillation

Fig. Working of a solar distillation

The process to convert saline water into pure water using solar radiation is called solar distillation.
A solar device used for this purpose is called solar still. A solar still consists of a shallow blackened
basin filled with saline or brackish water to be distilled. It is covered with sloping transparent roof
as shown in figure above. The sun rays can pass through transparent roof and these rays are
absorbed by the blackened surface of the basin, thereby increasing the temperature of water. The
water in basin evaporates due to solar heat and rises to the roof. The water vapour cools down and
condenses at the undersurface of the roof. The water drops or condensed water slip down along
the sloping roof. The condensed water is collected by the condensate channel and drained out from
the solar still.
3.11: Solar cooling system
Vapour compression system can be used for cooling. the vapour compression system takes heat
from space and releases to atmosphere, it is working as cooling system. The vapour compression
system working with solar radiation to cool a space is shown in figure below. The hot water
transported from a flat plate collector is passed through a heat exchanger. The heat is transferred
to a refrigerant and absorber solution. The refrigerant can be ammonia or water while absorber is
water or lithium bromide which generates refrigerant vapours at high pressure. The high-pressure
vapour is used to rotate vapour turbine, which then runs a compressor coupled with it.
Here compressor will rotate and produce vapour i.e. coolant which are sent to the condenser, where
it is converted into the liquid. Compressor is used to increase the pressure of vapour.
The liquid at the output of the condenser in given to the evaporator with the help of expansion
value which is used for control the amount of refrigerant released into the evaporator.
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At the last this evaporator taking the heat by this cooling liquid and cool the space which we want
to cool.

Fig. Solar cooling system

3.12: Solar thermal power system

Fig. Solar thermal power system

The mechanical devices which help to collect the solar radiations so as to convert them into heat
energy are called solar collectors. The sun rays are focused on solar collector to heat butane water
to generate butane gas in the butane boiler. The butane gas under high pressure from the boiler is
taken to butane turbine to perform mechanical work. A generator is coupled to the turbine to
generate electrical power as shown in above fig.
3.12: Photovoltaic energy conversion
Photovoltaic (PV) system is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation
into direct electricity with the help of semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. The
photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels constructed of a number of solar cells made-
up of a photovoltaic material. Owing to the growing demand for renewable energy sources, the
technology of manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has improved considerably in
recent times.

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Fig. (a): Generation of ‘emf’ across junction to move the charge carriers.
Photovoltaic effect is a process in which two dissimilar materials in close contact produce an
electrical charge when struck by light or any other radiant energy. When light strikes crystals such
as silicon or germanium (p-n junction) in which electrons are usually not free to move from n-
region to p-region due to the potential barrier, the light provides the energy (e.m.f.) needed to free
some electrons from the bound condition depending on the absorption of solar energy, as shown
in above figure (a). Free electrons cross the junction between two dissimilar crystals more easily
in one direction than in the other, giving one side of the junction a negative charge, and this results
in a negative voltage with respect to the other side, as in the case of a battery in which one electrode
has negative voltage with respect to the other. The photovoltaic effect can continue to provide
voltage and current as long as light falls on the junction of two materials.
Solar power is the production of electricity directly from sunlight. The solar photovoltaic (PV)
power is produced using photovoltaic effect so that when sunlight strikes a solar voltaic cell, it
releases electrons from the p-n junction of the cell and pushes these electrons across a potential
barrier or electric field at the junction. These electrons then travel through an external circuit to
return to their usual state and in this process create electric power.
The photovoltaic effect is the basic physical process through which a PV or solar cell converts
sunlight into electricity. Sunlight is composed of energy packets called photons. These photons
contain different amounts of energy that correspond to different wavelengths of the solar spectrum.
When photons strike a PV cell, they may be reflected, absorbed or can pass through the p-n
junction. The absorbed photons in the p-n junction generate electricity.
A solar cell is essentially a p-n junction with a large surface area. The n-type material is kept thin
to allow light to pass through it and strike the p-n junction. The light travels in packets of energy
called photons. The generation of electric current takes place inside the depletion zone of the p-n
junction. The depletion zone as explained previously is the area around the p-n junction where the
electrons from the n-region diffuse into the holes of the p-region.

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Fig. (b): Photon generating pairs of electron and hole to move electric current in the external
circuit.
When a photon of light is absorbed by one of these atoms in n-region of silicon, it will dislodge an
electron from any atom, thereby creating a free electron and hole pair. The free electron and hole
pair has sufficient energy to jump out of the depletion zone. If a wire is connected from the cathode
at n-type silicon to an anode of p-type silicon, electrons flow through the wire. The electron is
attracted to the positive charge of p-type material and travels through the external load (bulb or
resistance), thereby creating a flow of electric current. The hole created by the dislodged electron
is attracted to the negative charge of the n-type material and travels to “back electrical contact”.
As the electron reaches the p-type silicon from the “back electrical contact”, it combines with the
hole, thereby restoring the electrical neutrality, as shown in above fig. (b).
Questions:

1. Different methods of solar energy storage.

2. Explain sensible heat storage of solar energy
3. Explain latent heat storage of solar energy
Draw and explain different zones of solar ponds? What are the applications of solar ponds?
4.
What are the required properties of salt used in solar ponds?
Explain solar water heating system. OR Draw and explain solar water heater with natural
5.
circulation.
6. Draw and explain solar water heater with forced circulation.
7. With neat diagram explain solar air heater.
8. Explain solar drying with neat diagram.
9. Describe solar thermal power system.
10. Describe solar Photovoltaic technology.
Describe solar distillation system with neat diagram. OR Illustrate solar thermal energy be
11.
used to supply potable drinking water in environmentally difficult places ?
12. Draw and describe solar cooling system.

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