Advanced Technology in

Electric Power Generation

Solar Energy To Electrical energy
WASIM AL-GHAFIR

2012
INDEX

Introduction
Applications
Parameters
Energy Sources in Palestine
References



Solar Energy:
Radiant light and heat from the sun.
It has been harnessed by humans since
ancient times using a range of ever-evolving
technologies.
One of the Solar Energy Technologies is
solar photovoltaic
INTRODUCTION(1/4)
INTRODUCTION(2/4)
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight
into electricity, either directly using
photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using
concentrated solar power (CSP).

Photovoltaic systems (PV system).
Concentrated solar power (also called
concentrating solar power, concentrated solar
thermal, and CSP



INTRODUCTION(3/4)
Photovoltaic systems (PV system)
Photovoltaic systems (PV system): uses solar panels
to convert sunlight into electricity.
A system is made up of :
One or more solar photovoltaic (PV) panel.
A DC/AC power converter (also known as an inverter).
A racking system that holds the solar panels.
Electrical interconnections, and mounting for other
components












Typical Photovoltaic System
INTRODUCTION(4/4)
How Does It Work ?!(1/2)
The solar cell works in three steps:
1. Photons in sunlight hit the solar panel and are
absorbed by semiconducting materials, such as silicon.
2. Electrons (negatively charged) are knocked loose
from their atoms, causing an electric potential
difference. Current starts flowing through the
material to cancel the potential and this electricity is
captured. Due to the special composition of solar
cells, the electrons are only allowed to move in a
single direction.(Photovoltaic Effect)


How Does It Work ?!(2/2)
3. An array of solar cells converts solar
energy into a usable amount of direct
current (DC) electricity.

The photovoltaic effect is the creation of voltage or
electric current in a material upon exposure to light.
When the sunlight or any other light is incident
upon a material surface, the electrons present
in the valance band of the metallic atom
absorbs energy and, being excited, jump to
conduction band and become free.

APPLICATIONS(1/3)
There are many applications on photovoltaic cells,
one that my presentation is focused on, is
converting the solar energy from the sun to
electrical energy by means of Photovoltaic Effect
and DC/AC converter.

A solar cell made from a monocrystalline
silicon wafer
Solar Car- Australia
APPLICATIONS(2/3)
Nellis Solar Power Plant, 14 MW power plant installed 2007
in Nevada, USA
APPLICATIONS(3/3)
Aerial view of one of the SEGS plants
The largest solar power plant in the world, located
in the Mojave Desert of California.
Capacity :354 MW
Capacity factor:21%


Also Called Concentrating Solar Power, concentrated
solar thermal, and CSP) systems use mirrors or lenses to
concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal
energy, onto a small area. It is a way to help increase
the incident light on the cells .
Concentrated solar power

PARAMETERS
Materials
Various materials display varying efficiencies and have varying costs.
Materials for efficient solar cells must have characteristics matched to
the spectrum of available light.
Some cells are designed to efficiently convert wavelengths of solar
light that reach the Earth surface. However, some solar cells are
optimized for light absorption beyond Earth's atmosphere as well.
Light absorbing materials can often be used in multiple physical
configurations to take advantage of different light absorption and
charge separation mechanisms.

Materials presently used for photovoltaic solar cells include
monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon,
cadmium telluride, and copper indium selenide/sulfide.
Efficiency
The efficiency of a solar cell may be broken down into
reflectance efficiency, thermodynamic efficiency,
charge carrier separation efficiency and conductive
efficiency. The overall efficiency is the product of each
of these individual efficiencies.

Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar
cell in 1954.These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt
and reached efficiencies of 4.56%.
Using amorphous and monocristalline silicon together,
EPFL team achieved an astounding 22.4 percent
efficiency.
Researches are in progress to use black silicon to
increase the efficiency.

COST(1/2)
The cost of a solar cell is given per unit of peak electrical power.
Solar-specific feed-in tariffs vary worldwide, and even state by state
within various countries. Such feed-in tariffs can be highly effective in
encouraging the development of solar power projects.
High-efficiency solar cells are of interest to decrease the cost of solar
energy. Many of the costs of a solar power plant are proportional to
the panel area or land area of the plant.
The price of solar panels fell steadily for 40 years, until 2004 when
high subsidies in Germany drastically increased demand there and
greatly increased the price of purified silicon (which is used in
computer chips as well as solar panels).
January 2008 prices for solar modules in Germany dropped from 3 to
1 per peak watt


COST(2/2)
LIFESPAN/STORAGE
Most commercially available solar panels are capable of producing
electricity for at least twenty years. The typical warranty given by
panel manufacturers is over 90% of rated output for the first 10 years,
and over 80% for the second 10 years. Panels are expected to function
for a period of 30 to 35 years.
Solar energy is not available at night, making energy storage an
important issue in order to provide the continuous availability of
energy. Both wind power and solar power are intermittent energy
sources, meaning that all available output must be taken when it is
available and either stored for when it can be used, or transported,
over transmission lines, to where it can be used. Wind power and
solar power tend to be somewhat complementary, as there tends to
be more wind in the winter and more sun in the summer, but on days
with no sun and no wind the difference needs to be made up in some
manner.


STORAGE
Solar energy can be stored at high temperatures using molten
salts. Salts are an effective storage medium because they are
low-cost, have a high specific heat capacity and can deliver heat
at temperatures compatible with conventional power systems.
The Solar Two used this method of energy storage, allowing it to
store 1.44 TJ in its 68 m storage tank, enough to provide full
output for close to 39 hours, with an efficiency of about 99%.

Off-grid PV systems have traditionally used rechargeable
batteries to store excess electricity. With grid-tied systems,
excess electricity can be sent to the transmission grid.


As we all know that the sun is moving the sky and the incident
will not be the same if the sun is perpendicular to the cells or
if it has a different angle. So to solve this problem, scientists
created focal tracker, which allow the photovoltaic panel to
rotate and find best angle to give us the highest exposure of
the light.
PRESENT ISSUES
Advantages:
Renewable /Clean/totally silent
provide cost effective solutions to energy
problems in places where there is no mains
electricity.
they require little maintenance and have a long
lifetime.
they don't need large scale installations.
No green gases.

ADVANTAGES/ DISADVANTAGES
The main disadvantage of solar energy is the initial cost.
Most types of solar cell require large areas of land to
achieve average efficiency.
low efficiency 22% : Air pollution and weather can also
have a large effect on the efficiency of the cells.
Solar panels are bulky: his is particularly true of the
higher-efficiency, traditional silicon crystalline wafer
solar modules. These are the large solar panels that are
covered in glass.
DISADVANTAGES
ENERGY SOURCES IN PALESTINE
More than 90% percent of our power
needs, are relying on foreign sources.
There are no known fossil fuel
reserves
In general Palestine is counted as one of the
poorest countries in the Middle East in Terms
of energy sources
10% of the power is from Indigenous
energy resources, which is limited to solar
energy for photovoltaic and thermal
applications(mainly for water heating), and
biomass(wood and agricultural waste)
for cooking and heating in rural areas.
The Potential of wind energy is relatively
small but not yet utilized

In my city GAZA:
Electricity generators with a capacity of 140MW at the first
phase. Following extensive damage from an Israeli
bombing raid in July 2006, now after more than 6 years this
station is only producing 50MW-100MW, taking in considering
growth of population which should be 320MW. Also
nowadays we buy 22MW from Egypt and 125MW from
Israel, which sums to 98 MW shortage, only 10 hours per
day electricity !!
The main source of fuel for this station was supposed to be
natural gas, but due to political obstacles which caused the
halting of the project got production of natural gas from
The Mediterranean sea, the station uses diesel for energy,
which


ENERGY IN MY CITY
A chemistry teacher has developed a PV panel on his house
roof that generates all of the electricity for his 3-store
house and for some of the street lights.

A Solar Water & Power Source for Recovery of Gaza
Concept developed by TREC and presented to Forum2000 in
Prague, 9/10 October 2005. Not approval because of
political reasons !.
A solar-powered heart unit for the hospital in GAZA, which
was constructed by ITALY. (destroyed after only 2 months
of its work) I guess they did not consider that the panel
should withstand bombing the roof of a hospital!
EXAMPLES


THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION



Questions & Answers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/epfd-
ner092712.php
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2003/ledlie/advantages_of
_solar_energy.htm
Renewable Energy in the Middle East: A Review of Modern
Technologies

REFERENCES