Renewable Energy

Dr. Ghani Albaali

Visiting Professor
Princes Sumaya University for Technology
Environment Technology & Managements

Photovoltaic
Solar thermal
Wind Power
Hydroelectric Power
Biomass
1- Photovoltaic
2- Solar thermal Collectors
3- Wind Power
4- Hydroelectric Power
5- Biomass
Solar Thermal Collector
Solar water heating
Solar water heating, where heat from the Sun is
used to heat water in glass panels on your roof.

This means you don't need to use so much gas or

electricity to heat your water at home.

Water is pumped through pipes in the panel. The

pipes are painted black, so they get hotter when
the Sun shines on them. The water is pumped in
at the bottom so that convection helps the flow of
hot water out of the top.
This helps out your central heating system, and cuts
your fuel bills. However, with the basic type of panel
shown in the diagram you must drain the water out to
stop the panels freezing in the winter. Some
manufacturers have systems that do this
automatically.
In order to heat water using solar energy, a
collector is fastened to the roof of a building, or
on a wall facing the sun. In some cases, the
collector may be free-standing. The working
fluid is either pumped or driven by natural
convection through it.
The collector could be made of a simple glass
topped insulated box with a flat solar absorber
made of sheet metal attached to copper pipes
and painted black, or a set of metal tubes
surrounded by an evacuated (near vacuum)
glass cylinder.

In some cases, before the solar energy is

absorbed, a parabolic mirror is used to
concentrate sunlight on the tube.
A simple water heating system would pump
cold water to a collector to be heated.
The heated water flows back to a collection
tank.
This type of collector can provide enough
hot water for an entire family.
Heat is stored in a hot water tank.
The volume of this tank will be larger with
solar heating systems in order to allow for
bad weather.
The working fluid for the absorber may be the
hot water from the tank, but more commonly
(at least in pumped systems) is a separate
loop of fluid containing anti-freeze and a
corrosion inhibitor ‫ المانع‬which delivers heat to
the tank through a heat exchanger
(commonly a coil of copper tubing within the
tank).
Some fabricants have 2 sheets of metal
stamped to produce a circulation zone.
Because the heat exchange area is greater
they may be marginally more efficient than
traditional absorbers.
Another lower-maintenance concept is the
'drain-back': no anti-freeze is required;
instead all the piping is sloped to cause
water to drain back to the tank. The tank is
not pressurized and is open to atmospheric
pressure. As soon as the pump shuts off,
flow reverses and the pipes empty by the
time when freezing could occur.

Usable amounts of domestic hot water

were only available in the summer months,
on cloudless days, between April and
October.
Types
Solar water heating systems can be classified in
different ways:
The type of collector used.
The location of the collector - roof mount,
ground mount, wall mount.
The location of the storage tank in relation to the
collector.
The requirement for a pump.
The method of heat transfer - open-loop or
closed-loop (via heat exchanger).
Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collectors can
be designed to produce both hot water and
electricity.
Solar thermal collector
Types of solar collectors for heat
Flat plate and evacuated tube solar collectors in this
section are typically used to collect heat for
domestic hot water.

Flat plate
Solar thermal system for water heating - these are
deployed on flat roofs.
Evacuated tube
These collectors have multiple evacuated glass tubes
which heat up solar absorbers and, ultimately, solar
working fluid. The vacuum within the evacuated tubes
reduce convection and conduction heat losses,
allowing them to reach considerably higher
temperatures than most flat-plate collectors.
However, they are more expensive than flat
panels, but generally of a less cost to repair in the
event of damage.

Evacuated heat tubes perform better than flat plate

collectors in cold climates because they only rely on
the light they receive and not the outside
temperature.

Tubes come in different levels of quality.

High quality units can efficiently absorb diffuse
solar radiation present in cloudy conditions
and are unaffected by wind. They also have the
same performance in similar light conditions
summer and winter.

For a given absorber area, evacuated tubes can

maintain their efficiency over a wide range of
ambient temperatures and heating requirements.

In extremely hot climates, flat-plate collectors

will generally be a more cost-effective solution
than evacuated tubes. Evacuated tube collectors
are well suited to extremely cold ambient
temperatures and work well in situations of
consistently low-light.
 "Thermomax" panel

Here's a more
advanced type of
solar water heating
panel. The suppliers
claim that in the UK
it can supply 90% of
a typical home's hot
water needs from
April to November
This "Thermomax" panel is made of a set of glass
tubes.

Each contains a metal plate with a blue coating to help

it absorb solar energy from IR to UV, so that even in
diffuse sunlight you get a decent output.

The air has been removed from the glass tubes to

reduce heat loss, rather like a thermos flask.

Up the back of the metal plate is a "heat pipe", which

looks like a copper rod but contains a liquid that
transfers heat very quickly to the top of the glass tube.

A water pipe runs across the top of the whole thing and
picks up the heat from the tubes.
Pool or unglazed
This type of collector is much like a flat-
plate collector, except that it has no
glazing/transparent cover.

It is used extensively for pool heating, as it

works quite well when the desired output
temperature is near the ambient
temperature (that is, when it is warm
outside).

As the ambient temperature gets cooler,

these collectors become ineffective.
Asphalt Solar Collector
An asphalt solar collector collects heat
using fluid circulating through an array of
pipes embedded in the surface of a road.

Black roads tend to absorb the heat of the

sun up to the point when they radiate heat
as quickly as they are absorbing it: the
surface temperature of roads in direct
sunshine can often reach 15°C higher than
the ambient air temperature.
Asphalt Solar Collector

The marginal extra cost of adding solar

collection to a planned road is less than the
cost of buying dedicated solar thermal
panels.
Types of solar collectors for electric generation
Solar thermal collector

Solar
Thermal
Collector
Dish
•A solar thermal collector is specifically
intended to collect heat: that is, to absorb
sunlight to provide heat.

•Although the term may be applied to simple

solar hot water panels, it is usually used to
denote more complex installations.

•There are various types of thermal collectors,

such as solar parabolic, solar trough and
solar towers.
•These type of collectors are generally used in
solar power plants where solar heat is used
to generate electricity by heating water to
produce steam which drives a turbine
connected to an electrical generator.
 Parabolic dish

Solar
Parabolic
Dish

It is the most powerful type of collector which

concentrates sunlight at a single, focal point, via
one or more parabolic dishes focuses light. This
geometry may be used in solar furnace and
solar power plants.
There are two key phenomena to understand
the design of a parabolic dish.

First is that the shape of a parabola is defined

such that incoming rays which are parallel to
the dish's axis will be reflected toward the
focus.

The second key is that the light rays from the

sun arriving at the earth's surface are almost
completely parallel. So if dish can be aligned
with its axis pointing at the sun, almost all of
the incoming radiation will be reflected towards
the focal point of the dish
Most losses are due to imperfections in the
parabolic shape and imperfect reflection.

Losses between the dish and its focal point

are minimal, as the dish is generally
designed specifically to be small enough
that this factor is insignificant on a clear,
sunny day.

If the local weather is hazy, or foggy, it may

reduce the efficiency of a parabolic dish
significantly.
Parabolic Trough
This type of collector is
generally used in solar
power plants.

A trough-shaped parabolic
reflector is used to
concentrate sunlight on an
insulated tube (Dewar tube)
or heat pipe, placed at the
focal point, containing fluid
which transfers heat from the
collectors to the boilers in
the power station.
System designs
During the day the sun has different positions. If the
mirrors or lenses do not move, then the focus of the
mirrors or lenses changes. Therefore it seems
unavoidable that there needs to be a tracking
system that follows the position of the sun (for solar
photovoltaics a solar tracker is only optional). The
tracking system increases the cost and complexity.
With this in mind, different designs can be
distinguished in how they concentrate the light and
track the position of the sun.
Parabolic trough designs

Sketch of a parabolic trough design. A change of

position of the sun parallel to the receiver does not
require adjustment of the mirrors.

Full-scale parabolic trough systems consist of many

such troughs laid out in parallel over a large area of
land.
Parabolic trough power plants reflects the direct solar
radiation onto a pipe containing a fluid (also called a
receiver, absorber or collector) running the length of
the trough. However, a change of position of the sun
parallel to the trough does not require adjustment of
the mirrors, since the light is simply concentrated
elsewhere on the receiver. Thus the trough design
does not require tracking on a second axis.

The receiver may be enclosed in a glass vacuum

chamber. The vacuum significantly reduces
convective heat loss.

The fluid containing the heat is transported to a heat

engine where about a third of the heat is converted to
electricity.
Power tower

A power tower is a large tower surrounded by small

rotating (tracking) mirrors called heliostats. These
mirrors align themselves and focus sunlight on the
receiver at the top of tower, collected heat is transferred
to a power station below.
Power tower
Advantages
1. Free pollution, Environment friendly.

2. Very high temperatures reached. High

temperatures are suitable for electricity
generation using conventional methods like
steam turbine.

3. Good efficiency. By concentrating sunlight current

systems can get better efficiency than simple
solar cells.

4. A larger area can be covered by using relatively

inexpensive mirrors rather than using expensive
solar cells.
5. Concentrated light can be redirected to a suitable
location via optical fiber cable. For example
illuminating buildings, like here (Hybrid solar
lighting).

6. Heat storage for power production during cloudy

and overnight conditions can be accomplished,
often by underground tank storage of heated
fluids.
Disadvantages
1. Concentrating systems require sun tracking to
maintain sunlight focus at the collector.
2. Inability to provide power in diffused light
conditions. Solar Cells are able to provide some
output even if the sky becomes a little bit cloudy,
but power output from concentrating systems drop
drastically in cloudy conditions.
In California, the Solar One power station uses the
Sun's heat to make steam, and drive a generator to
make electricity. The station looks a little like the
Odeillo solar furnace, except that the mirrors are
arranged in -circles around the "power tower".
As the Sun moves across the sky, the mirrors turn to
keep the rays focused on the tower, where oil is
heated to 3,000 degrees Celsius, The heat from the oil
is used to generate steam, which then drives a turbine,
which in turn drives a generator capable of providing
10kW of electrical power.
Solar One was very expensive to build, but
as fossil fuels run out and become more
expensive, solar power stations may
become a better option.
Odeillo
Furnace

The solar furnace at Odeillo in France can reach

temperatures up to 3,800 degrees Celsius.
Solar process heating systems are designed to
provide large quantities of hot water or space heating
for nonresidential buildings.
Evaporation ponds are shallow ponds that
concentrate dissolved solids through evaporation.
The use of evaporation ponds to obtain salt from
sea water is one of the oldest applications of solar
energy. Evaporation ponds represent one of the
largest commercial applications of solar energy in
use today.
Solar water heating can reduce CO2 emissions by
1 ton/year (if replacing natural gas for hot water heating)
or 3 ton/year (if replacing electric hot water heating).

Cooking
Solar cooker

The Solar Bowl above the Solar Kitchen in Auroville,

India concentrates sunlight on a movable receiver to
produce steam for cooking. (WHAT KIND OF HEAT
TRANSFER ?)
Solar cookers use sunlight for cooking, drying and
pasteurization. Solar cooking offsets fuel costs,
reduces demand for fuel or firewood, and improves
air quality by reducing or removing a source of
smoke

The Solar Kitchen in Auroville, India uses a unique

concentrating technology known as the solar bowl.

The solar bowl uses a fixed spherical reflector with a

receiver which tracks the focus of light as the Sun
moves across the sky. The solar bowl's receiver
reaches temperature of 150°C that is used to
produce steam that helps cook 2,000 daily meals.
Concentrating solar cookers use reflectors to
concentrate light on a cooking container.

These designs cook faster and at higher

temperatures (up to 350 °C) but require direct light
to function properly.
1. Low-temperature collectors
Of the 2,000,000 m2 of solar thermal collectors
produced in the United States in 2006, 1,500,000 m2
were of the low-temperature variety. Low-temperature
collectors are generally installed to heat swimming
pools, although they can also be used for space
heating. Collectors can use air or water as the
medium to transfer the heat to its destination.
2. Medium-temperature collectors
solar water heating
These collectors used to produce approximately 50%
and more of the hot water needed for residential and
commercial use in the United States.

The payback time for a typical household in US is 4

to 9 years, depending on the state.

A crew of one plumber and two assistants with minimal

training can install a system per day. The typical
installation has negligible maintenance costs.
3. High-temperature collectors

Concentrated solar power plant using parabolic trough

design.
The fluid-filled pipes can reach temperatures of 150
to 220 degrees Celsius when the fluid is not
circulating.
Power tower designs
Solar power tower
Flat mirrors focus the
light on the top of the
tower. The white surfaces
below the receiver are
used for calibrating the
mirror positions. Power
Towers (also known as
'central tower' power
plants or 'heliostat' power
plants) use an array of flat,
moveable mirrors (called
heliostats) to focus the
sun's rays upon a collector
tower (the receiver).
The advantage of this design above the parabolic
trough design is the higher temperature. Thermal
energy at higher temperatures can be converted to
electricity more efficiently and can be more cheaply
stored for later use.

The disadvantage is that each mirror must have its

own dual-axis control, while in the parabolic trough
design one axis can be shared for a large array of
mirrors.
In June 2008, eSolar, a Pasadena produce 245
megawatts of power. eSolar's proprietary sun-
tracking software coordinates the movement of
24,000 1 meter-square mirrors per 1 tower using
optical sensors to adjust and calibrate the mirrors in
real time.
Dish designs

A parabolic solar dish concentrating the sun's rays on

the heating element of an engine. The entire unit acts
as a solar tracker.
A dish system uses a large, reflective, parabolic dish
(similar in shape to satellite television dish).
The advantage of a dish system is that it can achieve
much higher temperatures due to the higher
concentration of light. Higher temperatures lead to
better conversion to electricity and the dish system is
very efficient on this point.

However, there are also some disadvantages. Heat to

electricity conversion requires moving parts and that
result in maintenance.

Second, the (heavy) engine is part of the moving

structure, which requires a rigid frame and strong
tracking system.

Furthermore, parabolic mirrors are used instead of flat

mirrors and tracking must be dual-axis.