S0LAR ENERGY IS ENDLESS

SUBMITTED BY:

GROUP MEMBERS; AITAZAZ HASSAN (2010-CH-306) AHTISHAM AYOUB (2010-CH-321) FARAZ AHMAD (2010-CH-301) MOHAMMAD RAMZAN (2010-CH-303)

SUBMITTED TO:
SIR.ABDUL REHMAN

DEPARTMENT:
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE

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Renewable energy Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replenished). About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewable, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from hydroelectricity. New renewable (small hydro, modern biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels) accounted for another 3% and are growing very rapidly. The share of renewables in electricity generation is around 19%, with 16% of global electricity coming from hydroelectricity and 3% from new renewable. Wind power is growing at over 20% annually, with a worldwide installed capacity of 238,000 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2011,and is widely used in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Since 2004, photovoltaics passed wind as the fastest growing energy source, and since 2007 has more than doubled every two years. At the end of 2011 the photovoltaic (PV) capacity worldwide was 67,000 MW, and PV power stations are popular in Germany and Italy. Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert. The world's largest geothermal power installation is the Geysers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW. Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugarcane, and ethanol now provides 18% of the country's automotive fuel. Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA. While many renewable energy projects are large-scale, renewable technologies are also suited to rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. As of 2011, small solar PV systems provide electricity to a few million households, and micro-hydro configured into mini-grids serves many more. Over 44 million households use biogas made in household-scale digesters for lighting and/or cooking, and more than 166 million households rely on a new generation of more-efficient biomass cookstoves.United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that renewable energy has the ability to lift the poorest nations to new levels of prosperity. Climate change concerns, coupled with high oil prices, peak oil, and increasing government support, are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization. New government spending, regulation and policies helped the industry weather the global financial crisis better than many other sectors. According to a 2011 projection by the International Energy Agency, solar power generators may Biofuel, Biomass, Geothermal, Hydroelectricity, Solar energy, Tidal power, Wave power, Wind power History of Solar Energy Solar Energy History from 400 B.C. to the present day advances.Even when the supply of fossil fuels seemed endless, there were those who were interested in harnessing the power of the sun for energy. In 400 B.C. the Greeks were the first to implement the suns rays for heat. During this time they began to orient the placement of their houses to trap solar heat during winter.

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SOLAR ENERGY HISTORY 18th CENTURY Even though the first solar collector was built by Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure in 1767, it would be another century before French inventor Auguste Mouchout would patent a design for a motor to run on solar energy. His devices turned solar energy into steam power. SOLAR ENERGY HISTORY 19th CENTURY In 1878 the first book about solar energy, A Substitute for Fuel in Tropical Countries was written by William Adams. Using mirrors Adams was able to power a 2.5 horsepower steam engine. His design known as the Power Tower Concept is still in use today. The photovoltaic effect or the production of electricity directly form the sun was discovered by Frenchman Henry Becquerel in 1890. In 1891 American Clarence Kemp received a patent for the first solar water heater. SOLAR ENERGY HISTORY 20th CENTURY The early 1900s brings more knowledge and improvement to the quest for solar power. In 1904 Henry Willsie built two plants in California. Willsie was the first person to use solar power at night after generating it during the day. Still he was not able to make sales and his solar company folded. The 1950s brings more development in the solar energy sector. The first solar water heating system was placed in a commercial building as the primary source for interior heat. The first commercial solar cells was also made available to the public. Space programs made extensive use of solar power from the early 1960s to present day. By the end of the 1970s there were over 100 solar manufacturers in the United States. With the energy crisis of the seventys, the realization of the importance of solar energy to replace traditional energy methods became clear. From that point until today solar energy has gradually received more and more interest and support. Today there is a renewed focus on solar energy. More people are recognizing the need and the advantage of solar power. Solar cells are powering an array of items from household appliances to cars. Solar electric systems now power many homes and commercial businesses. The future of solar power to provide inexhaustible power supply at affordable costs is great. The term "photovoltaic" comes from the Greek (phs) meaning "light", and "voltaic", from the name of the Italian physicist Volta, after whom a unit of electro-motive force, the volt, is named. The term "photo-voltaic" has been in use in English since 1849. The photovoltaic effect was first recognized in 1839 by French physicist A. E. Becquerel. However, it was not until 1883 that the first photovoltaic cell was built, by Charles Fritts, who coated the semiconductor selenium with an extremely thin layer of gold to form the junctions. The device was only around 1% efficient. In 1888 Russian physicist Aleksandr Stoletov built the first photoelectric cell based on the outer photoelectric effect discovered by Heinrich Hertz earlier in 1887. Current events Other technologies have tried to enter the market. First Solar was briefly the largest panel manufacturer in 2009, in terms of yearly power produced, using a thin-film cell sandwiched between two layers of glass. Since then Silicon panels reasserted their dominant position both in UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE Page 3

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terms of lower prices and the rapid rise of Chinese manufacturing, resulting in the top producers being Chinese. By late 2011, efficient production in China, coupled with a drop in European demand due to budgetary turmoil had dropped prices for crystalline solar-based modules further, to about $1.09 per watt in October 2011, down sharply from the price per watt in 2010. Solar energy Solar energy is the energy derived from the sun through the form of solar radiation. Solar powered electrical generation relies on photovoltaics and heat engines. A partial list of other solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, daylighting, solar hot water, solar cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes. Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air. Solar cell A solar cell (also called photovoltaic cell or photoelectric cell) is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Assemblies of solar cells are used to make solar modules which are used to capture energy from sunlight. When multiple modules are assembled together (such as prior to installation on a polemounted tracker system), the resulting integrated group of modules all oriented in one plane is referred to in the solar industry as a solar panel. The electrical energy generated from solar modules, referred to as solar power, is an example of solar energy. Photovoltaics Photovoltaics is the field of technology and research related to the practical application of photovoltaic cells in producing electricity from light, though it is often used specifically to refer to the generation of electricity from sunlight. Applications Early calculator solar battery Because solar cells are semiconductor devices, they share some of the same processing and manufacturing techniques as other semiconductor devices such as computer and memory chips. However, the stringent requirements for cleanliness and quality control of semiconductor fabrication are more relaxed for solar cells. Most large-scale commercial solar cell factories today make screen printed poly-crystalline or single crystalline silicon solar cells. Polycrystalline photovoltaic cells Solar cells are often electrically connected and encapsulated as a module. Photovoltaic modules often have a sheet of glass on the front (sun up) side, allowing light to pass while protecting the semiconductor wafers from abrasion and impact due to wind-driven debris, rain, hail, etc. Solar cells are also usually connected in series in modules, creating an additive voltage. Connecting cells UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE Page 4

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in parallel will yield a higher current; however, very significant problems exist with parallel connections. For example, shadow effects can shut down the weaker (less illuminated) parallel string (a number of series connected cells) causing substantial power loss and even damaging excessive reverse bias applied to the shadowed cells by their illuminated partners. As far as possible, strings of series cells should be handled independently and not connected in parallel, save using special paralleling circuits. Although modules can be interconnected to create an array with the desired peak DC voltage and loading current capacity, using independent MPPTs (maximum power point trackers) provides a better solution. In the absence of paralleling circuits, shunt diodes can be used to reduce the power loss due to shadowing in arrays with series/parallel connected cells To make practical use of the solar-generated energy, the electricity is most often fed into the electricity grid using inverters (grid-connected photovoltaic systems); in stand-alone systems, batteries are used to store the energy that is not needed immediately. Solar panels can be used to power or recharge portable devices. How solar cells work: The solar cell works in three steps: Photons in sunlight hit the solar panel and are absorbed by semiconducting materials, such as silicon. Electrons (negatively charged) are knocked loose from their atoms, causing an electric potential difference. Current starts flowing through the material to cancel the potential and this electricity is captured. Due to the special composition of solar cells, the electrons are only allowed to move in a single direction. An array of solar cells converts solar energy into a usable amount of direct current (DC) electricity. Efficiency Solar panels on the International Space Station absorb light from both sides. These Bifacial cells are more efficient and operate at lower temperature than single sided equivalents. The efficiency of a solar cell may be broken down into reflectance efficiency, thermodynamic efficiency, charge carrier separation efficiency and conductive efficiency. The overall efficiency is the product of each of these individual efficiencies. Energy storage methods Solar energy is not available at night, making energy storage an important issue in order to provide the continuous availability of energy. Both wind power and solar power are intermittent energy sources, meaning that all available output must be taken when it is available and either stored for when it can be used, or transported, over transmission lines, to where it can be used. Wind power and solar power tend to be somewhat complementary, as there tends to be more wind in the winter and more sun in the summer, but on days with no sun and no wind the difference needs to be made up in some manner. The Institute for Solar Energy Supply Technology of the University of Kassel pilot-tested a combined power plant linking solar, wind, biogas and hydrostorage to provide loadfollowing power around the clock, entirely from renewable sources. UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE Page 5

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Solar energy can be stored at high temperatures using molten salts. Salts are an effective storage medium because they are low-cost, have a high specific heat capacity and can deliver heat at temperatures compatible with conventional power systems. The Solar Two used this method of energy storage, allowing it to store 1.44 TJ in its 68 m storage tank, enough to provide full output for close to 39 hours, with an efficiency of about 99%. Off-grid PV systems have traditionally used rechargeable batteries to store excess electricity. With grid-tied systems, excess electricity can be sent to the transmission grid. Net metering programs give these systems a credit for the electricity they deliver to the grid. This credit offsets electricity provided from the grid when the system cannot meet demand, effectively using the grid as a storage mechanism. Credits are normally rolled over month to month and any remaining surplus settled annually. Pumped-storage hydroelectricity stores energy in the form of water pumped when surplus electricity is available, from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation one. The energy is recovered when demand is high by releasing the water: the pump becomes a turbine, and the motor a hydroelectric power generator. Artificial photosynthesis involves the use of nanotechnology to store solar electromagnetic energy in chemical bonds, by splitting water to produce hydrogen fuel or then combining with carbon dioxide to make biopolymers such as methanol. Many large national and regional research projects on artificial photosynthesis are now trying to develop techniques integrating improved light capture, quantum coherence methods of electron transfer and cheap catalytic materials that operate under a variety of atmospheric conditions

SOLAR THERMAL SYSEM A system which converts solar radiation into heat and transmit it to hot water Putting Solar Thermal Energy to Use: Two methods of heating water: Passive Active Passive solar heat is using absorptive structures with no moving parts to gather and hold heat. Active solar heat is when a system pumps a heat-absorbing medium through a collector, rather than passively collecting heat in a stationary object

Heating Living Spaces

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE

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Best design of a building is for it to act as a solar collector and storage unit. This is achieved through three elements: insulation, collection, and storage. Efficient heating starts with proper insulation on external walls, roof, and the floors. The doors, windows, and vents must be designed to minimize heat loss. Collection: south-facing windows and appropriate landscaping. Storage: Thermal massholds heat. SOLAR PROCESS SPACE COOLING The heat from solar collector can also be used to cool a building. Solar cooler These use solar heat as a energy source to create cooling as air conditioner uses energy source(electricity) to create cool air. Solar energy can be used with evaporative coolers(swamp cooler). SOLAR THERMAL POWER VS PHOTOVOLTAICS Solar thermal power Solar thermal electric energy generation concentrates the light from the sun to create heat, and that heat is used to run a heat engine, which turns a generator to make electricity. The working fluid that is heated by the concentrated sunlight can be a liquid or a gas. Different working fluids include water, oil, salts, air, nitrogen, helium, etc. All of these engines can be quite efficient, often between 30% and 40%, and are capable of producing 10s to 100s of megawatts of power Heat storage is a far easier and efficient method Heat can be stored during the day and then converted into electricity at night. Photovoltaics. Directly converts the suns light into electricity. No fluid is used. solar panels are only effective during daylight hours because storing electricity is not a particularly efficient process. Low efficient SOLAR THERMAL ENERGY Competing with Fossil Fuels

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it also can beat the cost of electricity from fossil fuels such as natural gas. In terms of lowcost and high negative environmental impact, nothing competes with coal. But major solar thermal industry players such as beaten the price of photovoltaic and natural gas, and they have plans to beat the price of coal in the near future. Major Solar Thermal Players Spain and Australia are the current leading countries in solar thermal energy production. TECHNICAL CHALLENGES The most obvious is competition with abundant and inexpensive coal. Land requirement (Solar thermal power plants typically require 1/4 to 1 square mile or more of land.) Worldwide use Solar Energy Advantages and Disadvantages Advantages and disadvantages of solar energy can be different for different people depending on the geographical location and the climate of the place they live in. Before you make a final decision on opting on the solar energy, do consider the advantages and disadvantages of solar energy. As oil prices spike, people are looking for alternative energy sources to save money. Here are solar energy advantages and disadvantages, with advantages definitely winning out. Solar energy can be defined rather simply as the conversion of sunlight into usable energy. Currently, solar energy is used to provide electricity to homes, businesses, schools, universities and space vehicles used by NASA. As traditional energy prices rise, solar energy use is growing at a rate of 25 percent a year. Advantages of Solar energy: Environmentally friendly: Solar energy is generated from a renewable source and its production does not emit any harmful pollutants and emissions. Power plants which are catering the maximum amount for our energy needs use fossil fuels to generate electricity and emit very harmful green house gaseswhich are disturbing the balance of the nature. The best way to save our nature from further loss is to go for the renewable sources of energy. Solar is one of the best options as the source of power generation is free of cost, renewable and good for our environment. Renewable resource: Another advantage of solar energy is that it is inexhaustible and unlike fossil fuels, source of energy for solar power is renewable. Sun is the source to generate Solar energy and Sun is freely available everywhere and is not going to exhaust in future. Saves Money: Fossil fuels reserves are rapidly depleting and with increase in population, the demand of electricity is increasingthis is driving the costs of electricity to elevated levels. If you choose to install solar power systems for your home, your electricity bills will go down. As you will be generating your own electricity, you need not to pay for outrageous prices for electricity. The initial costs are no doubt exorbitant but one should realize that these expenses are just one-time UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE Page 8

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and should be considered as an investment which they really are. Best part is that you probably will never have to pay another electric bill again which is increasing day by day. This way, when the initial investment is recovered, the energy from the sun is practically FREE. The power source of the sun is absolutely free. The production of solar energy produces no pollution. The technological advancements in solar energy systems have made them extremely cost effective. Most systems do not require any maintenance during their lifespan, which means you never have to put money into them. Most systems have a life span of 30 to 40 years. Most systems carry a full warranty for 20 to 30 years or more. Unlike traditional monstrous panel systems, many modern systems are sleeker such as Uni-Solar rolls that lay directly on the roof like regular roofing materials. In 35 states, solar energy can be fed back to the utilities to eliminate the need for a storage system as well as eliminating or dramatically reducing your electric bills. Solar energy systems are now designed for particular needs. For instance, you can convert your outdoor lighting to solar. The solar cells are directly on the lights and cant be seen by anyone. At the same time, you eliminate all costs associated with running your outdoor lighting. Solar Energy Disadvantages The primary disadvantage to solar energy is the upfront cost. Once installed, you can expect next to nothing on the system during the 40-year life span. The installation, however, can be price. Outdoor solar lighting will cost you no more than normal lighting, but large solar energy systems for your entire home can run from a minimum of $15,000 to a more likely figure of $25,000 to $35,000. While this isnt cheap, state and federal governments have created significant ways to offset this cost. The federal government wants as many people to covert to solar as possible. The goal is to have a million solar roofs by the year 2010 to ease the stress on electrical grids across the nation. To promote this, the federal government offers the following incentives: Up to a $2,000 tax credit in year of installation. Importantly, a tax credit is applied to the actual amount of tax you owe, not a deduction from your gross. If you prepare your taxes and find you owe $10,000, this tax credit will reduce the amount to $8,000. The federal government offers incentives in home loans. If you go solar, lenders will give you breaks under the Energy Efficient Mortgage or Energy Improvement Mortgage programs. The specific savings depend on the details of your home. State governments are also interested in promoting solar energy use. To promote solar, 35 states allow you to sell excess solar energy to utilities. Known as net metering, your solar system is tied into your utilities. During the day, the system feeds power into the grid and you can watch your meter run backwards! Net metering can effectively eliminate your utility bills for the life of the solar energy system. Think about that. No utility bills for 30 or 40 years! There is no doubt that solar energy is abundant and free but the initial cost of installing a solar power system is the main disadvantage of solar energy. However this problem can be solved by UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE Page 9

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going in for DIY solar power systems. If you have dedication and patience, with small investment you can get immediate results and can also get the relief from high installation costs when done by professionals. Geographical location and climate of a place can be a source of advantage or disadvantage of solar energy. The efficiency of the solar panels is dependent upon the amount of sunlight received. If you live in a place where you dont receive much of the Sun, you wont be able to generate enough power. Solar panels cant withstand large hail storms, so the area receiving lot of hail wont be right for solar power generation. Another disadvantage of Solar energy is that it generates electricity only during the day time or in other words there will be no generation of electricity during night, although a battery backup system and/or net metering can solve this problem.

Imortance of solar energy in pakistan Pakistan has been facing an unprecedented energy crisis since the last few years. The problem becomes more severe during summers.However, this winter was no different.During the peak crisis there was a power outage of 3-4 hours everyday. Those without generators and UPS faced tremendous problems. The prices of both continued to increase due to a sharp increase in their demand. Almost two years ago the then WAPDA chairman who happens to be a caretaker minister admitted that WAPDA cannot meet the current demand for electricity. Its surprising that such a senior and experienced person took so long to find this out.On top of that the government which talked about Pakistans supposedly booming economy failed to understand the gravity of the situation. General Musharraf (R) after becoming Chief Executive used to talk about building dams especially Kalabagh Dam. This was one of the many promises he failed to keep. Even after that very few power plants have been set up to meet the demand for electricity. During the second government of Benazir some independent power plants were set up. Had they not been setup then we would have had a much bigger crisis with life almost coming to a standstill. I come from the software industry which has been badly hit by the present power crisis. On an average the generator at my office is on for three hours. Our work is not much affected but overall the companys operating expenses have increased. The policy makers of Pakistan have so far failed to understand one thing.They do talk about making dams and setting up nuclear power plants but why do they not understand the importance and benefits of alternate energy sources such as solar, windmill energy etc. They are cheap and quick methods for producing electricity.Pakistan is a very blessed country because solar energy is available in most cities all year round similarly wind energy is readily available in the coastal areas.These energy sources if tapped can be of great help in reducing the current demand supply gap.

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UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, LAHORE

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