Introduction to Smart Grid

Dr. Premalata Jena

Department of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee

Lecture – 07
Distributed Generation Resources – I

Good afternoon to all of you. Today in this lecture, we will discuss about the Distribution
Generation Resources. First in this lecture, we will discuss: what are the distributed
generation resources then I will cover about the solar energy system by definition of
many standards.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:47)

The distributed energy resources are the smaller power sources that can be aggregated
provide power necessary to meet the regular demand. And this DER includes any non-
bulk electric system resources like generating unit, multiple generating units at a single
location and energy storage facility and microgrid.

Basically located solely this is within the boundary of any distribution utility. If you
define in other way, this DER basically stands for the Distributed Energy Resource or
sometimes also we call it only DR Distributed Resources. DRS means Distributed
Resources and DERs means Distributed Energy Resources.
So, those energy resources are basically the maybe we have renewable sources and also
we have storage devices. So, together we call it as distributed energy resources. And this
DER generally interconnected to a distribution system. In the range of voltage 1 kilo
volt, 200 kilovolts; it may also it can be also connected to less than 1 kV also. If will see
in our distribution system, we have the voltage level of 440 volts, a 400 volt. So, in that
case this renewable sources or battery storage can be also connected to the distribution
system.

(Refer Slide Time: 02:45)

Now, if we will come to this particular part of this presentation are talk that we have
three types of customers. The first one is residential sectors and the second one I just
combined here; commercial and industrial sectors. What are the distributed energy
resources available as far as residential customers are concerned? And what are the
distributed energy resources are present as far as the commercial and industrial sectors
are concerned?

If we see in case of these residential sectors, we have such solar disk water photovoltaic.
Now, we are having these roof top solar systems. So, the top of the roof of different
homes inside the residential campus, we can put the solar panels and we can harness the
power from there.

And next we have small wind turbines near to the customer end and also we have
emergency backup generators mostly diesel based generators and natural gas fired fuel
cells. So, these are the DERs which are connected near to the residential sectors. Now
also we are planning hybrid solar and wind systems. In this case we have will have this
solar facility, solar generation system also we have the wind generation system. Together
we will have and we will connect to the customer end.

Now, if you come to the commercial and industrial sectors, here also we have both I
mean solar and wind. Again one more renewable source is added that is the hydro power.
Now we are planning for the small hydro power plants. So, these small hydro power
plants can be connected to our commercial and industrial customers. And along with this,
we have biomass and combine heat power plants; also we should have these fuel cells;
So, these are the DERs or distributed energy resources which are connected to the
residential commercial and industrial sectors.

(Refer Slide Time: 04:56)

In this particular PPT, I will just explain that: what are the install capacities of solar
energy throughout the globe. If you see this first table here, the China is at the top. This
is the unit of this total capacity or added capacity are in megawatt. This is 78.07
megawatt and after that we have Japan that is 42.75 megawatt and next Germany that is
41.22 megawatt and so on.

Now, if you see where is India? It is here 9.01 megawatt as far as the total capacity is
concerned. And this is these are the this pie chart and here is the India status. Here it is 3
percent of the total global capacity. It indicates that we need more effort to install the
solar energy as far as the our country is concerned and one more important point, here I
just want to inform that we have that facility throughout our India, we have that reasons
where we can harness more and more power from the solar system.

So, this is a very good chance. It is a very good facility; if we have, so we should utilize
it. That is what the that should be our aim and that is also the aim of our country right
now. So, the country the our government also I mean helping and propagating and
motivating to all researches industries that we could harness more and more power from
the solar system to utilize at the customer end. Now, this we will discuss one by one
about the solar cell. First I will discuss about, what is solar cell and what is solar
modules, solar array; then subsequently we will learn about the solar cell modeling, what
is the mathematical modeling of the solar cell and its characteristic.

(Refer Slide Time: 07:08)

If I will come to the definition of the solar cell, the solar cell is a photovoltaic device that
converts light energy to electrical energy. So, if you see sometimes this solar cell is also
called photo voltaic. What is the name of this photovoltaic? Photo means this photo
stands for light and voltaic stands for electrical energy voltage.

So, when this light energy is incident on a solar cell, then it generates the electrical
energy. This means the light energy is converted to electrical energy with help of this
solar cell. The input to this cell is light energy; the light comes from the sun and it
converts to the electrical energy. The output of this cell is electrical energy.
So, that is the main function of this solar cell and this photovoltaic effect is based on the
conversion of light of electricity in photovoltaic or solar cells. And simply this PV effect
is as follows. Light which is pure energy enters to the PV cell and impacts enough
energy to some electrons; negative these electrons are negatively charged atomic
particles to make them free. If will have free electrons, free holes; then only there will be
the flow of current. That is what the main goal of the this light energy. When these
electrons will be free? So, they will have a path. So, they will move from one terminal to
other terminal, then the current will flow.

A built-in-potential barrier in the cell acts on these electrons to produce the voltage; so-
called photo voltage which can used to drive a current through a circuit. Basically this
potential barrier in the cell acts on these electrons and to produce a voltage and that
basically that voltage will drive a current through a particular load; the load which is
connected across this terminal of this particular solar cell.

(Refer Slide Time: 09:32)

Now, this is a principal how it works. I have shown a very simple block diagram;
schematic diagram of the solar cell. Here is a n-Type silicon. This is n-type silicon and
this one is p-type silicon and this is the junction, this is the junction and we have on the
both sides, we have metal contact. Here we have metal contact and here these are the
electrical contacts.
When the light falls; when the sunlight falls on this cell, basically it is a cell. It is
behaves like a PN junction diode. It is a photodiode. Now when this light falls on this
particular PN junction type, then this free electrons and wholes are released and due to
this electron flow, so we will have a current outside the circuit. If we will just connect
this two terminals; terminal number 1, this is terminal number 2. If I will connect one
external load, so the current is going to flow; that is how this current flows across this
particular PN junction type solar cell which is made up of silicon material.

(Refer Slide Time: 10:58)

Now, what are the advantages of this particular system, the solar generation system. The
first one, it can be used either for centralized purpose. Also it can be also used for
decentralized purpose. I can put a solar panel near to my home, from there I can access
the power to different loads which are present inside the home. And also we can put the
solar cell at a particular location and from there we can supply the power to different
loads as well as to the grid. And that is the major advantage first advantage and the
second one is the PV system have no moving part. There is no moving part, one solar
panel is installed.

Now, these energies are independence of an environmental compatible. This is very

important. That is why it is the very important. One of the most important renewable
sources which is very user friendly I mean the environmental friendly. No pollution. A
user friendly means the environmental friendly means there is no pollution we expect
from the solar cell. And this fuel cell, this fuel is basically the sunlight which is free.
What is the input to the solar cell? The input to the solar cell is the fuel. The output is
electrical energy.

So, this fuel is basically our sunlight. This sunlight acts as a fuel or input to the solar cell
or solar energy system. So, in that cases this solar the sunlight is you know, it is a very
huge and there is I mean that is why it is known it is renewable sources. We can we can
expect the sun will be I mean throughout the years; many many years. That is why it is
also free and no noise and pollution is created from operating this PV systems and
minimal maintenance and have long service life time. Whenever we design any system,
we expect that the maintenance should be less and it should provide a very long service
life time which are present in case of the solar energy system.

Now, coming to this disadvantages of the solar system. The first one is the installation
cost of the solar system is high that is first disadvantage and the second one is it has like
a more surface area requirement. If you could see that near to the like (Refer Time:
13:28) field or like near to any buildings of commercials or industrial applications, use
many number of large number of solar cells are installed at the roof top or may be certain
area is occupied by those solar panels. So; that means, for this generation of the energy
generation of the power using the solar cell, we need large I mean number of I mean
areas area is used. That is why more surface area requirement and efficiency depends
upon the availability of the sun light.

One point I just want to mention here, in case of solar cell; we have low efficiency. This
is very very important. Low efficiency basically the range is 10 to 17 percentage. The
input is I mean the cost is high, insolation cost is high, but we are having low efficiency.
So, that is why this system little bit I mean we still the solar is the ultimate source as far
as the renewable sources are concerned.

(Refer Slide Time: 14:38)

I will just here discuss the three generation of solar cell. The first one is a the first
generation consist of large area high frequency and single junction device and example
the silicon wafer based solar cell. And second generation basically thin films solar cell
technology. Here we have multi layers. Here we have single layer, but in this case we
have multi layers and coming to the third generation, here we have developed production
cost efficient solar cell basically advanced thin film solar cell technology.

(Refer Slide Time: 15:21)

So, this is three technologies are in developed stage. And here just a broad discussion on
this particular technology that a as far as the silicon crystalline silicon is concerned, we
have polycrystalline and also mono crystalline type solar cells. And as far as the thin film
is concerned, we have amorphous a-Si that is a-Si and the second one is tandem that is a-
Si and micro crystalline. This is the second one. And third one is CIGS; that is copper,
indium, gallium, solenoid. And this one is CdTe that is cadmium, telluride and next TiO
2. So, these are the different technologies which are used as far as the thin film PV cells
are concerned. Now, this is the special type that is the compound semi semiconductor
type PV cells and basically that is GaAs based this PV cells.

(Refer Slide Time: 16:30)

Now, as far as the technology concerned, their efficiency also varies. If you see here
mono crystalline silicon, the efficiency is 12.5 to 15 percent and again if you see this
polycrystalline silicon is concerned, 11 to 14 percent and so on. So finally, this
amorphous silicon 5 to 7 percent of course, that is what researches work. We have to
develop such material I mean for the solar cell, so that we will it will be more efficient;
more reliable. That is what the research.
(Refer Slide Time: 17:09)

Now, these are the some of the pictures for this mono crystalline silicon and here you can
see this glass. This top one is the glass and this is the basically these are the electronic
rods RA and silicon n-type and this is silicon p-type and last one is the back contact.
When this slide falls, then the power will be generated. Here the current is going to flow.

Now, the second one is poly crystalline silicon type. This is the Mono-crystalline silicon
type and this is the Poly-crystalline silicon type solar cell. And this one is the flexible
amorphous thin film. Here we have different layers. Here only single layer; p-n junction
type, but here we have different layers. And this is the basically pictorial representation,
how it looks like the material. This is CIGS type, thin film solar cell.
(Refer Slide Time: 18:09)

So, coming to different, now I will discuss here different types of photovoltaic cell,
module, panel and array. How to distinguish this four? This is one PV cell and when the
number of PV cells or solar cells are connected in series or parallel, that structure is
known as module. And when more than two, I mean more than one modules are
connected that particular structure is known as panel. And further when more number of
panels are connected series in parallel that particular structure is known as array.

Basically why we are interested for this? Because if you see the literature and the
standards one particular cell generates basically up to may be0 5 to 0.6 0.5 to 0.6-volt
DC, but our requirement is more. We need more power, more voltage, more current. So,
for that purpose one cell is not sufficient. So, increase the power we have to connect
those cells either in series or either in parallel. So, in case of parallel circuits, the current
increase and in case of series circuit, the voltage increases
(Refer Slide Time: 19:33)

Now, this is how this I have taken one cell structure where basically the RA structure. If
you see here, 36 cells in series. In this configuration in the structure, we have used 36
cells and from this cell structure, we will get 12 volts as a output voltage and also we
have, I have written here this open circuit voltage 19 volt. We will discuss about more
about this, what is the open circuit voltage in the subsequent parts.

Now, this configuration the structure provides us open circuit voltage as 38 volt. Here
how many cells are available? You can see here in series, we have here it is 9 cells into
4. Similarly it will just connect different cells in series or parallel. So, corresponding
voltage also will get; that means, if will increase the number of cells in series, the voltage
will increase and if we will increase the number of cells or number of panels in parallel,
so the current manager will increase.

(Refer Slide Time: 20:51)

Here I will discuss about the basic principle of operation of the solar system or solar
energy system. Here is our solar panel and this solar panel gets some light. That is the
energy which is coming from the sun. And after this conversion of solar energy, this is
the light energy to the electrical energy.

The electrical energy or power flows through the energy conversion and conditioning
block. What is the meaning of this energy conversion and conditioning block? The
energy conversion means if you see the output of output power, output voltage of a solar
cell is basically DC. So, we have to make this DC voltage or current or power to AC
voltage. So, this conversion is DC to AC, we need some inversion. We basically we call
it invertor. The invertor converts, changes to DC to AC.

Now, this conditioning also necessary because we have to maintain because a DC has 0
frequency, but here the frequency we have to match according to our requirement. If
suppose basically in our grid, we have 50 hertz frequency as well as the AC system is
concerned the loads also demand 50 hertz, so we have to assure that the frequency as
well as the voltage of the grid should be maintained properly. That is what we have to
take care.

Now, along with this conversion and conditioning system, we have the energy storage
system. The energy storage basically the batteries we use for this solar system where we
can use, we can store the energy which is basically excess Let us say we have one solar
system and in this solar system we have connected some loads. The load requirement let
us say is 80percent at this moment. The 20 percent of the energy we will, we can store
easily by using a battery.

So, that is what is a meaning of this energy storage. If any surplus energy is there as far
as the solar energy system is concerned, so always we can store it. And when it is
required, let us say this solar energy is not ready during the night time. It is not produced
during the night time. This 20 percent energy, we can always divert to the load side. That
is the benefit of the storage system, in case of the solar energy system.

Now, this is how I just explained that here this AC, basically this side is AC and this side
is DC. This AC energy is ready to be distributed to different loads and also we can if you
have surplus energy and also we can supply to the electric utility. That is what we do in
case of a solar energy system.

(Refer Slide Time: 23:58)

But if will just classify a solar system, it is broadly of two types. The first one is the
Grid-connected solar PV system and the second one is Off-grid solar PV system. What is
this off-grid? The grid connected is well understood from the name itself. It is grid
connected the solar system is connected to the grid and also to the it is supplying power
to the load. But in case of this off grid solar system, it is a basically a standalone system
where it is required? Mostly if we will see a in rural cities where we cannot, there is we
cannot supply to the remote end loads.
So, in that case we can install the solar panels to supply the power to the loads. That the
first requirement of this off-grid solar PV systems. Or in some case we call it islanded or
this is a standalone mode of operation of the solar system. In that case in rural cities,
again also we have sometimes it happens the cost is very high, if you just supply power
from the grid to the remote load terminals. In that case also we can take the help of off-
grid solar PV systems.

so coming to first this grid connected solar PV system, here basically what happens? If
you see this particular picture, this in this particular home; here is our PV panels. PV
panels are basically installed or mounted on the roof top and from there we are getting
the DC power and this is DC power is coming to the invertor. And this invertor converts
from DC to AC power and this AC power is going to the AC distribution board.

This is our board where we will get the AC power and this AC power will go to our
respectively loads inside our home which are installed inside our home. And we can also
go for further data communication using this some monitors, monitoring systems or
sensors which will sense the AC power and it will just send to other devices or other
nearby home or to the other places where we require the information. That is what this
data communication means. And then rest of the power, if any surplus power we have
then, it will be send to the substation nearby substation. The substation will receive the
surplus power.

Now, if you could see here, I didn’t discuss about the storage system because if the solar
system is grid connected, so it is always better to supply the surplus power export; the
surplus power to the grid itself. Basically sometimes we also go for storage system, but is
recommended we should supply the power to the grid, because for battery also we did
some storage. If the grid can manage, that is also one important question.

Now, if you will see this come to this off-grid solar PV system. That is known as the
standalone PV system and here you see, we have the solar panels which are connected
basically here in series or parallel fashion and the DC output power will go to this charge
controller. What is the function of this charge controller? Now I will just discuss in the
next PPT, what is the function of this chart controller. Why it is necessary here? And
from this charge control controller, the power will come to the battery bank.
The battery bank basically stores the energy and also sometimes this battery bank also
connected to the invertor. This invertor this invertor inverts or converts this DC to AC
supply and this particular power will go to our AC loads. And sometimes from the
charge controller itself, if we have some DC loads, to there also we can supply the DC
power.

(Refer Slide Time: 28:19)

Now, coming to this charge controller, just we have discussed in this is pervious PPT
that this output of this PV panel goes to the charge controller and this charge controller
output also communicates is connected with the battery. These are the functions of the
charge controllers. It prevents battery over charge because the output of this charge
controller is also connected to the battery. The battery will charge and discharge.

So, this charge controller will take care that battery should not be over charged. Because
if it will be overcharged, then it may be damaged the life cycle will be reduced. And also
it blocks the reverse current. Reverse current means reverse current means the this is our
battery, the current should not flow in a reverse direction. The current should flow in the
forward direction towards the load. It may be a DC load or it may be a AC load the
reverse current should not flow.

So, that particular charge controller helps in blocking this reverse current and also
prevents over discharged from the batteries in some cases and also prevent electrical over
load and displays battery status. So, these are some of the key functions of the charge
controller which is used basically here you can see in this case.

In this figure also we have displaced very clearly. We can see here that this is the PV
modules. These are the PV modules and this is our charge controller. And here the from
the charge controller, the output comes to the battery and from the battery it goes to the
invertor and from the invertor the AC output power goes to the load AC loads. That is
how this circuit is.

(Refer Slide Time: 30:23)

And this is how we have just already discussed. I will just come to the basic block
diagram of this particular solar system. Just whatever I have discussed in the previous
two three slides, the same thing is represented like in terms of the blocks.

The first one is the PV array and the second one is the invertor the power conditioner and
from there it will go to the distribution panel and it will go either to the AC loads and to
the utility electric utility. Electric utility means it is the grid section. This is the grid
basically. And now the second one is our standalone PV system, here the PV array and
from there the DC output power will go to the charge controller and from the charge
controller, it will go to DC load or it will go to the battery. And from the battery it will
go to the invertor and the invertor will supply the AC to the AC power to the AC loads.
So, these are basically the types of solar system.
(Refer Slide Time: 31:31)

Now coming to the solar photovoltaic array modeling, here a single solar cell basically
represented in terms of this electric current. This IL stands for the light current. I can
write here, this is the light current. Why it is light current? Because from the very
beginning as we have discussed, that in case of solar cell we use basically the photo
diodes or basically the light produces the current. So, that is your light current. And we
have a diode. So, that this is the diode symbol or mathematics in the equivalence circuit
of the cell we have kept and this is the shunt resistance and this is the series resistance.

So, we will just end up today’s class here. I will come to the conclusion, what we have
discussed in this particular class. First we have started with that what is basically the
definition of distributed energy resource and what are the distributed energy sources we
can use as far as the different types of customers are concerned, like a we have
residential customers, we have commercial industrial customers.

So, in those I mean peripheries premises what are the DERs basically connected. And
next we have discussed what is basically a single solar cell and what are different types
of technologies are involved in manufacturing the solar cell and then we have also
discussed different types of PV systems. Basically we have discussed the grid connected
or grid tied solar cell or solar PV system and also we have standalone PV system. And
next class, we will discuss about the modeling of the PV system or solar photovoltaic
array.
Thank you all.