Solar Compass最新文献

This investigation provides the design and optical analysis of an innovative solar beam-down configuration, which can be a promising passive solution for indoor solar-based cooking, offering an eco-friendly and sustainable approach. The system uses a beam-down parabolic dish concentrator to concentrate the solar radiation onto a ground-mounted receiver module, which has a secondary optical module consisting of a secondary reflector-light pipe system. The receiver module is a well-insulated tank consisting of a receiver in contact with a primary heat transfer fluid. The thermal energy stored in the receiver module is transported via a secondary heat transfer fluid to and from the cooktop via a tube-in-tube arrangement, which induces a thermosyphon effect. A multi-variable optical analysis through an efficient ray tracing methodology has been adopted to identify optimal design values of optical components such as parabolic dish concentrators, secondary reflectors, and light pipe-receiver assemblies. The optimal optical design parameters and their corresponding ray trace analysis results are elaborated. It was found that the designed beam-down parabolic dish concentrator system provides an ideal thermal energy of 10.3 kWh per day at an average DNI of 650 W/m². Further, this investigation provides a design for a beam-down parabolic dish concentrating system that may be used for efficient and sustainable solar energy solutions.

The high price of energy due to the green energy policy will cause adjustments across the U.S. economy is predicted in the present computable general equilibrium with specific factors model. This includes energy input, especially electricity with capital and labor to produce manufacturing and service goods. 2022 labor, energy, and sector-specific capital input data on U.S. manufacturing, service, and agricultural sectors is applied to specific factors of the computable general equilibrium model. The model, which assumes constant returns, full employment, competitive pricing, and perfect labor mobility across industries hypothesizes a range of price changes due to project potential adjustments in factor prices and outputs. The U.S manufacturing sector is revealed to have a higher degree of noncompetitive pricing for energy factor inputs, but not on labor and capital as advocates for green energy tout by the new technology. The policy has virtually no significant impact on the service and agricultural sectors. The high price of green energy will cause an elastic decrease in all energy inputs. The output from energy-intensive manufacturing only rises in the long run by 4 % while service and agriculture fall. Clear winners are the owners of energy resources through their price-searching behavior. This includes the government, which owns a large share of hydrocarbon reserves.

Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology has emerged as a promising renewable energy solution, offering a sustainable and efficient means of electricity generation and thermal energy storage. India, endowed with abundant solar irradiance, has made significant strides in promoting CSP technology as part of its renewable energy portfolio. With a growing focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing energy security, the Indian government has initiated numerous policies, incentives, and projects to encourage CSP adoption. Parabolic trough collectors, a type of linear concentrating system, are currently in widespread use. Power or solar towers are the most common type of point concentrating CSP technology currently in use. India aims to achieve a renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022, with solar power constituting 100 GW of the overall target. Concentrated solar power technology is slated to grow 87% during 2018–2023, 32% faster than in the previous five-year period 2012–2017 and reach 4.3 GW in 2023. In future, present review paper can be regarded as a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers and industry professionals seeking to comprehend the present condition of concentrated solar power in India. It can aid in the development of strategies to address obstacles and advance sustainable and efficient solar energy solutions.

Developing countries, including Ghana, face challenges ensuring access to clean and reliable cooking fuels and technologies. Traditional biomass sources mainly used in most developing countries for cooking contribute to deforestation and indoor air pollution, necessitating a shift towards environmentally friendly alternatives. The study's primary objective is to evaluate the economic viability of using solar PV-based green hydrogen as a sustainable fuel for cooking in Ghana. The study adopted well-established equations to investigate the economic performance of the proposed system. The findings revealed that the levelized cost of hydrogen using the discounted cash flow approach is about 89 %, 155 %, and 190 % more than electricity, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and charcoal. This implies that using the hydrogen produced for cooking fuel is not cost-competitive compared to LPG, charcoal, and electricity. However, with sufficient capital subsidies to lower the upfront costs, the analysis suggests solar PV-based hydrogen could become an attractive alternative cooking fuel. In addition, switching from firewood to solar PV-based hydrogen for cooking yields the highest carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions savings across the cities analysed. Likewise, replacing charcoal with hydrogen also offers substantial CO₂ emissions savings, though lower than switching from firewood. Correspondingly, switching from LPG to hydrogen produces lower CO₂ emissions savings than firewood and charcoal. The study findings could contribute to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable energy solutions, offering practical insights for policymakers, researchers, and industry stakeholders seeking to promote clean cooking adoption in developing economies.

Two-step thermochemical fuel production cycles powered using concentrating solar systems offer a route to convert solar energy to chemical fuels. In this work, we offer a critical assessment of the state of the art, a detailed technical analysis of this technology in terms of theoretical limitations and potential performance, and potential paths forward in the development of these processes. The state of the art for demonstrated reactor systems is analyzed using key performance indicators including energy efficiency, feedstock conversion extent, power output, and volumetric power density. The technical analysis first looks into the theoretical limitations on the cycles’ process conditions and the role of the redox material. This is followed by a detailed thermodynamic analysis of the state-of-the-art ${\text{CeO}}_2$-based cycle, based on fixed bed mixed flow reactors, which closely represent the reactor designs used in demonstrations. Finally, a scale-up analysis is performed for the ${\text{CeO}}_2$-based cycle. The results from the theoretical analysis agree well with trends seen in experimental demonstrations of the concept. From the analysis, the low power density of the ${\text{CeO}}_2$-based cycle is highlighted as a critical design limitation that will seriously restrict further scale-up of this technology. We share perspective on this and other issues, and offer some outlook for future development.

The following Key Messages comprise the salient findings of this study:

1. Ambient energy (from sun, air, ground, and sky) can heat and cool buildings; provide hot water, ventilation, and daylighting; dry clothes; and cook food. These services account for about three-quarters of building energy consumption and a third of total US demand. Biophilic design (direct and indirect connections with nature) is an intrinsic adjunct to ambient energy systems, and improves wellness and human performance.

2. The current strategy of electrification and energy efficiency for buildings will not meet our climate goals, because the transition to an all-renewable electric grid is too slow. Widespread adoption of ambient energy is needed. Solar-heated buildings also flatten the seasonal demand for electricity compared to all-electric buildings, reducing required production capacity and long-term energy storage. In addition, ambient-conditioned buildings improve resilience by remaining livable during power outages.

3. National policies, incentives, and marketing should be enacted to promote ambient energy use. Federal administrative priorities should reflect the importance of ambient energy for buildings. Use of ambient energy should be encouraged through existing and new building codes and standards.

4. Ambient energy system design tools are needed for architects, engineers, builders, building scientists, realtors, appraisers, and consumers. PVWatts is used over 100 million times per year for photovoltaic system design. A similar, simple, and accessible tool for ambient design is crucial.

5. Training on ambient energy is needed throughout secondary, post-secondary, and continuing education for workforce development. Currently, only about 10% of colleges teach courses on passive heating and cooling systems.

6. Ambient-conditioned buildings should be demonstrated in all US climate zones. Performance should be monitored and reported, with quantitative case studies made widely available.

7. While current technology is sufficient to build high-performance ambient buildings now, research is needed to develop new technologies to harness ambient energy more effectively and more economically. Such advancements will facilitate adoption of ambient energy technologies in a wider range of buildings, including retrofits. Examples include windows with much lower thermal losses, use of the building shell for thermal storage, alternative light-weight thermal storage systems, sky-radiation cooling systems, automated controls for solar gains and passive cooling, and ground coupling.

The optimal integration of distributed solar photovoltaic (DSP) is a transformative engineering method that is key in contributing to a sustainable and resilient energy future, especially when countries seek to increase the proportion of renewables in their energy mix to reduce carbon emissions. This paper presents a power flow-based approach that makes use of Newton Raphson's method in the ETAP tool to integrate multiple DSPs into both the existing and expanded Freetown distribution networks. The study determined the network's hosting capacities and optimal points of injection for the reduction of active power loss and improvement of bus voltage profiles. The study showed that the existing Freetown distribution network had a hosting capacity of 34.6 MW with an active power loss reduction of 0.967 MW while the expanded Freetown distribution network had a hosting capacity of 59.57 MW with an active power loss reduction of 5.12 MW. Before the injection of the DSPs into both networks, most of the bus voltages were not within acceptable limits. However, with the intervention of the injected DSPs, bus voltages considerably improve. The study showed that the expanded Freetown distribution network is better for DSPs integration compared to the existing Freetown distribution network. To evaluate the impacts of the injected DSPs and to validate the model used, four network scenarios were considered. The study used an analytical approach, considering future load growth and an evolving grid to integrate DSPs for long-term planning. The study will inform policymakers, utilities, etc., about the potential of integrating DSPs.

The 209 kWp solar agricultural farm at Dayalbagh Educational Institute's Dairy Campus in Agra, India, is the subject of this economic analysis. This study analyzes economic indicators relevant to agriculture food production, such as gross financial margins, farm profits, and cost-benefit ratios. Other measured variables include NPV (net present value), PB (payback period), and LCOE (levelized cost of electricity) of solar power generation to determine the economic viability of this agrivoltaics (production of solar energy and agriculture on the same land) APV project. Farm profit and gross financial margins both are positive values of 161, 907 INR (Indian Rupees) and 316, 907 INR, respectively. The cost-benefit ratio was 1.5.The economic factors of solar energy generation were studied for two systems: surface-mounted or ground-mounted solar systems and an elevated solar system with agriculture production on the same ground (APV or agrivoltaics). Both systems had the same production capacity. Two different hypothetical situations were used for each system. In the first situation (Case Study A), the assumption was that solar power performance would remain constant during operation. In the second situation (Case Study B), the assumption was that annual performance would be reduced by 0.5 %.The results show that APV is better than the surface-mounted system because there is no significant difference between the payback periods of APV and surface-mounted systems; the NPV of APV is greater than the surface-mounted solar system for both the study case A and case B and the LCOE of APV is 55 % less than the LCOE of the surface-mounted solar system.

Isolated communities are constrained with electricity access due to limited infrastructure, high grid extension costs, and a lack of energy security protections for vulnerable communities. Meanwhile, electricity access for all is important for the socio-economic development of the human race. Therefore, this study aims to present a techno-economic assessment of electricity supply options to off-grid communities through a case study (Kyiriboja). The study technically assessed the feasibility and appraised the two investment (supply) options (3 km grid extension and 108 kWp solar PV microgrid) using the net present value (NPV), the internal rate of return (IRR), and the profitability index (PI). The results show an NPV of GHS 906,988.73 ($77,520.40) for the grid extension option and an NPV of GHS 698,527.67 ($ 59,703.22) for the solar PV system option. The study obtained IRR, DPP, and PI values of 21 %, 8 years, and 1.7, respectively, for the grid extension option, while the solar PV option had 18 %, 9 years, and 1.4 for the IRR, DPP, and PI, respectively. The resulting annual energy production and CO₂ savings from the study for the solar PV option are 213,151.8 kWh and 181,179 kg respectively, while a savings of 4,529,476 kg can be achieved in the project's lifetime. The economic evaluation of the proposed solar PV microgrid with the application of carbon credit resulted higher profitability of solar PV microgrid than the grid extension. The study with carbon credit analysis recorded an NPV of GHS 1,077,309.77 ($92,077.76), IRR of 24 %, PI of 1.7, and DPP of 7 years.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Bell Telephone Laboratories "Solar Battery." This event was noted in the New York Times on March 26, 1954–and the device was a tipping point for photovoltaics technology. The Bell team was led by Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson. This humble mW sized device was foundational to the terawatts of PV cumulatively installed today.