Ground vs Roof: Where to Install your Solar Plant?

Photovoltaic modules can be installed practically anywhere that gets direct sunshine for most of the day and is not obstructed by buildings or trees that would cause shadows. However, one’s preference could be influenced by factors such as local requirements, budgets, space and location. Here, we will talk about ground versus roof setups where a Solar Plant can easily be installed.

Ground Spaces

Ground mounted solar panels can be placed anywhere in a field or yard that sees the sun for majority of the day. Ground mounting requires a dedicated space in the field or yard to set up the panels. These are an ideal choice for commercial and industrial businesses that have excess availability of land. Some of the ground types where panels can be installed are:

Standard Ground Mounts

Standard ground mounts use metal framing that is driven into the ground to hold the solar panels up at a fixed angle.

This is the fastest installation technique which requires no concrete work.

Pole mounts

Polar mounts are structures that hold multiple solar panels on a single pole. This helps elevate the panels higher off the ground than a standard ground mount whilst occupying lesser space.

Solar Carports or Canopies

Solar carports are overhead canopies built to cover parking areas or other paved areas to provide shade and generate efficient energy, simultaneously. Solar Carports are ideal for commercial settings with limited roof or land availability.

Here, reinforced concrete foundations hold large steel beams that support solar modules overhead.

Solar Roof Spaces

In urban and commercialized cities with limited land space, roof-mounted racking is a popular choice. Any rooftop that receives ample sunlight during the day can become a source for producing solar energy. Some of the types are:

Inverted T-Beam Roof

An inverted T-beam is a load-bearing structure of reinforced concrete, wood or metal, with a T-shaped cross section. These structures are the most common of all roof types as they can bear maximum weight and can withstand a wind speed of 35 m/s. They have been designed for 2 B seismic zone.

Dome/Shell Shaped roof

Many industrial roofs have a rounded dome type or a shell-like structure. Solar panels can be installed on these roofs by resting the panel structure, and most of their weight, on valley beams, avoiding putting any load over the thin slabs of shell building. These structures can withstand a wind speed of 35 m/s and have been designed for 2B seismic zone.

Corrugated Sheet roof

For pre-engineered building (PEB) roofs, light-weight panel structures are preferable in order to avoid extra load and leakage during rain. These structures can bear  the wind speed of 30 m/s and have been designed for 2 B seismic zone.

No matter how limited space a business might have, Solar can easily be installed anywhere to convert any idle space into a power generator for producing cost-efficient and clean energy.

The article was originally published on Reon Energy.

The Role of Black-Silicon Solar Cells in Making Solar Energy More Affordable

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a part of the United States Department of Energy, worked on how to produce black-silicon solar cells that is a step ahead of other discoveries. At just above 18 percent efficiency, these solar cells are unique which do not require any additional anti-reflection layers. As a result, they will help bring down the often substantial price tag associated with solar power.

Solar cells are typically expensive because they cost a lot to manufacture. They often need multiple anti-reflection layers, and each one increases the cost of the product. The cells developed by the NREL, however, are different. Their top layer was specifically created so that power can still be garnered from the product even though it is made from black silicon.

The individuals working on the project were also able to manipulate the solar cells so that their efficiency is better than anything that has been seen before. Researchers were able to figure out a way to create billions of tiny holes throughout the top layer of the silicon; these holes are even smaller than the light that shines on the cells, meaning that the wavelengths are not pushed back away from them. They are able to be utilized instead.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has research that backs up the fact that their nanostructures function at a higher level than any other anti-reflection layers, even those that are considered the top ones on the market. While they struggled in the past with solar cell efficiencies, that is no longer an issue. Their black-silicon solar cells are able to compete with any similar product out there, including those that result from the China manufacturing process.

To be successful, workers at the NREL had to figure out why a larger surface area negatively impacted how much electricity current could be harnessed. What they found was that something known as Auger recombination interfered with how many photons could be gathered on the majority of solar cells.

After understanding why Auger recombination happens, they figured out a way to overcome the process with shallower and lighter doping. The result is the creation of a black solar cell with an extremely high efficiency. Researchers want to take things a step further, however. They would like to raise the efficiency to more than 20 percent and get solar panel manufacturers to put more out on the market and in use.

Solar energy saves the earth?

It is important to accept the obvious global warming, although credit should really go to the enormous storms and other damage with the resultant loss of life from recent disasters.

Governments' problems in accepting responsibility looks like the key. The more capitalist regimes demand the right to feed the greed of multinational and local business, they are unlikely to give in to mild requests from organisations that don't pay them. Power politics is the only answer and real people themselves are responsible for this. Solar power is being advocated next as a major player in solving the renewable energy lobbies' perennial problem of getting into the marketplace.

With up to 25% increase in uses of solar PV panels before 2020 and wind energy currently increasing by only 5%. The time is running out for fossil fuel use and solar could eventually supply every energy need.

One of the numerous experts on such things, from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, is Johan Rockstrom. He quotes: "The window is shutting very rapidly on the 2 degrees target," hinting that 3 or even 4 degree target may have to be adopted. The consequences, give recent storms, is misery and death for so many people that the power politics become super-hurricane politics. Food supplies, water and sea-levels are simply the tip of the iceberg of natural disasters prescribed, if these targets were to be allowed.

These are the reasons why the UN are coming out with yet another report on why we have to quickly adopt new ideas. We simply have to move on from the use of 17% of renewable or "clean" (but very, very expensive) carbon fuels to 100%. The projected maximum for 2050 would be 68%, at its maximum. There is simply no solution to that shortfall of at least 32%- and that alone could kill off hopes of preventing further global warming.

Every continent and country is now affected by warming, with their economies suffering badly already from loss of food and water supplies. Paris reports on how to combat the climate change, but every report is against a background of governmental ineptitude and failure to respond.

We had annual totals of 49 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2010 (a rise of 11 billion in only one decade) with the vain prediction of maintaining emissions to that level until 2030. Fossil fuel investment would have to drop by $30 billion with a concomitant increase in renewable energy investments by $147 billion. That leaves some of the decision making in the hands of financial institutions, so there is a need to be careful when you invest your money! Near-impossible!

This is the third and last climate change report by the UN. Opinion polls show people still hanging onto old beliefs, indicating education is essential, not only in poorer countries, but also in the 2 big polluters: the US and China.

The UN indications are that the PV cell in solar panels will be the only possible saviour, although it is hard to believe that wind power and the rapidly-developing tidal and wave systems won't change in impact as yet more technological advances help us out. New PV systems already use low light and employ east or west facing arrays, with amazing contrasts between their multi-crystal, though silicon-based cells.

Photovoltaic Summer

When the sun shines and the wind blows, it is seen some areas can easily fulfil their potential energy. Renewable energy around the British Isles and other oceanic regions seems to be having a good year. When we compare the amount of electricity generated by the solar photovoltaic (PV) systems of different Solar Schools, we will often see varied results.

There are many reasons for this with one explanation being the intensity of light being absorbed by the PV cell is directly linked to the amount of electricity generated by the cell. In a solar generation system, this light is sunlight and its intensity changes throughout the day. These fluctuations vary based on the time of day, weather, latitude (or location) and the season. For example, during winter the generating daylight hours are shorter.

Germany is among the most advanced in getting down to building larger structures, on many brownfield sites, however the sun came out for many parts of Europe. While the short-term is immaterial for most purposes, if we can't boast about renewables in the summer, then consumers may think they can't produce the energy required.

Wind energy can now produce nearly 10,000MWh in the UK in a day, compared to the 16,000MWh that PV cells produced on one sunny day last week. That's from 450,000 solar roofs on individual houses, mainly. The German Republic managed 40% of its daily need (daytime hours only) on 7th July, while all of that UK effort managed a mere 6% on the same day.

Alan Simpson has been fact-finding on German credentials for the solar industry. In his opinion, "Germany is now "light years" ahead of the UK and benefitting. Within a decade, many German towns and cities could be substantially 'off-grid' and will be taking the grid system out of the hands of the private energy companies."

For the UK, the sunshine this year is a record July offering, although obviously the figures have yet to be finalized. Perhaps the south-facing PV cells they have will soon become more efficient, so that west or even east facing rays can be used to spread the capture throughout the day, just as Germany is planning west-facing installations. Several methods of tracking the sun have been applied in various locations. Electric builds many solar power plants in Europe, whose chief executive reports that they have parity in generation costs with conventional power stations. The difference is there are no emissions!

The seasons are governed by the tilt of the Earth's axis in space as it journeys around the Sun in a year. The tilt of the Earth also influences the effects of incoming solar energy on atmospheric and surface temperatures. And the tilt of the Earth influences the amount of sunlight that a location receives. At the equator, the amount of sunlight in a day is the same each day during the year.

At locations, further away from the equator, seasonal changes occur and a day's length will increase during the summer season and decrease during the winter season. When the South Pole of the Earth is tilted towards the Sun, this is our Summer. Six months later, when the South Pole is tilted away from the Sun, it's our Winter. In between these we have Autumn and Spring.

For more, click here.

Light Energy Stored in a Battery At Last

The problem with solar power is storing it. Unless you use connection to an electricity grid, the power has to be used immediately in your watch or a road sign. Now the chemists of Ohio State University have produced the first solar battery. A solar panel allows air to enter the device through a mesh so that a titanium dioxide gauze photo electrode can combine with an oxygen electrode to charge a lithium-oxygen battery.

A triiodide/iodide shuttle is coupled with the electrodes to produce triiodide ions on the phot electrode, which oxidize lithium peroxide. This means that in layman terms, the lithium-oxygen batteries problem of over potential is overcome at last by chemical oxidization. Of course, the aim has also been to cut costs, and this has been achieved, so far by 25%. Normally there is also a loss of energy (electrons) in the transition from solar cells to external batteries. By including the battery in the cell, almost 100% of the electrons make it to the battery and recharge it.

This is a breathing battery, according to Professor Wu, the professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the university. It even breathes out when it breaks down lithium peroxide into the metal. The titanium gauze has 200-micrometer holes with rods of titanium dioxide grown across them like grass b lades. Oxygen from the air can easily pass through. The lithium part of the battery is a thin plate, underneath a porous carbon sheet and layers of iodide electrolyte.

By charging the battery and discharging it, the team could assess battery life by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. With a rusty coating of hematite (iron oxide) as a semiconductor on the mesh, the battery achieved a normal rechargeable battery life. With new materials being installed as cheap as that, we can expect even more economical and efficient ways of grabbing the Sun’s light and using it throughout industry as our chief energy source in everything possible.

Mingzhe Yu, Xiaodi Ren, Lu Ma and Yiying Wu wrote the paper in Nature Communications as- Integrating a redox-coupled dye-sensitized photo electrode into a lithium oxygen battery for photo assisted charging

We believe they’ve achieved a truly memorable breakthrough here and hope they will continue to enhance our surge for taking up renewable energies. Ways of extracting the vast potential of the Sun can even stretch either to hydrogen production, using photosynthetic techniques or as in this earlier French production technique - using simple copper oxide.

For More:

https://www.reonenergy.com/our-projects/

https://us.sunpower.com/what-solar-energy-and-how-do-solar-panels-work

https://www.solar.com/learn/solar-panel-efficiency/

Sun Shine Powers new PVs

Solar Energy PV plants require due diligence, a robust technical design and meticulous project planning. Your decision to invest in Solar Energy is the first step towards a lucrative investment; however that’s not enough. Also, since the industry is at a nascent stage, most project management companies thrive on their EPC experience rather than their experience in Solar.

Sometimes, Businesses can be as fragile as Energy – if you don’t find a fresh and renewable source, they may soon wear off. Today, Solar Power not only holds the promise of a fresh, abundant and clean source of energy, it also offers an extremely lucrative and safe investment/business opportunity.

In China, Renesola Ltd, in Jiashan have emerged as the most reliable PV producers. PV Evolution Labs tested dynamic mechanical load, damp heat, potential induced degradation and "humidity-freeze" in 10 different companies' products. However, it is uncertain to say which newer types of PV cell might make a much more efficient solar energy conversion. Perhaps the changes are so fast paced that we can't tell which module performs better in the varied light conditions and attitudes that they are placed in. We'll keep looking though!

Australia is one of the leading solar rooftop continents, despite its size. Retail electricity there now costs more than solar generated energy, in a similar fashion to prices in Brazil, Denmark, Italy and Germany and 10 other nations. For more heavy loads of renewable energy, we have a mass of information on how solar power is developing in so many different ways, as well as in the PV business in - Earth Times on Solar Power.

In Germany, SolarWorld AG have been busier, with a 53% increase in shipments. They sold more products in the UK, US and France, as well as at home (where the market has weakened.) This is consistent with the earth wide number of installations. We are outpacing the wind power industry and equalling the more established hydropower business. That's only 0.5% of the generated electricity coming from all solar power, but the growth of 30% in consumption indicates a rapid assuming that reliability and long-term efficiency measured by Renesola gives people the confidence to install more.

The crucial area of investment gives a clearer picture of future growth. The drop from a universal $142.9 billion to only $113.7 billion last year marked a 20% drop there. The positive side was the natural drop in costs and prices as manufacturers struggled to increase sales again. Costs per watt also dropped to $0.63, as Asia took over from Europe as the biggest market.

For More:

https://www.reonenergy.com/our-projects/

https://us.sunpower.com/what-solar-energy-and-how-do-solar-panels-work

https://www.solar.com/learn/solar-panel-efficiency/

Are your solar roofs efficient?

The University of Gothenburg has launched a revolutionary tool that can determine the highest possible magnitude of solar incidence on a roof, a town or the whole city. The scientists have used the city of Gothenburg for this pilot project. In this regard, the University of Gothenburg has partnered with WSP consultants to develop this GIS system, called ‘SEES’ ( Solar Energy from Existing Structures) that can actually measure the potential of solar roofs to produce solar energy from the panels.

The model works on the principle that certain roof structures may or may not be suitable for use of solar panels. This depends on the incidence of sunlight the structure receives and how much is shadowed by the surrounding buildings and vegetation. In simple words, solar panel efficiency (expressed as a percentage) quantifies a solar panel’s ability to convert sunlight into electricity. Given the same amount of sunlight shining for the same duration of time on two solar panels with different efficiency ratings, the more efficient panel will produce more electricity than the less efficient panel.

Using the tool developed by the University it will be actually possible to know the amount of solar energy that can be produced by a solar roof in a specific setting. Solar panel efficiency is calculated by the production of electricity by solar cells, which are in turn influenced by their composition, electrical configuration, surrounding components, and more.

SEES is based on the GIS system (geographical information system). This system collects, stores and presents data. SEES can be used to show real solar roofs in correct surroundings. The pilot project has used the city of Gothenburg as its primary model but the same can be applied for municipalities where the data is available.

Many consumers and people in the solar industry consider solar panel efficiency to be the most important criterion when assessing a solar panel’s quality. While it is an important criterion, it’s not the only one to consider while you evaluate whether to install a particular solar panel. Solar panel efficiency relates to the ability of the panel to convert energy at a low cost and high supply rate.

For More:

https://news.energysage.com/what-are-the-most-efficient-solar-panels-on-the-market/

https://www.reonenergy.com/commercial-industrial-c-i-segment/

https://news.energysage.com/are-solar-panels-worth-it/