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SOLAR ENERGY:

Solar panels convert the sun's light in to usable solar energy using N-type and P-type semiconductor
material. When sunlight is absorbed by these materials, the solar energy knocks electrons loose from their
atoms, allowing the electrons to flow through the material to produce electricity. This process of converting
light (photons) to electricity (voltage) is called the photovoltaic (PV) effect. Currently solar panels convert
most of the visible light spectrum and about half of the ultraviolet and infrared light spectrum to usable solar
energy.Solar energy technologies use the sun's energy and light to provide heat, light, hot water, electricity,
and even cooling, for homes, businesses, and industry.

SOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES:


 Photovoltaic Systems:Producing electricity directly from sunlight.
 Solar Hot Water:Heating water with solar energy.
 Solar Electricity:Using the sun's heat to produce electricity.
 Passive Solar Heating and Daylighting:Using solar energy to heat and light buildings.
 Solar Process Space Heating and Cooling:Industrial and commercial uses of the sun's heat.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF SOLAR POWER

The sun provides a tremendous resource for generating clean and sustainable electricity without toxic
pollution or global warming emissions.

The potential environmental impacts associated with solar power — land use and habitat loss, water use, and
the use of hazardous materials in manufacturing — can vary greatly depending on the technology, which
includes two broad categories: photovoltaic (PV) solar cells or concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP).

The scale of the system — ranging from small, distributed rooftop PV arrays to large utility-scale PV and
CSP projects — also plays a significant role in the level of environmental impact.

Land Use

Depending on their location, larger utility-scale solar facilities can raise concerns about land degradation and
habitat loss. Total land area requirements varies depending on the technology, the topography of the site, and
the intensity of the solar resource. Estimates for utility-scale PV systems range from 3.5 to 10 acres per
megawatt, while estimates for CSP facilities are between 4 and 16.5 acres per megawatt.

Unlike wind facilities, there is less opportunity for solar projects to share land with agricultural uses.
However, land impacts from utility-scale solar systems can be minimized by siting them at lower-quality
locations such as brownfields, abandoned mining land, or existing transportation and transmission
corridors .Smaller scale solar PV arrays, which can be built on homes or commercial buildings, also have
minimal land use impact.

Water Use

Solar PV cells do not use water for generating electricity. However, as in all manufacturing processes, some
water is used to manufacture solar PV components.

Concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP), like all thermal electric plants, require water for cooling. Water
use depends on the plant design, plant location, and the type of cooling system.

CSP plants that use wet-recirculating technology with cooling towers withdraw between 600 and 650
gallons of water per megawatt-hour of electricity produced. CSP plants with once-through cooling
technology have higher levels of water withdrawal, but lower total water consumption (because water is not
lost as steam). Dry-cooling technology can reduce water use at CSP plants by approximately 90 percent .
However, the tradeoffs to these water savings are higher costs and lower efficiencies. In addition, dry-
cooling technology is significantly less effective at temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hazardous Materials

The PV cell manufacturing process includes a number of hazardous materials, most of which are used to
clean and purify the semiconductor surface. These chemicals, similar to those used in the general
semiconductor industry, include hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, 1,1,1-
trichloroethane, and acetone. The amount and type of chemicals used depends on the type of cell, the
amount of cleaning that is needed, and the size of silicon wafer . Workers also face risks associated with
inhaling silicon dust. Thin-film PV cells contain a number of more toxic materials than those used in
traditional silicon photovoltaic cells, including gallium arsenide, copper-indium-gallium-diselenide, and
cadmium-telluride. If not handled and disposed of properly, these materials could pose serious
environmental or public health threats. However, manufacturers have a strong financial incentive to ensure
that these highly valuable and often rare materials are recycled rather than thrown away.

Life-Cycle Global Warming Emissions

While there are no global warming emissions associated with generating electricity from solar energy, there
are emissions associated with other stages of the solar life-cycle, including manufacturing, materials
transportation, installation, maintenance, and decommissioning and dismantlement. Most estimates of life-
cycle emissions for photovoltaic systems are between 0.07 and 0.18 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per
kilowatt-hour. Most estimates for concentrating solar power range from 0.08 to 0.2 pounds of carbon dioxide
equivalent per kilowatt-hour. In both cases, this is far less than the lifecycle emission rates for natural gas
(0.6-2 lbs of CO2E/kWh) and coal (1.4-3.6 lbs of CO2E/kWh) .

PHYSICS OF SUN:

Diameter: 865,000 miles (1,392,000 km, 109 times earth)Mass: 2 x 1030 kg (330,000 times earth)Density:
1.41 g/cm3 Gravity: 274 m/s2 (28 g)Surface Temperature: 10,000 F (5800 K).
Solar irradiation is the sun’s radiant energy incident on a surface of unit area, expressed in units of
kWh/m2.  Typically expressed on an average daily basis for a given month. Also referred to as solar
insolation or peak sun hours. Solar irradiation (energy) is equal to the average solar irradiance (power)
multiplied by time.

Peak sun hours (PSH) is the average daily amount of solar energy received on a surface. PSH are
equivalent to:The number of hours that the solar irradiance would be at a peak level of 1 kW/m2. Also
the equivalent number of hours per day that a PV array will operate at peak rated output levels at rated
temperature.
SOLAR RADIATION MEASUREMENTS

Solar radiation is a term used to describe visible and near-visible (ultraviolet and near-infrared) radiation
emitted from the sun. The different regions are described by their wavelength range within the broad band
range of 0.20 to 4.0 µm (microns). Terrestrial radiation is a term used to describe infrared radiation emitted
from the atmosphere. The following is a list of the components of solar and terrestrial radiation and their
approximate wavelength ranges:

 Ultraviolet: 0.20 – 0.39 µm


 Visible: 0.39 – 0.78 µm
 Near-Infrared: 0.78 – 4.00 µm
 Infrared: 4.00 – 100.00 µm

Approximately 99% of solar, or shortwave, radiation at the earth’s surface is contained in the region from
0.3 to 3.0 µm while most of terrestrial, or longwave, radiation is contained in the region from 3.5 to 50 µm.

Outside the earth’s atmosphere, solar radiation has an intensity of approximately 1370 watts/meter2. This is
the value at mean earth-sun distance at the top of the atmosphere and is referred to as the Solar Constant. On
the surface of the earth on a clear day, at noon, the direct beam radiation will be approximately 1000
watts/meter2 for many locations. While the availability of energy is affected by location (including latitude
and elevation), season, and time of day, the biggest factors affecting the available energy are cloud cover and
other meteorological conditions which vary with location and time.

A] Pyranometers Pyranometers measure hemispherical solar irradiance, or broadband solar radiation within
a 180-degree field of view; this may be considered the global solar radiation of a given hemisphere. A
typical analog pyranometer does not require power to operate and consists of a thermopile sensor beneath a
glass dome. The thermopile absorbs all the solar radiation which encounters it and generates a small,
proportional output voltage. Pyranometers are typically used on or near solar panels to facilitate optimum
panel positioning.Digital pyranometers are used to record and analyze irradiation data. They are typically
capable of ouputting data in serial form.
B ]Pyrheliometers

Pyrheliometers are similar to pyranometers, but they are designed to measure only direct beam solar
irradiance. The device itself is often mounted directly on the tracking system so that it is always measuring
direct beam sunlight. Sunlight enters pyrheliometers through an integral lens, which projects sunlight onto a
thermocouple within the device. Most pyrheliometers can convert a thermopile's small voltage output into
watts per square meter and either output or record this data.

The following table indicates the different types of irradiation

Type of radiation Description


GHI The total amount of radiation received from above by a
Global Horizontal Irradiation horizontal surface. This value includes both Direct
Normal Irradiation (DNI) and Diffuse Horizontal
Irradiation (DHI).
Application:
 Fixed PV installations

 Comparisons with solar data bases to perform


MCP (Measure Correlate Predict) evaluations

GTI The total amount of direct and diffuse radiation received


Global Tilted Irradiation from above by a tilted surface. GTI is an approximate
value for the energy yield calculation of fixed installed
tilted PV panels.

Applications:
 Fixed PV installations
DNI Direct Normal Irradiation is the amount of solar radiation
Direct Normal Irradiation received per unit area by a surface that is always held
perpendicular (or normal) to the rays that come in a
straight line form the direction of the sun at its current
position in the sky.
Applications:
 Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
 Concentrated PV (CPV)

 Fixed PV installations

DHI Diffuse Horizontal Irradiation is the amount of radiation


Diffuse Horizontal Irradiation received per unit area by a surface (no subject to any
shade or shadow) that does not arrive on a direct path
from the sun, but has been scattered by molecules and
particles in the atmosphere and comes equally from all
directions.

Applications:
 Fixed PV installations

 Redundancy calculations of GHI → GHI = DHI +


DNI · cos(θ)

SOLAR ENERGY OPTIONS

The fraction of the energy flux emitted by the sun and intercepted by the earth is characterized by the solar
constant. The solar constant is defined as essentially the measure of the solar energy flux density
perpendicular to the ray direction per unit are per unit time. It is most precisely measured by satellites
outside the earth atmosphere. The solar constant is currently estimated at 1367 W/m2 [cited from Stine and
Harrigan, 1986]. This number actually varies by 3% because the orbit of the earth is elliptical, and the
distance from the sun varies over the course of the year. Some small variation of the solar constant is also
possible due to changes in Sun's luminosity. This measured value includes all types of radiation, a
substantial fraction of which is lost as the light passes through the atmosphere As the solar radiation passes
through the atmosphere, it gets absorbed, scattered, reflected, or transmitted. All these processes result in
reduction of the energy flux density. Actually, the solar flux density is reduced by about 30% compared to
extraterrestrial radiation flux on a sunny day and is reduced by as much as 90% on a cloudy day. The
following main losses should be noted:

 absorbed by particles and molecules in the atmosphere - 10-30%


 reflected and scattered back to space - 2-11%
 scattered to earth (direct radiation becomes diffuse) - 5-26%

As a result, the direct radiation reaching the earth surface (or a device installed on the earth surface) never
exceeds 83% of the original extraterrestrial energy flux. This radiation that comes directly from the solar
disk is defined as beam radiation. The scattered and reflected radiation that is sent to the earth surface from
all directions (reflected from other bodies, molecules, particles, droplets, etc.) is defined as diffuse
radiation. The sum of the beam and diffuse components is defined as total (or global) radiation.

It is important for us to differentiate between the beam radiation and diffuse radiation when talking about
solar concentration in this lesson, because the beam radiation can be concentrated, while the diffuse
radiation, in many cases, cannot.
Short-wave radiation, in the wavelength range from 0.3 to 3 μm, comes directly from the sun. It includes
both beam and diffuse components.

Long-wave radiation, with wavelength 3 μm or longer, originates from the sources at near-ambient
temperatures - atmosphere, earth surface, light collectors, other bodies.

The solar radiation reaching the earth is highly variable and depends on the state of the atmosphere at a
specific locale. Two atmospheric processes can significantly affect the incident irradiation: scattering and
absorption.

Scattering is caused by interaction of the radiation with molecules, water, and dust particles in the air. How
much light is scattered depends on the number of particles in the atmosphere, particle size, and the total air
mass the radiation comes through.

Absorption occurs upon interaction of the radiation with certain molecules, such as ozone (absorption of
short-wave radiation - ultraviolet), water vapor, and carbon dioxide (absorption of long-wave radiation -
infrared).

Due to these processes, out of the whole spectrum of solar radiation, only a small portion reaches the earth
surface. Thus most of x-rays and other short-wave radiation is absorbed by atmospheric components in the
ionosphere, ultraviolet is absorbed by ozone, and not-so abundant long-wave radiation is absorbed by CO2.
As a result, the main wavelength range to be considered for solar applications is from 0.29 to 2.5 μm .

[Different types of radiation at the earth surface: I ROW - short wave; II ROW - long wav]
SOLAR RADIATION DATA

Informations:

1. Instantaneous or period of time


values

2. Time period of measurement

3. Beam/diffuse or total radiation

4. Instrument used

5. Receiving surface orientation

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