Class Lecture- 5

Course Title: Renewable Energy

Course Code: EEE-453 Credit: 3.0 H

Professor Dr. Md. Zamil Sultan

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
HSTU, Dinajpur

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Some Creative Applications of Solar Energy :

 Based on the principle of Solar energy to Electrical energy

 Solar Road
 Solar Tunnel
 Solar Windows
 Solar Stadium
 Solar Car/Vehicle
 Solar Powered Water Pumps
 Space-based Solar Power
 Based on the principle of Solar thermal energy to other energy
 Solar Water Heating
 Solar distillation (পাতন):
 Solar furnace (চুল্লি):
 Solar thermal power plant

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Solar Road:
 A solar roadway is a street surface that collect solar energy and converts into electricity.
 Solar Roadways are road surface, made up of solar panels that has a glass driving surface with
underlying solar cells.
 Applications
 LED road markings, and heating elements to prevent snow and ice build-up.
 The possibilities for revolutionizing car parks, roads and motorways are virtually endless.

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Solar Tunnel:
 Solar panels are installed on the roof of a tunnel, such as high speed train tunnel.
 Example: A 2.2 mile long tunnel in Belgium has been fitted with 16,000 solar panels, over a 50,000-sq
metre expanse, that produces more than 3,000 megawatt-hours of electricity each year.
 Applications
 Providing power to high speed 4,000 trains.
 Used power for the signaling, lighting, and heating for stations and junctions.

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Solar Stadium:
 Solar panels are placed on the roof of the stadium. The stadium is powered by solar energy.
 Examples: Taiwan’s dragon-shaped 'World Games Stadium' is the largest solar-powered stadium in the
world.
 Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s stunning 50,000 seat arena on 14,155m squared roof covered with 8,844
solar panels that could potentially generate 1.14 GW (gigawatt) hours of electricity each year.
 Applications
 More than enough to illuminate the track and field with 3,300 lux of spotlighting.
 Enough to power up to 80% of the surrounding neighborhood

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Solar Windows:
 Solar windows are effectively glass windows that contain solar cells to convert sunlight into electricity in sustainable
and intelligent designed building system.
 However, they also allow light to pass through to the other side just like a normal window.
 Applications

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Solar Car/Vehicle:
 A solar car is a solar vehicle for use on public roads or race tracks.
 Solar Car/vehicles are electric car/vehicles that use self-contained solar cells to power themselves from sunlight.
 Solar vehicles typically contain a rechargeable battery to help regulate and store the energy from the solar cells.
 Applications
 Solar cars combine technology typically used in the commercialized four-wheel drives, bicycle, lightweight
vehicle
 In aerospace or space vehicles where fossil fuel consumes a vast majority of the expense.

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Solar Powered Water-Pumps:

 Water pumps run on electricity generated by photovoltaic (PV) panels.

 Generally, solar-powered pumps consist of a solar panel array, solar charge controller, Water pump, fuse
box/breakers, electrical wiring, and a water storage tank.
 Schematic diagram of solar powered agricultural irrigation system is shown in the following figure.
 Applications
 Used for Irrigation, water supplying at house-building due to more economical and less environmental impact.
 Solar pumps are useful where grid electricity is unavailable or impractical.

Figures: Schematic diagram of solar powered agricultural irrigation system 8

Space-based Solar Power:
 Space-based solar power is the concept of collecting solar power in outer-space by solar satellites and distributing it
to Earth.
 Sunlight is brighter outside the atmosphere, and can shine all the day.
 Space-based (i.e. satellite) solar power systems first convert sunlight to electric energy in the outside of the
atmosphere, then the electric energy is further converted in the form of some other energy such as microwaves,
laser beam, which is finally transmitted to receivers on the Earth's surface.
 Applications
 It is attractive to those seeking large-scale solutions to anthropogenic climate change or fossil fuel depletion
(such as peak oil).

Figures: Working principle of Space-based Solar Power system 9

 Based on the principle of Solar thermal energy to other energy

Solar collector:

 Solar collectors are used to concentrate the Sun's rays on one point to achieve appropriately high temperatures.
 Most common solar collector is the concentrated solar power (CSP), also known as concentrating solar power.
 Different types of concentrated solar power collectors are illustrated in the following figures.

Linear Fresnel collector

Central receiver Central receiver with

Parabolic collector with dish collector distributed reflector

Figures: Schematic diagrams of different types of concentrated solar power collectors 10

 Based on the principle of Solar thermal energy to other energy

Solar thermal energy:

 Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and technology used for controlling and making use
of solar energy to generate thermal energy for industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors.
 Solar thermal collectors are classified by the United States Energy Information Administration as
 low-, medium-, or high-temperature collectors.

 A solar thermal collector collects heat by absorbing sunlight.

 Reflecting mirror focuses light on the absorber which, in most
cases, are the pipes carrying the working fluid.
 Plate that is painted a dark color to maximize the absorption of
sunlight.

Applications:
 Low temperature collectors are generally used to heat swimming pools or to heat ventilation air.
 Medium-temperature collectors are also usually flat plates but are used for heating water or air for residential
and commercial use.
 High-temperature collectors concentrate sunlight using mirrors or lenses and are generally used for fulfilling
heat requirements up to 300 deg C / 20 bar pressure in industries, and for electric power production.
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Solar Water Heating:

 Solar water heating (SWH) is heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector.
 A sun-facing collector heats a working fluid that passes into a storage system for later use.
 They are heated directly or via light-concentrating mirrors. In large-scale installations, mirrors may concentrate
sunlight into a smaller collector.
 Schematic diagrams of active solar heating system is shown in the following figure.
 Application
 Can be a cost-effective way to generate hot water for domestic use and swimming pool.

Figures: Schematic diagrams of active solar heating system. 12

Solar distillation (পাতন):
 Solar distillation is the use of solar energy to evaporate water and collect its condensate within the same closed
system.
 Working principle of Solar distillation system used for water purification has been illustrated in the following
figure.
 Applications
 Unlike other forms of water purification it can turn salt or brackish water into fresh drinking water.

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Figures: Working principle of Solar distillation system used for water purification
Solar furnace (চুল্লি):

 A solar furnace is a structure that uses concentrated solar power to produce high temperatures, usually for
industrial purposes.
 This is done with sun-tracking curved mirror (or an array of mirrors) mirrors, called heliostats to reflect sunlight to
the collector.
 The optical shutters (variable filters) that control the light transmittance.
 Solar collector concentrate solar radiation at a focal point in order to reach very high temperatures. The
temperature at the focal point may reach 3,500 °C (6,330 °F).
 Schematic diagrams of active solar furnace system is illustrated in the following figure.
 Here are some examples of the use of different types of solar furnaces:
 Electricity generation
 Material heating
 Food cooking etc.

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Figures: Schematic diagrams of active solar furnace system.
Solar thermal power plant using Concentrated solar power (CSP) system :
Working principle:

 Solar thermal power plants are electricity generation plants.

 It utilizes energy from the sun to heat a fluid to a high temperature.
 This fluid then transfers its heat to water, which then becomes superheated steam.
 This steam is then used to turn turbines in a power plant, and this mechanical energy is converted into
electricity by a generator.
 These systems use solar collectors to concentrate the Sun's rays on one point to achieve appropriately
high temperatures.
 Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal)
systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight onto a
receiver.
 The energy can be concentrated as much as 1,500 times that of the energy coming in from the sun.

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Schematic Diagrams of Solar thermal power plant:

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Basic parts of Solar thermal power plant:
Heliostats:

 CSP systems uses hundreds to thousands of flat, sun-tracking mirrors called heliostats to reflect and concentrate
the sun's energy onto a central receiver tower.
 Then the system focuses concentrated solar energy on a tower-mounted heat exchanger (receiver).
 The energy can be concentrated as much as 1,500 times that of the energy coming in from the sun.

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Basic parts of Solar thermal power plant/Heliostat power plant:

Solar power tower and solar receiver:

 A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or 'heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower
to receive focused sunlight.
 It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the sun's rays upon a collector tower (the target).
 Early designs used these focused rays to heat water, and used the resulting steam to power a turbine.
 Newer designs using liquid sodium have been demonstrated, and systems using molten salts (40% potassium nitrate, 60% sodium
nitrate) as the working fluids are now in operation.
 These working fluids have high heat capacity, which can be used to store the energy before using it to boil water to drive turbines.
These designs also allow power to be generated when the sun is not shining.
 By this way, pressurized steam is produced.

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Basic parts of Solar thermal power plant:

Thermal Energy Storage or drum :

 There are several ways the various CSP technologies receive the heated fluid to store thermal energy from the sun,
but once ready to store, a huge metal tank – like the one pictured above – stores the hot liquid.

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Basic parts of Solar thermal power plant:
Steam turbine :
 The steam turbine machine extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on
a rotating output shaft, possibly using a renewable energy heat source

Steam turbine-driven electric generator :

 The steam turbine is connected to an electrical power generator which generates electric power.
 Mechanical energy is converted into electricity by a generator. 20
Basic parts of Solar thermal power plant:
Steam turbine :
 The steam turbine machine extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on
a rotating output shaft, possibly using a renewable energy heat source

Steam turbine-driven electric generator :

 The steam turbine is connected to an electrical power generator which generates electric power.
 Mechanical energy is converted into electricity by a generator. 21
Benefits of Solar thermal power plant over other power plants:

 Solar PV panels always need sunlight directly for the electricity generation and cannot work independently.
 On the other hand, Solar thermal power plants primarily produce heat by using solar power, so it is capable of
storing this concentrated heat for electricity generation- essentially making it an independent source of energy.
 Because these systems can generate steam of such high temperatures, the conversion of heat energy to electricity
is more efficient.
 As well, these plants store heat instead of electricity. The storage of heat is more efficient and cost-effective than
storing electricity.
 These plants produce a reliable amount of energy and can be turned on or up at will, meeting the energy
demands of society.
 In addition to this, solar thermal power plants represent a type of electricity generation technology that is cleaner
than generating electricity by using fossil fuels.

Drawbacks of Solar thermal power plant:

 Large amount of land necessary for these plants to operate efficiently.

 production of enough steam requires large volumes of water.
 The use of large focusing mirrors in these plants have harmful effect on birds.
 Some reports of bird deaths at power plants such as these amount the deaths to about one bird every two minutes

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Thank you

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