Centralized Electrical Power System

Decentralized Solar Power System

 Photovoltaics
The term photovoltaic is a combination of the Greek word phós, photós
(light, of the light) and the name of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta
(1745–1825). He discovered the first functional electro-chemical battery
and the unit of electricity, Volt, is named after him.
Thus, a translation of the word photovoltaic could be light battery or also
light source. More generally we understand the word photovoltaics as
the direct conversion of sunlight into electric energy.
 Advantages
• Their greatest advantage is that in contrast to all other energy carriers they are practically
inexhaustible.
• They are almost free of any emissions and with only few environment effects and hazards (PV
panels provide clean – green energy).
• A further important advantage is in the fact that there are practically no fuel costs. The Sun shines
for free.
• Operating and maintenance costs for PV panels are considered to be low, almost negligible,
compared to costs of other renewable energy systems
• PV panels have no mechanically moving parts, except in cases of sun-tracking mechanical bases;
consequently they have far less breakages or require less maintenance than other renewable
energy systems (e.g. wind turbines)
• PV panels are totally silent, producing no noise at all.
• Because solar energy coincides with energy needs for cooling, PV panels can provide an effective
solution to energy demand peaks – especially in hot summer months where energy demand is
high.
• In many developing countries there is no power grid. There, a further advantage of renewable
energies can be used: their decentralized availability and utility.
 Disadvantages
• The energy densities in which the renewable energies are available are small. Large areas are
needed (solar module area for photovoltaics, rotor area for wind turbines, etc.) in order to
“collect” sufficient energy.
• This means that typically large investment costs are incurred as the large surfaces require the use
of a lot of material.
• A further large disadvantage is the varying energy supply. Photovoltaics and wind power are
especially affected by this. As a result, further power stations (backup power stations) must be
kept on reserve in order to ensure a constant supply.
• For a continuous supply of electric power, especially for on-grid connections, Photovoltaic panels
require not only Inverters but also storage batteries; thus increasing the investment cost for PV
panels considerably
• In case of land-mounted PV panel installations, they require relatively large areas for deployment;
usually the land space is committed for this purpose for a period of 15-20 years – or even longer.
• Solar panels efficiency levels are relatively low (between 14%-25%) compared to the efficiency
levels of other renewable energy systems.
Disadvantages
Cost of Solar panel per watt
Solar Cell efficiency status
Types of Solar Cell
 Three generation of Solar Cells

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:11/73

First Gen Solar Cell
Crystal Structure
Si Crystal Structure
Crystal Structure
Comparison of Solar Cell technologies
Comparison of Solar Cell technologies
Past Installations of Solar Cell technologies
Energy payback time
Electromagnetic spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum
Single junction Solar Cell
Multi junction Solar Cell
 Electromagnetic spectrum

E=hν h=6.62607004 × 10-34 m2 kg / s (Planks constant)

1ev=1.60218e-19 J
 First Solar Cell

Chapin, Fuller and Pearson (1954) First Solar Module

Solar cell to array
 Production of Silicon
The first step is the conversion of quartz sand into high-grade silicon for the production of wafers.

First the silicon is reduced in an electric arc furnace with the addition of coal and electrical
energy at approximately 1800 °C
SiO2 + 2C Si + 2CO

Thus, we obtain metallurgical silicon (Metallurgical Grade: MG-SI) with a purity of approximately 98%.
 Production of Solar grade Silicon

The polysilicon should have a purity of at least 99.999% (5 nines, designation 5N) in order to be called Solar Grade
Silicon (SG-Si).

For a normal semiconductor technology used in the production of computer chips and so on, a purity of 99.9999999%
(9N, Electronic Grade: EG-Si) is normal.
 Czochralski process
The structure of the polycrystalline silicon is too poor for it to be used directly in solar cells. Therefore, in the following
we will consider the two most important processes for improving the properties of the crystal.

Rods with a diameter of up to 30 cm and a length of up to 2 m can be produced with this method. For photovoltaics the
diameter is typically 5–6 inches (12.5–15 cm).
 Float Zone process

If the crystal quality still needs to be improved, then the Float-Zone (FZ or Zone Melt) process can be used instead of
the CZ process.

FZ-Si is significantly more expensive than CZ-Si and for this reason it is used for photovoltaics only in exceptional
circumstances.
 Multi crystalline Silicon production

Because of the poorer material quality of multicrystalline silicon the efficiency of solar cells made from this
material is typically 2–3% below that of monocrystalline solar cells.
 Wafer Production- wire cutting

A wire with the thickness of 100–140 micro-m moves at high speed through a paste (slurry) of glycol and extremely
hard silicon-carbide particles and carries these with it into the saw gap of the silicon. This is more a grinding or lapping
process rather than sawing. The saw gap is at least 120 micro-m. Unfortunately the silicon chips cannot be recycled
with sufficient purity. With the current wafer thicknesses of 180 micro-m there are saw losses that are almost as large as
the used parts.
 Wafer Production- Ribbon growth

Schott Solar Company

The production of a tube (30cm dia and 6 m length) takes about 5 h. These tubes are then cut into individual wafers of
12.5 cm by means of lasers. Although the process with the elimination of the saw losses promises clear advantages, the
Schott Solar decided in 2009 to shut down the production of EFG wafers. Apparently the company could not follow the
industry trend to larger and thinner wafers. Added to this was a relatively slow pulling speed in order to achieve a
sufficient crystal quality.
Single crystalline Silicon Cell
Multi crystalline Silicon Cell
 Production of solar cell

anti-reflection coating of silicon nitride (Si3N4)

Production of solar cell
Components of solar PV module
Electrical connections between solar cells
PV Module fabrication
PV cells interconnect
Packing density in solar PV module
Semiconductor Materials
Semiconductor materials
 Physics of solar cell

Crystal structure Intrinsic semiconductor

n-type
p-type

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:47/73

Intrinsic Semiconductors
 Band theory

Indirect bandgap Direct bandgap

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:49/73

Energy Band gap in semiconductor materials
 Physics of Solar Cell

Silicon
material

Fermi Energy level

Doping in Semiconductors

n type doping
Doping in Semiconductors

p type doping
 Transport of current by electrons

By means of the electric field the negatively charged electrons are

accelerated in the direction of the positive pole of the voltage
source. There is thus a flow of current through the semiconductor,
which is called field current (sometimes drift current).
08/31/2018 SRM University 54
 Transport of current by holes

08/31/2018 SRM University 55

 Transport of current by diffusion

08/31/2018 SRM University 56

Absorption
Recombination
pn Junction
pn Junction
Forward bias of a pn junction
Reverse bias of a pn junction
Forward and Reverse bias of a pn junction
Solar Cell
Solar Cell
Working of Solar Cell
Working of Solar Cell
Working of Solar Cell
Working of Solar Cell
Working of Solar Cell
 Voltage of Solar cell

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:71/73

“Dark” and “Light” operation of pn Junction
Band bending in pn Junction
Current flow in pn Junction
 Quantum efficiency

The "quantum efficiency" (Q.E.) is the ratio of the

number of carriers collected by the solar cell to
the number of photons of a given energy incident
on the solar cell.
If all photons of a certain wavelength are
absorbed and the resulting carriers are collected,
then the quantum efficiency at that particular
wavelength is unity.

Grating monochrometer can be used to

measure the QE

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:75/73

 Illuminated current density

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:76/73

 Collection probability

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:77/73

Equivalent Circuit and I-V Characteristics of Solar Cell
 Importance of IV-Characteristics

Fill factor and MPP varies with input solar radiation

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:79/73
 Assignment
1. Explain in detail about Pyranometer and Pyrheliometer
2. Explain in detail about different solar angles
3. Explain the working of Solar Flat Plate Collector System
4. Describe the working principle of Solar Desalination System
5. Describe the working principle of Solar Central Tower Receiver Power Plant
6. Explain in detail about the Solar Furnace
7. Explain the working principle of Solar Photovoltaic cells
8. Explain the Grid connected and Standalone Solar PV power Plant
9. Explain about the green buildings and Net Zero Energy Buildings
10. Explain about the solar operation of Vapour Compression and Vapour Absorption
refrigeration systems

Last date: April 10, 2019 Submit in: MEC201, Block-C

 NOCT

The Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT) is

defined as the temperature reached by open circuited cells
in a module under the listed conditions:

[Link] on cell surface = 800 W/m2

[Link] Temperature = 20°C
[Link] Velocity = 1 m/s
[Link] = open back side.

The best module operated at a NOCT of 33°C, the worst at 58°C and the typical module at 48°C respectively.
Temperature dependencies in Solar Cell

Open circuit voltage

decreases with increase
in cell temperature

With the increase in

temperature, the
intrinsic carrier
concentration increases,
this reduces the voltage
 Impact of solar radiation

Increase in the solar radiation increases the short circuit current and therefore the maximum power output

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:83/73

 IV Curve tracing-resistive method

• If the Load Resistance is maximum, we get open

circuit voltage
• If the Load Resistance is zero, we get short circuit
current
• If the load resistance equals the characteristic
resistance, we get Maximum power point

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:84/73

Heat losses in Solar Cell
 Impact of Cell temperature

Increases in temperature reduce the band gap of a semiconductor. The decrease in the band gap of a semiconductor
with increasing temperature can be viewed as increasing the energy of the electrons in the material. Lower energy
is therefore needed to break the bond. Therefore increasing the temperature reduces the band gap

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:86/73

 Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)

without MPPT

with MPPT

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:87/73

 MPPT using DC/DC converters

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:88/73

Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)
 Perturb and Observe (MPPT) algorithm

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:90/73

Solar Module manufacturing process
Losses in PV modules
Loses in Solar cells
 Reduction of reflection Loses in Solar cells

Anti reflective coating is given to the cells

Shading Loses in Solar cells
Hot spot because of Shading Loses in Solar cells
Use of Bypass diode
 Shading loss

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:98/73

 Blocking (string) and Bypass diode
Bypass diode Blocking diode
Recombination losses
 Influence of Series and Shunt Resistances in Solar Cell
Different Series resistance

Different Shunt resistance

Very low Series resistance and

infinite shunt resistance is
desirable
 Solar cells in parallel

unshaded

Shaded
 Solar cells in series

unshaded

Shaded
 Normal and reduced IV Curve of PV cell

20-02-2019 [Link]-SRM IST Slide No:104/73

PV power systems
Solar PV Power System
Standalone PV Power Systems
Grid Connected PV Power Systems
Bi-directional metering in Grid Connected PV Power
Systems
Arrangement of inverters in PV power plant
PV Power system- DC Load
Hybrid Renewable energy Power system
Challenges in Solar PV

1. Material availability/processing
2. Long term stability
3. Long energy pay back period
4. Moderate efficiency
CPV Solar Cell
CPV Solar Cell
Solar tree
 Solar tree

Fibonacci number sequence

 Half cut solar cells

Full cell Half cut