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Solar Technologies for Electricity Generation
Published in Peter F. Varadi, Frank Wouters, Allan R. Hoffman, Wolfgang Palz, Anil Cabraal, Richenda Van Leeuwen, The Sun is Rising in Africa and the Middle East, 2018
Peter F. Varadi, Frank Wouters, Allan R. Hoffman, Wolfgang Palz, Anil Cabraal, Richenda Van Leeuwen
CdTe was considered to be a good material for solar cells even in the 1950s, but except for some early experimentation, it was only in 1984 that Harold McMaster started to establish a small CdTe production. He was successful in making a small production line, but it took off only in 1999 when an investment group acquired it, renamed the company to First Solar and developed mass- production machinery. First Solar became a very successful large company, basically the only manufacturer of CdTe solar modules. First Solar is one of the largest PV manufacturers in the world. In 2016, its sales were $2.9 billion and First Solar shipped 2.7 GW of solar modules.CIS and CIGS solar modules
Photovoltaics Fundamentals, Technology and Application
Published in D. Yogi Goswami, Frank Kreith, Energy Conversion, 2017
Roger Messenger, D. Yogi Goswami, Hari M. Upadhyaya, Senthilarasu Sundaram, Aruna Ivaturi, Stephan Buecheler, Ayodhya N. Tiwari
CSS and VT are the prominent and industrially used processes for CdTe deposition owing to its very high rate (2–5 μm/min) of deposition. The CSS process consists of an arrangement involving the placement of a graphite crucible with the source material (CdTe compound) in a high vacuum chamber (~10−5 Torr). The CdTe compound sublimes at around 600°C and is deposited onto the substrate, which is kept with a separation of 1–5 mm above the crucible and heated typically above 550°C. Antec Solar GmbH in Germany uses this method for industrial production of 60 × 120 cm2 modules on a 10 MW capacity plant. Parma University, Italy; University of South Florida, United States; and NREL, United States, have also used this method and cells of 15.5%– 16.5% efficiency have been achieved. First Solar, United States, uses a variant of CSVT where instead of compound, elemental vapors are used (First Solar 2005; McCandless and Dobson 2004; Romeo et al. 2004c). First Solar is the most successful CdTe company to date with an annual production capacity of approximately 2 GWp for modules on 60 × 120 cm2 glass substrates. First Solar and GE global research have contributed to improve the CdTe-based solar cell efficiency significantly. GE global research has achieved a ground-breaking efficiency of 19.6% on glass substrates. Early 2014, First Solar communicated 20.4% solar cell efficiency and a very remarkable full scale module efficiency of 17% (First Solar 2014).
Photovoltaics
Published in Sheila Devasahayam, Kim Dowling, Manoj K. Mahapatra, Sustainability in the Mineral and Energy Sectors, 2016
Venkata Manthina, Alexander Agrios, Shahzada Ahmad
Uniquely among the major PV technologies, the fortunes of CdTe have been directly tied to those of a single company, namely, First Solar, based in Tempe, Arizona. In the competition among thin-film technologies, CdTe for most of the last 15 years lagged behind CIGS in terms of lab-scale record efficiencies, with the best efficiency for CdTe cells in the range of 15%–16% while CIGS achieved 18%–19%. (Both were well above a-Si:H, at 12%–13%.) However, First Solar was able to develop a low-cost process for large-scale manufacture of CdTe panels, resulting in the lowest-cost technology in terms of dollar per peak watt ($/Wp) of any PV manufacturer. CdTe has since become an important part of the overall PV market. First Solar has focused on large-scale installations; many of the world’s largest PV “solar farms” consist of CdTe panels manufactured by First Solar. Conversely, the technology has been generally absent from the rooftop market. CdTe has led the thin-film PV market with greater practical developments in the field with building solar farms.
An enhanced multiobjective particle swarm optimisation algorithm for optimum utilisation of hybrid renewable energy systems
Published in International Journal of Ambient Energy, 2020
M. Suresh, R. Meenakumari, Hitesh Panchal, V. Priya, El Sayed El Agouz, Mohammad Israr
The solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun that is harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technology. It is an important source of renewable energy and its technologies are broadly characterised as either passive solar or active solar depending upon how they capture and distribute solar energy or convert it into electrical power. A solar cell, or PV cell, is a device that converts light into electric current using the PV effect. Charles Frits in the 1880s discovered the first solar cell. In 1931, the German engineer Bruno Lange developed a photo cell using silver selenide in place of copper oxide, although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light into electricity. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and reached efficiencies of 4.5–6%. The meteorological data of the solar system with varying irradiance are represented below. Figure 4 shows the hourly data obtained from NASA surface meteorology of the atmospheric science data centre.
Energy analysis of Bahrain’s first hybrid renewable energy system
Published in International Journal of Green Energy, 2019
Shaker Haji, Mohamed Bin Shams, Ali Salman Akbar, Hussain Abdali, Alaa Alsaffar
The United Arab Emirates is still considered the leader in the gulf region in PV electricity generation with a total of 23 MWp of installed capacity arising from two completed, major solar PV projects (Abdel Gelil, El-Ashry, and Saab 2013; IRENA 2016). The first was Abu Dhabi’s 10-MWp Masdar City Solar Park completed in 2009, which was UAE’s first grid-connected PV power plant and the largest in the middle east at the time of inauguration (Bhutto et al. 2014), followed by Dubai’s 13-MWp Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park completed in 2013 (phase 1), which is the largest facility of its kind in the GCC region (First Solar 2017; IRENA 2016). Although no power plants or HRESs utilizing hydrogen/fuel cell were reported in UAE, a study conducted by Kazim and Veziroglu (Kazim and Veziroglu 2001) revealed the potential of utilizing solar energy to generate hydrogen to maintain UAE’s share in the world energy market, where it could account for 50% of the total income of energy sales by 2042. In a later study, Kazim (2010) proposed the utilization of hydrogen-fueled PEMFC in electricity generation, commercial, and transportation sectors in UAE to meet the country’s energy demand and attain the desired sustainability.
The use and determinants of solar energy by Sub-Saharan African households
Published in International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 2018
Dil Bahadur Rahut, Khondoker Abdul Mottaleb, Akhter Ali, Jeetendra Aryal
Edmund Becquerel in 1839 observed the photovoltaic effect of the sun’s light and heat (solar energy), and in 1883 Charles Fritts made the first solar cell by covering selenium with a thin film of gold. Solar energy is renewable and can be converted into electricity with solar panels. It provides clean, environment-friendly, perennial power sources. Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy serves in lighting homes and businesses of people who lack access to power grids and are isolated from the global economy (TheEconomist2012). Hence, harnessing solar energy is vital for energy security, economic development, poverty alleviation, and reducing GHGs. Using superior off-grid solar, Lighting Africa has facilitated 15.8 million people across Africa to meet their essential electricity requirements since the launch of the first pilot project in 2009, and it aims to link 250 million more by 2030 (Lighting Africa 2017).