• Energy Research
• 11. Sustainability close

Energy demand is significantly expanding worldwide nowadays, as a result the capacity of the electricity generating units come into question. Based on the World Energy Balances Highlights (2020 edition) [19], it was found that the world electricity generation is about 26, 618, 881 GW h from all sources proposed i.e. "Fossil fuels, Nuclear, Renewable Energies". Consequently, there would be too much negative effects on the environment due to the continuous usage of fossil contents which are used later for the electricity generation. The electric sector obsessed about 42 % of the energy demand in 2015 and it is expected to raise to 47 % in the next 20 years. It is remarkable that the non-renewable sources of energy affect the environment negatively and increase the global warming when they are used for the generation of the electricity. Despite the constantly increasing of the electricity demand, the dependency of the non- renewable sources on energy must be reduced in order to lower the amount of the greenhouse gases. In 2018, the renewable energy generation share has became 13.5 % of the total world energy supply including (Solar PV, Solar thermal, Wind, Bio-fuels, Hydro, and Geothermal energies) [19]. The solar photovoltaic power generation has increased by about 22 % in 2019, and namely to 720 T W h. It can be considered by this increase as 3 % of the total world electricity generation share. In the meanwhile, the main challenge of installing normal ground-mounted PV power plants is the space. Large surface areas must be available in order to benefit well from such power plants. In order to tackle this issue, another generation of PV power plants came into question which is; Floating Photovoltaic (FPV). This technology depends on installing the PV modules over the surface of water, in order to profit not only from the extra space where water body is located, but also from the cooling effect, which improves the performance of PV modules and particularly, the performance ratio as well as the electrical efficiency. Furthermore, a tracking model can be easily applied to this kind of PV, since the surface of water offers a smooth medium for changing the modules orientation over the whole day. The floating photovoltaics have a lot of benefits over the ground-mounted type, for example; the land occupancy, as they do not require a land space, since they are installed and erected on the surface of water, except only the needed spaces which are demanded by the electrical equipment, switch gears. Although, FPV plants are considered relatively more expensive than the land-based photovoltaic power plants, but they empower the possibility to avoid competing with the agriculture and green zones. Moreover, to prevent the competing with the agriculture and green lands, some countries encourage the investors to install PV on the water bodies by increasing the rate of incentives. For instance, Japan has boosted the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) for the floating photovoltaic over the FIT of the ground-mounted PV. In particular, the floating PV array in Sanuki, Kagawa prefecture, which has an installed capacity of 1.5 MW and expected to meet the consumption of more than 500 local households, will purchase the electricity at a Feed-In-Tariff of JPY 32 per kWh (0.26 e/kW h)[20]. In this work, two main models are built in order to calculate the PV module temperature and the surface temperature of the ground and water in order to; 1) determine the how the surface temperature of the ground and water affects the module temperature and namely the output power, 2) predict the temperature of both FPV, 3) calculate the to the instantaneous efficiency and power of the FPV and GPV modules, and 4) predict the annual yield of floating PV module.

AbstractThe paper discusses the awareness of photovoltaic technology among the young architect in Malaysia. A survey has been done to know how much their knowledge about the photovoltaic technology. It also discusses the main problem to design with BIPV. Furthermore, this paper highlight the PV potential in Malaysia on how PV can reduce the electricity demand in a building, what are the benefit from extra PV yield and also PV as the environmental friendly technology.

This document provides information regarding recent developments in small-scale residential, grid-connected photovoltaic systems. The purpose of the document is three-fold: to explore the current status and potential of these systems within the Province of British Columbia, to identify the major barriers to PV systems, and to examine the key policy interventions that would be required to bring about widespread uptake of these systems. Research was conducted primarily through a review of the literature. This information was supplemented through a market survey and interviews with key informants from both the public and private sector. The document contains two substantive findings. Firstly, there are environmental benefits (greenhouse gas reductions) that will result from the uptake of residential PV systems within the Province. Secondly, cost is by far the largest barrier to PV system uptake. A major policy intervention to rebalance the economics of PV systems in BC would be required to support their widespread adoption within the next decade. Economic interventions to directly subsidize solar PV would likely be expensive relative to other forms of renewable energy in BC, and are therefore unlikely to be justifiable at present. If the price of PV systems reduces sufficiently over time, such measures could be considered. Over the shorter term, then, policies which support PV as well as other forms of renewable energy are recommended.

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) requires institutional support to become a viable technology and a sustainable solution. Between 1990 and 2000, the solar industry demonstrated the viability of BIPV technology by installing hundreds of thousands of successful systems around the world. Architects have created award-winning, elegant solar buildings. Utility companies and municipalities have adopted this technology to augment their infrastructure and electricity services network. The potential for BIPV is widely recognized as significant; however, institutional barriers can slow its deployment. Our research emphasizes institutional issues related to introducing and commercializing photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the built environment. This overview includes an assessment of barriers in the marketplace, the potential for PV in the built environment, the determination of the value and economic considerations and guidelines, and an overview of current international market strategies.

The manufacture of photovoltaic (PV) system components has a role to play in the industrialisation and poverty reduction strategies of developing countries. It has also been suggested that small scale local manufacture of balance of systems components has the potential to improve the maintenance, installation and use of the technology. However, PV is a complex technology and most developing countries have not been able to build the capabilities required to manufacture PV system components of an appropriate quality and price, either in the modern or small scale sectors. The factors that determine the success of PV manufacturers in developing countries are therefore of interest. Previous studies on learning in the PV industry have been focused on industry-wide concerns and have not explicitly addressed enterprise-level capability building or challenges specific to developing countries. In particular, there has been very little published about small scale PV manufacture. This thesis therefore aims to improve understanding of the factors that influence capability building, with a view to assisting decision making in relation to PV manufacture in developing countries. The aims of the study have been fulfilled by the development and assessment of a software simulation training tool for PV cell production line engineers, the development of an analysis framework, and application of it to several case study PV enterprises. Through the application of the framework to the case studies, it has been possible to assess the role of software simulations, the suitability of countries with different types of infrastructure for hosting PV manufacturing and the institutional arrangements or interventions that could be used to promote capability building for PV manufacturers in developing countries. While further case studies are required to make more than tentative conclusions, the framework developed and tested in this thesis may now be used as a tool to systematically and rapidly analyse the appropriateness of different types of PV manufacture in particular countries, to identify the weaknesses in their PV technological systems and therefore to suggest where resources should be invested and where appropriate institutional changes could be made. The simulation software has been demonstrated to be an effective capability building tool, thus providing one of the key elements required for successful manufacturing.

The climate and energy package is a set of binding legislations which aims to ensure the European Union meets its ambitious climate and energy targets for 2020. These targets, known as the "20-20-20" targets, have set three key objectives: a 20% reduction in the EU greenhouse gas emissions, a 20% rise in the share of EU energy consumption produced from renewable resources and a 20% improvement in the energy efficiency. More renewable energies will enable the EU to lower greenhouse emissions and make it less dependent on imported energy. Boosting the industry of renewables will encourage technological innovation and employment in Europe. On this topic, photovoltaic façades are known to be a solution that allows both energy efficiency and environmental performance of buildings. This paper reports on a study of façade systems that have incorporated photovoltaic panels, considering computational simulations for Portugal. The main objective is to analyze the characteristics and parameters that define more efficient systems based on computer simulations carried out by Solterm 5.0. The results show the high potential of the use of the proposed technology in Portugal, especially in the Southern region, because of its latitude. Regarding energy efficiency and environmental performance, inclined polycrystalline silicon solar panels achieved the best results and the most efficient panel was Kyocera KC167G-2, followed by BP 3160. The comparison between simulation results and results provided in the literature shows that the use of computer programs is viable to the analysis of the energy efficiency of photovoltaic systems in façades.

The sun is consider as the main sources of energy. Using sun energy does not require complicated and costly technology. It can be used as a useful and energy source in most parts of the world. Also for countries which has not have enough non-renewable energy sources, using this energy can consider as the most suitable solution for development and economic growth. Despite of Kurdistan region has abundant non-renewable energy sources such as crude oil and natural gas and because of that mostly electricity generate with natural gas, and the Kurdistan economy is dominated by the oil and natural gas industry, fortunately, as Kurdistan is located in sunny belt and due to the intensity of the sun's radiation in most parts of the Kurdistan region, using Photovoltaic (PV) technology to generate electricity is economically feasible and It could have significant savings in gas and oil consumption. Reducing the environmental pollution and most importantly the storage of fossil fuels for future generations, are consider as the major reasons of using renewable energy sources particularly photovoltaic technology in the region. Using of PV technology is favorable but need to evaluate all technical and economic aspects in order to gain the most accurate results. This paper studies the economic and technical potentials of using PV technology in Kurdistan region especially large scale or utility-scale PV application. Ecological aspect are neglected as there is no proceeding any clear policy by the Kurdistan region government. PV marketing situation in Kurdistan is studied by finding the key barriers in way of PV marketing growth and SWOT (Strength-Weakness-Opportunity- Threats ) analysis has been done by address all strength, weakness, opportunity, and threats points. Some factors highlighted in order to take in consideration to improve the PV market in the region and to have an idea about public awareness, survey is done by distributing the questionnaire and the results are promising. Despite of using PV in Kurdistan is consider as very new technology and there is no any FIT(Feed-In-Tariff), ecological policy, government support, technical knowledge, but Kurdistan can consider as suitable market of PV in future and using this technology with current conditions are economical feasible. Thus, need to think more about using this technology in the region.

Renewable energies play an important role as a solution to the challenge of satisfying the growing global energy demand without jeopardizing the achievements in the fight against climate change. Given this panorama, different countries, including Spain, have developed policies to promote renewable energies. One of the technologies that benefit from these policies is photovoltaics. In Spain, the number of grid-connected photovoltaic installations has increased significantly in recent years. It is interesting to analyze the panorama of these facilities and identify the trends in their design criteria. In this line, in this work, the projects of 70 grid-connected photovoltaic installations distributed across Spain were analyzed. For that purpose, benchmarking techniques were applied, facilitating the systematization of information, the intercomparison of plants and the identification of trends and efficient solutions. A set of characteristic indicators of each installation was defined, and a statistical analysis of them was developed. Likewise, a tool was developed that allows the designers of this type of photovoltaic plant to compare the design parameters chosen for their installations with those of the surrounding area. Therefore, this work provides knowledge about the current panorama of photovoltaic implementation applicable to its future advance.

In this work, a flower-shaped shading system with integrated tracking photovoltaic, suitable for sustainable extensive urban coverages, is designed. Detailed photovoltaic energy yield simulations with a single-diode model approach are performed to disclose the potential of the proposed tracking photovoltaic shading device (PVSD). Simulations are performed with reference to a case study. A double-layer space truss is used to house the innovative modular photovoltaic tracking system, and the first application is envisaged for the coverage of a public market area of a sunny municipality in Southern Italy. By comparing it with the traditional photovoltaic fixed system, the results of the simulations show a steadier energy generation of the new PVSD, and it also provides better coverage with renewable energy during the hours of the day when the traditional system produces low electric energy. Lastly, an early interactive prototype of the PVSD system is presented. The tracking mechanism is carefully designed, 3D-printed at a small scale and tested with a motorized dynamic system controlled by a microcontroller board. The realization of the physical prototype and the engineering of the movement mechanism confirmed the feasibility and the correct functioning of the conceived system opening to real-scale applications.