Applications of photovoltaics

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There are many practical applications for solar panels or photovoltaics. From the fields of the agricultural industry as a power source for irrigation to its usage in remote health care facilities to refrigerate medical supplies. Other applications include power generation at various scales and attempts to integrate them into homes and public infrastructure. PV modules are used in photovoltaic systems and include a large variety of electrical devices.

Contents

Infrastructure

Rooftop and building integrated systems

Rooftop PV on half-timbered house SolarFachwerkhaus.jpg
Rooftop PV on half-timbered house

Photovoltaic arrays are often associated with buildings: either integrated into them, mounted on them or mounted nearby on the ground. Rooftop PV systems are most often retrofitted into existing buildings, usually mounted on top of the existing roof structure or on the existing walls. Alternatively, an array can be located separately from the building but connected by cable to supply power for the building. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are increasingly incorporated into the roof or walls of new domestic and industrial buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power. [1] Roof tiles with integrated PV cells are sometimes used as well. Provided there is an open gap in which air can circulate, rooftop mounted solar panels can provide a passive cooling effect on buildings during the day and also keep accumulated heat in at night. [2] Typically, residential rooftop systems have small capacities of around 5–10 kW, while commercial rooftop systems often amount to several hundreds of kilowatts. Although rooftop systems are much smaller than ground-mounted utility-scale power plants, they account for most of the worldwide installed capacity. [3]

Indoor Photovoltaics (IPV)

Indoor photovoltaics have the potential to supply power to the Internet of Things, such as smart sensors and communication devices, providing a solution to the battery limitations such as power consumption, toxicity, and maintenance. Ambient indoor lighting, such as LEDs and fluorescent lights, emit enough radiation to power small electronic devices or devices with low-power demand. [4] In these applications, indoor photovoltaics will be able to improve reliability and increase lifetimes of wireless networks, especially important with the significant number of wireless sensors that will be installed in the coming years. [5]

Due to the lack of access to solar radiation, the intensity of energy harvested by indoor photovoltaics is usually three orders of magnitude smaller than sunlight, which will affect the efficiencies of the photovoltaic cells. The optimal band gap for indoor light harvesting is around 1.9-2 eV, compared to the optimum of 1.4 eV for outdoor light harvesting. The increase in optimal band gap also results in a larger open-circuit voltage (VOC), which affects the efficiency as well. [4] Silicon photovoltaics, the most common type of photovoltaic cell in the market, is only able to reach an efficiency of around 8% when harvesting ambient indoor light, compared to its 26% efficiency in sunlight. One possible alternative is to use amorphous silicon, a-Si, as it has a wider band gap of 1.6 eV compared to its crystalline counterpart, causing it to be more suitable to capture the indoor light spectra. [5]

Other promising materials and technologies for indoor photovoltaics include thin-film materials, III-V light harvesters, organic photovoltaics (OPV), dye-sensitized solar cells and perovskite solar cells.

Solar pumps

One of the most cost effective solar applications is a solar powered pump, as it is far cheaper to purchase a solar panel than it is to run power lines. [11] [12] [13] They often meet a need for water beyond the reach of power lines, taking the place of a windmill or windpump. One common application is the filling of livestock watering tanks, so that grazing cattle may drink. Another is the refilling of drinking water storage tanks on remote or self-sufficient homes.

Solar street lights

Solar street lights raised light sources which are powered by photovoltaic panels generally mounted on the lighting structure. The solar array of such off-grid PV system charges a rechargeable battery, which powers a fluorescent or LED lamp during the night. Solar street lights are stand-alone power systems, and have the advantage of savings on trenching, landscaping, and maintenance costs, as well as on the electric bills, despite their higher initial cost compared to conventional street lighting. They are designed with sufficiently large batteries to ensure operation for at least a week and even in the worst situation, they are expected to dim only slightly.

Rural electrification

Developing countries where many villages are often more than five kilometres away from grid power are increasingly using photovoltaics. In remote locations in India a rural lighting program has been providing solar powered LED lighting to replace kerosene lamps. The solar powered lamps were sold at about the cost of a few months' supply of kerosene. [14] [15] Cuba is working to provide solar power for areas that are off grid. [16] More complex applications of off-grid solar energy use include 3D printers. [17] RepRap 3D printers have been solar powered with photovoltaic technology, [18] which enables distributed manufacturing for sustainable development. These are areas where the social costs and benefits offer an excellent case for going solar, though the lack of profitability has relegated such endeavors to humanitarian efforts. However, in 1995 solar rural electrification projects had been found to be difficult to sustain due to unfavorable economics, lack of technical support, and a legacy of ulterior motives of north-to-south technology transfer. [19]

Power generation

Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector

Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector (PVT) are systems that convert solar radiation into thermal and electrical energy. These systems combine a solar PV cell, which converts sunlight into electricity, with a solar thermal collector, which captures the remaining energy and removes waste heat from the PV module. The capture of both electricity and heat allow these devices to have higher exergy and thus be more overall energy efficient than solar PV or solar thermal alone. [20] [21]

Power stations

Satellite image of the Topaz Solar Farm Topaz Solar Farm, California Valley.jpg
Satellite image of the Topaz Solar Farm

Many utility-scale solar farms have been constructed all over the world. In 2011 the 579-megawatt (MWAC) Solar Star project was proposed, to be followed by the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm and the Topaz Solar Farm in the future, both with a capacity of 550 MWAC, to be constructed by US-company First Solar, using CdTe modules, a thin-film PV technology. All three power stations will be located in the Californian desert. [22] When the Solar Star project was completed in 2015, it was the world's largest photovoltaic power station at the time. [23]

Specialty Power Systems

Photovoltaics may also be incorporated as energy conversion devices for objects at elevated temperatures and with preferable radiative emissivities such as heterogeneous combustors. [24]

Hybrid power systems

Hybrid systems combine two or more modes of electricity generation together, usually renewable technologies such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind turbines. These systems often yield greater economic and environmental returns than wind, solar, geothermal or trigeneration stand-alone systems by themselves.

Concentrated photovoltaics

Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems generate solar power by using a combination of mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight onto a receiver. Electricity is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat (solar thermal energy), which drives a heat engine (usually a steam turbine) connected to an electrical power generator or powers a thermochemical reaction.

Transportation

Solar Impulse 2, a solar aircraft Solar Impulse SI2 pilote Bertrand Piccard Payerne November 2014.jpg
Solar Impulse 2, a solar aircraft

PV has traditionally been used for electric power in space. PV is rarely used to provide motive power in transport applications, but it can provide auxiliary power in boats and cars. Some automobiles are fitted with solar-powered air conditioning. [25] A self-contained solar vehicle would have limited power and utility, but a solar-charged electric vehicle allows use of solar power for transportation. Solar-powered cars, boats [26] and airplanes [27] have been demonstrated, with the most practical and likely of these being solar cars. [28] The Swiss solar aircraft, Solar Impulse 2, achieved the longest non-stop solo flight in history and completed the first solar-powered aerial circumnavigation of the globe in 2016.

Solar vehicles

Solar vehicle, whether ground, water, air or space vehicles may obtain some or all of the energy required for their operation from the sun. Surface and air vehicles generally require higher power levels than can be sustained by a practically sized solar array, so a battery assists in meeting peak power demand, and the solar array recharges it. Space vehicles have successfully used solar photovoltaic systems for years of operation, eliminating the weight of fuel or primary batteries.

Spacecraft applications

Solar panels on spacecraft have been one of the first applications of photovoltaics since the launch of Vanguard 1 in 1958, the first satellite to use solar cells. Contrary to Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the planet, that ran out of batteries within 21 days due to the lack of solar-power, most modern communications satellites and space probes in the inner Solar System rely on the use of solar panels to derive electricity from sunlight. [29] [30]

Part of Juno's solar array Illumination test on one of Juno's solar panels.jpg
Part of Juno's solar array

Solar panels on spacecraft are usually the sole source of power to run the sensors, active heating and cooling, and communications. A battery stores this energy for use when the solar panels are in shadow. In some, the power is also used for spacecraft propulsionelectric propulsion. [31] Spacecraft were one of the earliest applications of photovoltaics, starting with the silicon solar cells used on the Vanguard 1 satellite, launched by the US in 1958. [32] Since then, solar power has been used on missions ranging from the MESSENGER probe to Mercury, to as far out in the solar system as the Juno probe to Jupiter. The largest solar power system flown in space is the electrical system of the International Space Station. To increase the power generated per kilogram, typical spacecraft solar panels use high-cost, high-efficiency, and close-packed rectangular multi-junction solar cells made of gallium arsenide (GaAs) and other semiconductor materials. [31]

Standalone systems

Until a decade or so ago, PV was used frequently to power calculators and novelty devices. Improvements in integrated circuits and low power liquid crystal displays make it possible to power such devices for several years between battery changes, making PV use less common. In contrast, solar powered remote fixed devices have seen increasing use recently in locations where significant connection cost makes grid power prohibitively expensive. Such applications include solar lamps, water pumps, [33] parking meters, [34] [35] emergency telephones, trash compactors, [36] temporary traffic signs, charging stations, [37] [38] and remote guard posts and signals.

Agrivoltaics

A number of experimental solar farms have been established around the world that attempt to integrate solar power generation with agriculture. An Italian manufacturer has promoted a design which track the sun's daily path across the sky to generate more electricity than conventional fixed-mounted systems. [39]

Telecommunication and signaling

Solar PV power is ideally suited for telecommunication applications such as local telephone exchange, radio and TV broadcasting, microwave and other forms of electronic communication links. This is because, in most telecommunication application, storage batteries are already in use and the electrical system is basically DC. In hilly and mountainous terrain, radio and TV signals may not reach as they get blocked or reflected back due to undulating terrain. At these locations, low power transmitters (LPT) are installed to receive and retransmit the signal for local population. [40]

Pico PV systems

The smallest, often portable photovoltaic systems are called pico solar PV systems, or pico solar. They mostly combine a rechargeable battery and charge controller, with a very small PV panel. The panel's nominal capacity is just a few watt-peak (1–10 Wp) and its area less than 0.1 square metres (1 sq ft) in size. A large range of different applications can be solar powered such as music players, fans, portable lamps, security lights, solar lighting kits, solar lanterns and street light (see below), phone chargers, radios, or even small, seven-inch LCD televisions, that run on less than ten watts. As it is the case for power generation from pico hydro, pico PV systems are useful in small, rural communities that require only a small amount of electricity. Since the efficiency of many appliances have improved considerably, in particular due to the usage of LED lights and efficient rechargeable batteries, pico solar has become an affordable alternative, especially in the developing world. [41] The metric prefix pico- stands for a trillionth to indicate the smallness of the system's electric power.

Do it yourself community

With a growing interest in environmentally friendly green energy, hobbyists in the DIY-community have endeavored to build their own solar PV systems from kits [42] or partly DIY. [43] Usually, the DIY-community uses inexpensive [44] or high efficiency systems [45] (such as those with solar tracking) to generate their own power. As a result, the DIY-systems often end up cheaper than their commercial counterparts. [46] Often the system is also connected to the regular power grid, using net metering instead of a battery for backup. These systems usually generate power amount of ≈2 kW or less. Through the internet, the community is now able to obtain plans to (partly) construct the system and there is a growing trend toward building them for domestic requirements.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar energy</span> Radiant light and heat from the Sun, harnessed with technology

Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy, and solar architecture. It is an essential source of renewable energy, and its technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it into solar power. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic systems, concentrated solar power, and solar water heating to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light-dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Photovoltaics</span> Method to produce electricity from solar radiation

Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially used for electricity generation and as photosensors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar vehicle</span> Electric vehicle powered by solar energy

A solar vehicle or solar electric vehicle is an electric vehicle powered completely or significantly by direct solar energy. Usually, photovoltaic (PV) cells contained in solar panels convert the sun's energy directly into electric energy.

An atomic battery, nuclear battery, radioisotope battery or radioisotope generator uses energy from the decay of a radioactive isotope to generate electricity. Like a nuclear reactor, it generates electricity from nuclear energy, but it differs by not using a chain reaction. Although commonly called a batteries, atomic batteries are technically not electrochemical and cannot be charged or recharged. Although they are very costly, they have extremely long lives and high energy density, so they are typically used as power sources for equipment that must operate unattended for long periods, such as spacecraft, pacemakers, underwater systems, and automated scientific stations in remote parts of the world.

In the 19th century, it was observed that the sunlight striking certain materials generates detectable electric current – the photoelectric effect. This discovery laid the foundation for solar cells. Solar cells have gone on to be used in many applications. They have historically been used in situations where electrical power from the grid was unavailable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar cell</span> Photodiode used to produce power from light on a large scale

A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect. It is a form of photoelectric cell, a device whose electrical characteristics vary when it is exposed to light. Individual solar cell devices are often the electrical building blocks of photovoltaic modules, known colloquially as "solar panels". Almost all commercial PV cells consist of crystalline silicon, with a market share of 95%. Cadmium telluride thin-film solar cells account for the remainder. The common single-junction silicon solar cell can produce a maximum open-circuit voltage of approximately 0.5 to 0.6 volts.

Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) energy conversion is a direct conversion process from heat to electricity via photons. A basic thermophotovoltaic system consists of a hot object emitting thermal radiation and a photovoltaic cell similar to a solar cell but tuned to the spectrum being emitted from the hot object.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar panel</span> Assembly of photovoltaic cells used to generate electricity

A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. The electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct current (DC) electricity, which can be used to power various devices or be stored in batteries. Solar panels are also known as solar cell panels, solar electric panels, or PV modules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar panels on spacecraft</span> Photovoltaic solar panels on spacecraft operating in the inner Solar System

Spacecraft operating in the inner Solar System usually rely on the use of power electronics-managed photovoltaic solar panels to derive electricity from sunlight. Outside the orbit of Jupiter, solar radiation is too weak to produce sufficient power within current solar technology and spacecraft mass limitations, so radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) are instead used as a power source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stand-alone power system</span>

A stand-alone power system, also known as remote area power supply (RAPS), is an off-the-grid electricity system for locations that are not fitted with an electricity distribution system. Typical SAPS include one or more methods of electricity generation, energy storage, and regulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Building-integrated photovoltaics</span> Photovoltaic materials used to replace conventional building materials

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are photovoltaic materials that are used to replace conventional building materials in parts of the building envelope such as the roof, skylights, or façades. They are increasingly being incorporated into the construction of new buildings as a principal or ancillary source of electrical power, although existing buildings may be retrofitted with similar technology. The advantage of integrated photovoltaics over more common non-integrated systems is that the initial cost can be offset by reducing the amount spent on building materials and labor that would normally be used to construct the part of the building that the BIPV modules replace. In addition, BIPV allows for more widespread solar adoption when the building's aesthetics matter and traditional rack-mounted solar panels would disrupt the intended look of the building.

A solar-powered desalination unit produces potable water from saline water through direct or indirect methods of desalination powered by sunlight. Solar energy is the most promising renewable energy source due to its ability to drive the more popular thermal desalination systems directly through solar collectors and to drive physical and chemical desalination systems indirectly through photovoltaic cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar power</span> Conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity

Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to convert light into an electric current. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight to a hot spot, often to drive a steam turbine.

A photovoltaic system, also called a PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to convert the output from direct to alternating current, as well as mounting, cabling, and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. Many utility-scale PV systems use tracking systems that follow the sun's daily path across the sky to generate more electricity than fixed-mounted systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar lamp</span> Lamp powered by one or more solar panels

A solar lamp, also known as a solar light or solar lantern, is a lighting system composed of an LED lamp, solar panels, battery, charge controller and there may also be an inverter. The lamp operates on electricity from batteries, charged through the use of a solar photovoltaic panel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thin-film solar cell</span> Type of second-generation solar cell

Thin-film solar cells are a type of solar cell made by depositing one or more thin layers of photovoltaic material onto a substrate, such as glass, plastic or metal. Thin-film solar cells are typically a few nanometers (nm) to a few microns (μm) thick–much thinner than the wafers used in conventional crystalline silicon (c-Si) based solar cells, which can be up to 200 μm thick. Thin-film solar cells are commercially used in several technologies, including cadmium telluride (CdTe), copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), and amorphous thin-film silicon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar cell research</span> Research in the field of photovoltaics

There are currently many research groups active in the field of photovoltaics in universities and research institutions around the world. This research can be categorized into three areas: making current technology solar cells cheaper and/or more efficient to effectively compete with other energy sources; developing new technologies based on new solar cell architectural designs; and developing new materials to serve as more efficient energy converters from light energy into electric current or light absorbers and charge carriers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solar-cell efficiency</span> Ratio of energy extracted from sunlight in solar cells

Solar-cell efficiency is the portion of energy in the form of sunlight that can be converted via photovoltaics into electricity by the solar cell.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to solar energy:

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is an institute of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Located in Freiburg, Germany, the Institute performs applied scientific and engineering research and development for all areas of solar energy. Fraunhofer ISE has three external branches in Germany which carry out work on solar cell and semiconductor material development: the Laboratory and Service Center (LSC) in Gelsenkirchen, the Technology Center of Semiconductor Materials (THM) in Freiberg, and the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics (CSP) in Halle. From 2006 to 2016 Eicke Weber was the director of Fraunhofer ISE. With over 1,100 employees, Fraunhofer ISE is the largest institute for applied solar energy research in Europe. The 2012 Operational Budget including investments was 74.3 million euro.

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