This paper presents an overview of the parabolic-trough collectors that have been built and marketed during the past century, as well as the prototypes currently under development. It also presents a ...survey of systems which could incorporate this type of concentrating solar system to supply thermal energy up to 400°C, especially steam power cycles for electricity generation, including examples of each application.
Electricity demand is increasing mainly due to population expansion and the continuous supply of electricity in the residential, industrial, and service sectors. This energy is a critical factor of ...economic growth, and clean energy resources must be utilized and substituted to reduce the effects of climate change and move toward sustainable development. Site selection and construction of renewable power plants help to diversify the country's energy basket. This study aims to locate and evaluate a photovoltaic solar power plant's potential in Khuzestan province, using Fuzzy-Boolean logic and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) decision analysis based on GIS. The main criteria for selecting the optimal locations include climatic (annual horizontal solar irradiance, sunshine hours, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed), economic (the proximity to roads, transmission lines, substations, urban areas, and villages), orography (slope, orientation, and altitude) and the environment (land use). According to the results, 0.12% of the province's total area has excellent suitability, 25.66% has suitable suitability, and 59.46% lacks any suitability for installing a photovoltaic system. The annual electric power generation potential using single-crystalline silicon panels and polycrystalline silicon panels is calculated as 3189.54 and 2453.49 TWh, respectively. Izeh, Bandar-e Mahshahr, and Bagh-e Malek cities are the most suitable areas for photovoltaic solar farms in the province.
•Application of fuzzy-boolean logic, AHP multi-criteria decision making, and GIS for selecting the optimal solar PV sites•The main criteria include climatic, economic, environmental, and orography and nine exclusion zones are considered.•The theoretical and technical potential of solar energy in each city of the province have been evaluated.•Electricity generation using both single-crystalline and polycrystalline silicon cell technology is assessed and compared.•25.78% of the province’s area has the best suitability for the solar farm.
At present, as the demand for electricity increases in all sectors, there is an urgent need to introduce alternative renewable energy sources into modern energy systems. Renewable energy sources, ...which consist of solar (photovoltaic, PV), wind and hydro power, are key alternative sources of “green energy’’ energies, but it can also be used to produce “green” hydrogen. Thanks to scientific and technological progress, the cost of photovoltaic solar radiation converters is constantly decreasing at a high rate, which makes it possible to build solar power plants of sufficiently large capacity. In the coming decades, solar energy will become an incentive for the economic development of countries that have the maximum “solar” resource. The Republic of Tajikistan is one of these countries with a high potential for solar energy.
The article presents an analysis of the resources and potential of solar energy in the Republic of Tajikistan. The study of electromagnetic transients in networks with photovoltaic solar power plants is performed. The main equations, simulation model and calculations of transients are presented, taking into account changes in voltage on DC buses. An algorithm for controlling the system of automatic control of output parameters is proposed. The analysis of dynamic and static modes in parallel operation of a solar power plant with the grid is carried out. A block diagram and computer model is constructed in the MATLAB package together with Simulink and Power System Blockset.
Thermal energy storage systems are key components of concentrating solar power plants in order to offer energy dispatchability to adapt the electricity power production to the curve demand. This ...paper presents a review of the current commercial thermal energy storage systems used in solar thermal power plants: steam accumulators and molten salts. It describes the mentioned storage concepts and the results of their economic evaluation. The economic value of the TES system is assessed by the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) calculation, an economic performance metric commonly used in power generation in order to compare cost of electricity among different power generation sources. Lots of studies have been done in the past to compare the LCOE of a complete solar thermal power plant using thermal energy storage systems. However, no specific studies related to the thermal energy storage levelized cost of electricity itself were done. The objective of this study is focused in the comparison of the TES LCOE where calculations are done for a 100MW Rankine cycle with different plant configuration and for different storage sizes ranging from 1 to 9h of equivalent full capacity operation.
Utilization of solar energy requires an active role from the community by providing information related to solar energy and the potential that can be obtainedIt is necessary to provide guidance to ...the community by providing basic knowledge about the conversion of solar energy into electricity. Followed by doing practice in proving the basic knowledge given in the form of simple practice. So that the public can understand information related to solar energy as a whole, both basic knowledge, conversion techniques, and installation techniques. The purpose of this community service is to provide training on solar power plant installations as a learning medium in the use of renewable energy in the form of solar energy. The training targets are MA teachers and students as the next generation who in the future will face greater challenges related to energy utilization. MA students are currently required to be more creative and innovative in utilizing all the potential of nature, especially the use of alternative technologies, one of which is solar energy. The Pangalengan area is also a challenge in itself in the use of electricity technology for the need for support by using solar energy for electricity use. In the community service program, an On-Grid 260 Wp solar power plant system has been installed which aims as a learning medium and helps reduce monthly school costs by integrating solar panels for the electrification of the Natural Sciences Laboratory (IPA).
Determining economically viable and highly efficient strategic locations for utility-scale solar power plants is a costly procedure that depends on several factors. This paper investigates the ...spatial suitability for installations of ground-mounted solar farms based on legal, social, technical, economic, environmental and cultural perspectives through the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis combined with Multi-criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique. A set of six exclusion criteria are identified and removed from the map layer considered exploitable for construction. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is then used to determine the weights of nine selected evaluation criteria found to influence the placements of the farms. Proximity raster layers were derived from features including road network and high transmission lines, overlain with a 10 m × 10 m raster terrain layers which includes elevation, slope and aspect and finally combined with interpolated raster dataset of climatological parameters comprising of global solar radiation, sunshine duration, air temperature and relative humidity. This combinatorial process through the Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) technique generated a high resolution solar resource potential atlas classifying regions on the island from high to low potential for solar farm placement. Further analysis of highly suitable sites with aerial images of the localities of interest resulted in the identification of 3 best sites all situated in the northern plains of the island. The approach demonstrated is expected to help reduce time, money and resources presently allocated towards identifying and assessing hot spots for the construction of solar power plants in Mauritius.
•Analytical Hierarchy Process is used to identify optimum solar farm sites.•The methodology analyses 9 evaluation criteria and 11 exclusion zones to assess suitability.•Sensitivity analysis is performed to test the robustness of the model.•Best sites identified for solar farms are located in the northern region of Mauritius.
•Solar irradiance variability was determined using solar heterogeneity and the umbrella effect index (UI)•Solar heterogeneity in the Asia-Pacific region is approximately 0–135 W/m2.•The umbrella ...effect index in the Asia-Pacific region was approximately 0–0.34–a year.•The locations that have low heterogeneity and a low umbrella effect index were approximately 39.17% of the total.•The area that has high heterogeneity and low umbrella effect index was approximately 1.65% of the total.
This study discusses solar irradiance variability in the spatial and temporal domains for the active use of solar energy. The spatial domain was calculated using the difference between one location and another in a focused small tile area. The principal component analysis (PCA) was used for this analysis in the spatial and temporal domain. The Umbrella Effect Index (UI) was calculated to determine the probability of an umbrella effect event within a specific time range. This study discusses solar irradiance variability using solar irradiance data analyzed every 10 min from high-temporal observations of geostationary satellites in the Asia-Pacific region. This study shows that solar heterogeneity around the Asia-Pacific ranges from 0–135 W/m2 with a high tendency in the area around the equator and highlands. In addition, this study also shows that the Asia Pacific region has umbrella effect events of approximately 50–2224 h/year with an index ranging approximately 0–0.34. This study presents the annual analysis and seasonal trends of solar irradiance variability over the entire study area. Determining seasonal trends is important because electricity demand fluctuates significantly as seasons progress. An integrated analysis of heterogeneity and UI revealed trends in spatiotemporal variations in solar irradiance. This approach provides useful information for optimizing and managing the locations for installing solar power plants. Moreover, an evaluation of existing solar power plants is presented. Evaluations based on spatiotemporal data reveal impossible characteristics using traditional approaches that use long-term simple averages or typical solar irradiance data. This research shows the distributed photovoltaic (PV) system in wide area can increase the stability of solar energy supply to the grid.
