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Energies
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Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Power Plants
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Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Power Plants

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A2: Solar Energy and Photovoltaic Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 18354

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: building-integrated photovoltaics; circular economy; sustainability and resilience; energy management; life cycle assessment; technoeconomic analysis; modeling and performance investigation of energy systems; solar for smart cities applications; advances in solar energy installations; microgrids; blockchain technology; Internet of Things
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sofiane Kichou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB), Czech Technical University in Prague, Třinecká 1024, 273 43 Buštěhrad, Czech Republic
Interests: building-integrated photovoltaics; fault diagnosis; optimal control; optimization; photovoltaic power systems; power generation control; power grids; short-circuit currents

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Solar power plants are becoming increasingly important in decarbonizing the energy sector and are receiving much techno-econo-enviro-socio-policy attention. In this context, looking at recent advances in solar cell technologies, installation approaches, solar power plant types, and application-specific solar power plant designs would be interesting to make better-informed decisions for the emerging solar power market. Furthermore, a continued increase in the penetration of solar power plants could trigger multifaceted challenges that could hinder progress. Hence, this Special Issue focuses on developing and implementing solar power plants considering conflicts related to land and water use, long-term electrical and electronic waste generation, and performance issues due to various influential factors. Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

  • Solar photovoltaics and thermal collectors;
  • Thin-film solar cells;
  • Polymer solar cells;
  • Dye-sensitized solar cells;
  • Perovskite solar cells;
  • Theoretical modeling of DC and AC PV systems;
  • Simulation and experimental performance;
  • PV battery systems;
  • Solar thermal power plants;
  • Grid-connected solar power plants;
  • Ground-mounted photovoltaic installations;
  • Building-integrated photovoltaic installations;
  • Floating solar;
  • Canal top solar for water management;
  • Agrivoltaics;
  • Rainfed agrivoltaics;
  • Photovoltaics for aviation and space applications;
  • Underwater solar and its applications;
  • Performance and material degradation;
  • Environmental impacts of solar;
  • Solar microgrids;
  • Solar roofs and EV charging stations;
  • Solar for hydrogen production;
  • Solar for fuel production.

Dr. Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar
Dr. Sofiane Kichou
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Solar cells
  • Solar plants
  • PV performance
  • PV applications
  • Solar for SDG7
  • Degradation
  • Decarbonization
  • Microgrids

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3654 KiB  
Article
Hybrid CSP—PV Plants for Jordan, Tunisia and Algeria
by Daniel Benitez, Marc Röger, Andreas Kazantzidis, Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, Sofiane Bouaichaoui, AmenAllah Guizani and Moncef Balghouthi
Energies 2023, 16(2), 924; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16020924 - 13 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1895
Abstract
Hybrid concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) plants are gaining relevance because they combine their advantages: easy installation and low cost of PV plus dispatchability of CSP. This paper presents results of a techno-economic modelling of this hybrid approach for sites [...] Read more.
Hybrid concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) plants are gaining relevance because they combine their advantages: easy installation and low cost of PV plus dispatchability of CSP. This paper presents results of a techno-economic modelling of this hybrid approach for sites in Jordan, Tunisia and Algeria. Local boundary conditions such as meteorology, cost and electricity demand have been considered to determine the best configurations for these three sites. Different CSP technologies with thermal energy storage have been selected. Hybridization with natural gas has also been included. The optimization is done towards minimizing the LCOE while covering the electrical demand 24/7. Results are presented for different CO2 emissions ranges, as the use of fossil fuel has a strong impact on the LCOE and for environmental reasons, it may be preferred to be kept to a minimum. For most of the cases analyzed, the fraction of energy from PV that leads to minimum LCOE is lower than the energy from CSP. It is shown that for countries with a high fuel price, the use of natural gas reduces the LCOE until a share from this source of about 20%. A higher integration of fossil fuel for sites rich in solar irradiation is considered not advantageous if the price of natural gas is above EUR 40/MWh. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Power Plants)
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16 pages, 3248 KiB  
Article
Cross-Cultural Study on OSH Risk Perception of Solar PV Workers of Saudi Arabia and India: Risk Mitigation through PtD
by Abhijit Sen, Abdulrahman Khamaj, Majed Moosa and Sougata Karmakar
Energies 2022, 15(24), 9614; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15249614 - 18 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3037
Abstract
A large number of workers are entering the rapidly growing solar photovoltaic industry. The emerging occupational safety and health risks faced by the workers have rarely been measured and aptly addressed. Moreover, there is a lack of cross-cultural studies on solar photovoltaic workers [...] Read more.
A large number of workers are entering the rapidly growing solar photovoltaic industry. The emerging occupational safety and health risks faced by the workers have rarely been measured and aptly addressed. Moreover, there is a lack of cross-cultural studies on solar photovoltaic workers engaged across different countries. This study was planned to measure the occupational safety and health risks, socio-demographic parameters, study the cross-cultural aspects and develop design concepts for risk mitigation. Field studies were conducted in solar installations in Saudi Arabia and India. Socio-demographic data and risk perception scores for eighteen different occupational safety and health risks were obtained from the workers (n = 135). In addition, discomfort glare was also measured. Design concepts were developed following the hierarchy of controls matrix and the bow-tie analysis method using the prevention through design approach. Heat stress, electrocution, solar radiation, and fire/electric flash were found in the high and very high risk categories. This is a first-of-its-kind cross-cultural study in the solar photovoltaic industry which measures the occupational safety and health risks and develops design concepts for mitigation of risks. This study will be beneficial to solar project developers, safety professionals, ergonomists, industrial designers and policy makers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Power Plants)
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17 pages, 11903 KiB  
Article
OrcaFlex Modelling of a Multi-Body Floating Solar Island Subjected to Waves
by Maria Ikhennicheu, Arthur Blanc, Benoat Danglade and Jean-Christophe Gilloteaux
Energies 2022, 15(23), 9260; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15239260 - 6 Dec 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4941
Abstract
Floating solar energy is an industry with great potential. As the industry matures, floating solar farms are considered in more challenging environments, where the presence of waves must be accounted for in mismatch studies and fatigue and mechanical considerations regarding electrical cables and [...] Read more.
Floating solar energy is an industry with great potential. As the industry matures, floating solar farms are considered in more challenging environments, where the presence of waves must be accounted for in mismatch studies and fatigue and mechanical considerations regarding electrical cables and mooring lines. Computational modelling of floating solar islands is now a critical step. The representation of such islands on industry-validated software is very complex, as it includes a large number of elements, each interacting with its neighbours. This study focuses on conditions with small waves (amplitude of <1 m) that are relevant to sheltered areas where generic float technologies can be utilized. A multi-body island composed of 3 × 3 floats is modelled in OrcaFlex. A solution to model the kinematic constraint chain between floats is presented. Three different modelling solutions are compared in terms of results and computation time. The most accurate model includes a multi-body computation of float responses in a potential flow solver (OrcaWave). However, solving the equations for a single float and applying the results to each float individually also gives accurate results and reduces the computation time by a factor of 3. These results represent a basis for further works in which larger and more realistic floating islands can be modelled. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Power Plants)
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10 pages, 3662 KiB  
Article
Static Concentrator Photovoltaics Module for Electric Vehicle Applications Based on Compound Parabolic Concentrator
by Hoang Vu, Ngoc Hai Vu and Seoyong Shin
Energies 2022, 15(19), 6951; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15196951 - 22 Sep 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1894
Abstract
Electric vehicles (EVs) and photovoltaics (PVs) are new technologies that will play an important role in the transportation industry over the next decade. Using solar panels on the roofs of cars is one of the simplest ways to reduce fuel costs and increase [...] Read more.
Electric vehicles (EVs) and photovoltaics (PVs) are new technologies that will play an important role in the transportation industry over the next decade. Using solar panels on the roofs of cars is one of the simplest ways to reduce fuel costs and increase the mobility of electric vehicles. Solar electric cars can be charged anywhere under the Sun without additional infrastructure, but the problem is the size of the solar panel is limited on the roof and the electricity conversion efficiency of the panel is only 15% to 20%. This means they will not provide significant electricity to EVs. An effective way to increase efficiency is to utilize multi-junction solar cells with concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technology. The challenge is that the moving sun-tracking mechanism will reduce the stability of the vehicle structure. To solve this issue, in this research, we present a static concentrator photovoltaic system for electric vehicles. This structure is more stable and simpler than CPV systems using sun-tracking mechanisms and thus suitable for car roof application. The CPV system includes solid compound parabolic concentrators (CPCs), three-junction solar cells, and a crystalline Si cell panel. This structure allows for the manufacture of a static CPV with a geometrical concentration ratio of 4× for three-junction cells. The simulation results showed that the module can achieve 25% annual efficiency. Moreover, it can be flexible to meet the requirements of car roof application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Power Plants)
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22 pages, 10541 KiB  
Article
Techno-Economic Analysis of Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaic Plus Battery Power Plant
by Nawaz Edoo and Robert T. F. Ah King
Energies 2021, 14(23), 8145; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14238145 - 5 Dec 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4456
Abstract
Decarbonizing the global power sector is a key requirement to fight climate change. Consequently, the deployment of renewable energy (RE) technologies, notably solar photovoltaic (PV), is proceeding rapidly in many regions. However, in many of these regions, the evening peak is predominantly being [...] Read more.
Decarbonizing the global power sector is a key requirement to fight climate change. Consequently, the deployment of renewable energy (RE) technologies, notably solar photovoltaic (PV), is proceeding rapidly in many regions. However, in many of these regions, the evening peak is predominantly being served by fossil-fired generators. Furthermore, as the evening peak is projected to increase in the coming years, there are plans to install more fossil-fired peaking generators. A cleaner alternative is to enable solar PV plants to provide clean power after sunset by pairing them with large-scale lithium-ion batteries to provide evening peak generation. In this work, we performed a techno-economic analysis of a solar PV plus battery (PVB) power plant using the island of Mauritius as a case study. We assessed the impacts of the battery size, inverter loading ratio (ILR), tracking type, and curtailment on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). The main results show that the LCOE of utility-scale PVB systems are comparable to that of fossil-fired peaking generators for this case study. Tracking was shown to exacerbate the clipping loss problem and its benefits on LCOE reduction decrease as the ILR increases. The availability of the PVB system to serve the evening peak was found to be high. The curtailment analysis also showed that planners must not rely solely on storage, but rather should also improve grid flexibility to keep PVB integration affordable. Overall, the practical insights generated will be useful to utility planners in charting their generation expansion strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Photovoltaics and Solar Power Plants)
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