• Energy Research

This paper reports on the optimization of thin-film coating assisted self-sustainable off-grid hybrid power generation systems for cattle farming in rural areas of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a lower middle-income country with declining rates of poverty among its 160 million people due to persistent economic growth in conjunction with balanced agricultural improvements. Most of the rural households adopt a mixed farming system by cultivating crops and simultaneously rearing livestock. Among the animals raised, cattle are considered as the most valuable asset for the small/medium-scale farmers in terms of their meat and milk production. Currently, along with the major health issue, the COVID-19 pandemic is hindering the world’s economic growth and has thrust millions into unemployment; Bangladesh is also in this loop. However, natural disasters such as COVID-19 pandemic and floods, largely constrain rural smallholder cattle farmers from climbing out of their poverty. In particular, small and medium-scale cattle farmers face many issues that obstruct them from taking advantage of market opportunities and imposing a greater burden on their families and incomes. An appropriate measure can give a way to make those cattle farmers’ businesses both profitable and sustainable. Optimization of thin-film coating assisted self-sustainable off-grid hybrid power generation system for cattle farming is a new and forward-looking approach for sustainable development of the livestock sector. In this study, we design and optimize a thin-film coating assisted hybrid (photovoltaic-battery-generator) power system by using the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER, Version 3.14.0) simulation tool. An analysis of the results has suggested that the off-grid hybrid system is more feasible for small and medium-scale cattle farming systems with long-term sustainability to overcome the significant challenges faced by smallholder cattle farmers in Bangladesh.

Communication protocols play a pivotal role in the substation automation system as they carry critical information related to asset control, automation, protection, and monitoring. Substation legacy protocols run the assets’ bulk data on multiple wires over long distances. These data packets pass through multiple nodes, which makes the identification of the location and type of various malfunctions a challenging and time-consuming task. As downtime of substations is of high importance from a regulatory and compliance point of view, utilities are motivated to revisit the overall scheme and redesign a new system that features flexibility, adaptability, interoperability, and high accuracy. This paper presents a comprehensive review of various legacy protocols and highlights the path forward for a new protocol laid down as per the IEC 61850 standard. The IEC 61850 protocol is expected to be user-friendly, employ fiber optics instead of conventional copper wires, facilitate the application of non-conventional instrument transformers, and connect Ethernet wires to multiple intelligent electronic devices. However, deployment of smart protocols in future substations is not a straightforward process as it requires careful planning, shutdown and foreseeable issues related to interface with proprietary vendor equipment. Along with the technical issues of communication, future smart protocols call for advanced personnel and engineering skills to embrace the new technology.

This research project focuses on the optimization of the hybrid energy system together with the assistance of thin-film coatings aiming to achieve self-sustainable food and crop storage facilities which will run effectively with its own generated energy. An infrastructure will be designed and constructed that will comprise a hybrid power generation system accompanied by thin-film coated semitransparent and non-transparent construction materials for energy saving. Thin-film low emissivity (Low-E) type coatings will assist the transparent or semitransparent construction materials to reflect most of the infrared (IR-mostly heat) and UV spectra of sunlight without interrupting the visible spectrum and will lead to saving energy consumption by reducing the heat and lighting during day time

This article presents the Reliability Assessment (RA) of renewable energy interfaced Electrical Distribution System (EDS) considering the electrical loss minimization (ELM). ELM aims at minimizing the detrimental effect of real power and reactive power losses in the EDS. Some techniques, including integration of Renewable Energy Source (RES), network reconfiguration, and expansion planning, have been suggested in the literature for achieving ELM. The optimal RES integration (also referred to as Distributed Generation (DG)) is one of the globally accepted techniques to achieve minimization of electrical losses. Therefore, first, the locations to accommodate these DGs are obtained by implementing two indexes, namely Index-1 for single DG and Index-2 for multiple DGs. Second, a Constriction Factor-based Particle Swarm Optimization (CF-PSO) technique is applied to obtain an optimal sizing(s) of the DGs for achieving the ELM. Third, the RA of the EDS is performed using the optimal location(s) and sizing(s) of the RESs (i.e., Solar photovoltaic (SPV) and Wind Turbine Generator (WTG)). Moreover, a Battery Storage System (BSS) is also incorporated optimally with the RESs to further achieve the ELM and to improve the system’s reliability. The result analysis is performed by considering the power output rating of WTG-GE’s V162-5.6MW (IECS), SPV-Sunpower’s SPR-P5-545-UPP, and BSS-Freqcon’s BESS-3000 (i.e., Battery Energy Storage System 3000), which are provided by the corresponding manufacturers. According to the outcomes of the study, the results are found to be coherent with those obtained using other techniques that are available in the literature. These results are considered for the RA of the EDS. RA is further analyzed considering the uncertainties in reliability data of WTG and SPV, including the failure rate and the repair time. The RA of optimally placed DGs is performed by considering the electrical loss minimization. It is inferred that the reliability of the EDS improves by contemplating suitable reliability data of optimally integrated DGs.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) cell is a prominent energy harvesting device that reduces the strain in the conventional energy generation approach and endorses the prospectiveness of renewable energy. Thus, the exploration in this ever-green field is worth the effort. From the power conversion efficiency standpoint of view, PVs are consistently improving, and when analyzing the potential areas that can be advanced, more and more exciting challenges are encountered. One such crucial challenge is to increase the photon availability for PV conversion. This challenge is solved using two ways. First, by suppressing the reflection at the interface of the solar cell, and the other way is to enhance the optical pathlength inside the cell for adequate absorption of the photons. Our review addresses this challenge by emphasizing the various strategies that aid in trapping the light in the solar cells. These strategies include the usage of antireflection coatings (ARCs) and light-trapping structures. The primary focus of this study is to review the ARCs from a PV application perspective based on various materials, and it highlights the development of ARCs from more than the past three decades covering the structure, fabrication techniques, optical performance, features, and research potential of ARCs reported. More importantly, various ARCs researched with different classes of PV cells, and their impact on its efficiency is given a special attention. To enhance the optical pathlength, and thus the absorption in solar PV devices, an insight about the advanced light-trapping techniques that deals with the concept of plasmonics, spectral modification, and other prevailing innovative light-trapping structures approaching the Yablonovitch limit is discussed. An extensive collection of information is presented as tables under each core review section. Further, we take a step forward to brief the effects of ageing on ARCs and their influence on the device performance. Finally, we summarize the review of ARCs on the basis of structures, materials, optical performance, multifunctionality, stability, and cost-effectiveness along with a master table comparing the selected high-performance ARCs with perfect AR coatings. Also, from the discussed significant challenges faced by ARCs and future outlook; this work directs the researchers to identify the area of expertise where further research analysis is needed in near future.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) play an essential role, emphasizing responsible resource use, production, and consumption, including waste management. In addition, SDG 3, 7, 11, 12, and 13 are directly/indirectly related to waste management. This study aims to determine a suitable waste-to-energy (WtE) technology in Chittagong City, Bangladesh, focusing on cleaner technology. Anaerobic digestion, gasification, incineration, and landfill gas (LFG) recovery were considered as possible alternatives. Technical, economic, environmental, and social issues have been considered as necessary criteria for evaluation. An analytical hierarchy process was applied to rank these technologies based on stakeholders’ perceptions. The study found that anaerobic digestion (AD) ranked first, receiving 38% of overall weight. The second preferred technology is LFG (27%). Gasification and incineration stood at third and fourth, respectively (21% and 14%). According to a sensitivity study, the decision is only sensitive to the economy. LFG will become the most favoured solution for WtE conversion if the economy prioritizes more than 38%. Subsequently, this study’s findings will help achieve Bangladesh’s SDG agenda.

Abstract This paper focuses on modeling of multi-junction solar cell (MJSC) to improve the conversion efficiency using MATLAB/Simulink software. The multi-junction photovoltaic (PV) cell is investigated to obtain its maximum performance compare to the conventional silicon PV cell. MATLAB/Simulink modeled results show that tandem cell can provide almost 3-times maximum power compared to the conventional PV cells. Maximum power point tracker (MPPT) has also been performed to improve the conversion efficiency of the PV systems. The MPPT is able to assist the PV cells to attain more power efficiently and deliver electricity to the grid.