Solar Terminology

Solar Terminology
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient
times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary
solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account
for most of the available renewable energy on earth. Only a minuscule fraction of the
available solar energy is used. Solar powered electrical generation relies on heat engines and
photovoltaics. Solar energys uses are limited only by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar
applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via
distillation and disinfection, daylighting, solar hot water, solar cooking, and high temperature
process heat for industrial purposes.To harvest the solar energy, the most common way is to
use solar panels. 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 Power System Efficiency
Efficiency in photovoltaic solar panels is measured by the ability of a panel to convert
sunlight into usable energy for human consumption. Knowing the efficiency of a panel is
important in order to choose the correct panels for your photovoltaic system. For smaller
roofs, more efficient panels are necessary, due to space constraints. How do manufacturers
determine the maximum efficiency of a solar photovoltaic panel though? Read below to find
out. Let us first start out by saying that the maximum power, also known as Pmax, of a
200W panel is 200W regardless of the panel efficiency. It is the area the solar panels use up
to get those 200W that determines how efficient the panel is. The panel efficiency determines
the power output of a panel per unit of area. The maximum efficiency of a solar photovoltaic
cell is given by the following equation: max (maximum efficiency) = Pmax (maximum
power output) / (ES, sw (incident radiation flux) * Ac (area of collector)) The incident
radiation flux could better be described as the amount of sunlight that hits the earths surface
in W/m2. The assumed incident radiation flux under standard test conditions (STC) that
manufacturers use is 1000 W/m2. Keep in mind though, that STC includes several
assumptions and depends on your geographic location. Now, well make a sample
calculation to determine how manufacturers calculate the maximum solar panel efficiency
under STC. Assume you have a 400W system with an area of 30 ft2 and you want to
determine the maximum efficiency of your solar panels under STC. Your first step would be
to convert the area of your panels to units of square meters which is: 30 ft2 x 1 meter /
(10.76 ft2) = 2.79 m2 (In determining the efficiency, I would personally include the
dimensions of the frames in your calculations. Although they are there for structural
purposes, they are necessary components that do take up area) Now that you have your
Pmax (400W), ES, sw (1000W/m2), and Ac (2.79 m2), you can plug your numbers into the
efficiency equation where all units will cancel out and then multiply the value by 100% to
give you your efficiency percentage: max (in percentage) = 400 W / (1000W/m2 x 2.79
m2) = 0.143 x 100 % = 14.3% This would be the maximum efficiency of your solar panel,

not to be confused with the minimum that may be found on the panels specification sheet.
So when you are determining what solar panels are right for you, think about how important
the efficiency of panels are in paying a premium price. Perhaps you have a roof with a large
area that would be ideal for the placement of solar panels, and therefore, lower cost and less
efficient panels would work for you. If your rooftop area is limited though, you may want to
determine the efficiency you will need for your panels to achieve the desired power output
over a limited area.
Feed In Tariff (FIT)
A feed-in tariff (FiT, feed-in law, advanced renewable tariff

Renewable energy payments is a policy mechanism designed to encourage the

adoption of renewable energy sources and to help accelerate the move toward grid
parity. FiTs typically include three key provisions

Guaranteed grid access long-term contracts for the electricity produced purchase
prices that are methodologically based on the cost of renewable energy generation and
tend towards grid parity. Under a feed-in tariff, individual ratepayers (homeowners
and businesses) are paid for any renewable electricity they produce. If they produce
more than they can use themselves, then regional or national electric grid utilities are
obligated to buy the excess from them.

The cost-based prices therefore enable a diversity of projects (wind, solar, etc.) to be
developed, and for investors to obtain a reasonable return on renewable energy
investments. This principle was first explained in Germanys 2000 RES Act: The
compensation rateshave been determined by means of scientific studies, subject to
the provision that the rates identified should make it possible for an installation
when managed efficiently to be operated cost-effectively, based on the use of stateof-the-art technology and depending on the renewable energy sources naturally
available in a given geographical environment. (RES Act 2000, Explanatory
Memorandum A)

As a result, the rate may differ among various sources of power generation,
installation place (e.g. rooftop or ground-mounted), projects of different sizes and,
sometimes, by technology employed (solar, wind, geothermal, etc.). The rates are
typically designed to ratchet downward over time to track technological change and
overall cost reductions. This is consistent with keeping the payment levels in line with
actual generation costs over time. In addition, FITs typically offer a guaranteed
purchase for electricity generated from renewable energy sources within long-term
(1525 year) contracts.

These contracts are typically offered in a non-discriminatory way to all interested

producers of renewable electricity. As of 2009, feed-in tariff policies have been
enacted in 63 jurisdictions around the world, including in Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Republic of
Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey

In some (nowadays, a dozen) states in the United States,

Gaining momentum in other ones as China, India and Mongolia. In 2008, a detailed
analysis by the European Commission concluded that well-adapted feed-in tariff
regimes are generally the most efficient and effective support schemes for promoting
renewable electricity, going to grid parity.

This conclusion has been supported by a number of recent analyses, including by the
International Energy Agency

The European Federation for Renewable Energy, as well as by Deutsche Bank.

Photovoltaic (PV)
Photovoltaics (PV) is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation
into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect.
Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels comprising a number of cells containing
a photovoltaic material. Materials presently used for photovoltaics include monocrystalline
silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium
selenide/sulfide.

Due to the growing demand for renewable energy sources, the manufacturing of solar
cells and photovoltaic arrays has advanced considerably in recent years.

As of 2010, solar photovoltaics generates electricity in more than 100 countries and,
while yet comprising a tiny fraction of the 4800 GW total global power-generating
capacity from all sources, is the fastest growing power-generation technology in the
world. Between 2004 and 2009, grid-connected PV capacity increased at an annual
average rate of 60 percent, to some 21 GW.

Such installations may be ground-mounted (and sometimes integrated with farming

and grazing)

Built into the roof or walls of a building, known as Building Integrated Photovoltaics
or BIPV for short.

Off-grid PV accounts for an additional 34 GW.

Driven by advances in technology and increases in manufacturing scale and

sophistication, the cost of photovoltaics has declined steadily since the first solar cells
were manufactured.

Net metering and financial incentives, such as preferential feed-in tariffs for solargenerated electricity, have supported solar PV installations in many countries.

CPV/CSP (Concentrated Photo Voltaic or Concentrating Solar Power)

Concentrated solar power (CSP) are systems that use lenses or mirrors to concentrate a large
area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a small area. Electrical power is produced
when the concentrated light is converted to heat which drives a heat engine (usually a steam
turbine) connected to an electrical power generator. CSP should not be confused with
photovoltaics, where solar power is directly converted to electricity without the use of steam
turbines. The concentration of sunlight onto photovoltaic surfaces, similar to CSP, is known
as concentrated photovoltaics (CPV).
CHP (combined heat and power)
Cogeneration (also combined heat and power, CHP) is the use of a heat engine or a power
station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat. All power plants must emit
a certain amount of heat during electricity generation. This can be into the natural
environment through cooling towers, flue gas, or by other means. By contrast CHP captures
some or all of the by-product heat for heating purposes, either very close to the plant, or
especially in Scandinavia and eastern Europeas hot water for district heating with
temperatures ranging from approximately 80 to 130 C. This is also called Combined Heat
and Power District Heating or CHPDH. Small CHP plants are an example of decentralized
energy.

In the United States, Con Edison distributes 30 billion pounds of 350 F/180 C steam
each year through its seven cogeneration plants to 100,000 buildings in Manhattan
the biggest steam district in the United States. The peak delivery is 10 million pounds
per hour (corresponding to approx. 2.5 GW)

This steam distribution system is the reason for the steaming manholes often seen in
gritty New York movies. Other major cogeneration companies in the U.S. include
Recycled Energy Development.

Leading advocates include Tom Casten and Amory Lovins. By-product heat at
moderate temperatures (212-356F/100-180C) can also be used in absorption chillers
for cooling. A plant producing electricity, heat and cold is sometimes called
trigeneration or more generally: polygeneration plant. Cogeneration is a
thermodynamically efficient use of fuel. In separate production of electricity some
energy must be rejected as waste heat, but in cogeneration this thermal energy is put
to good use.

Sunlight Irradiance
Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation
given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earths atmosphere, and solar
radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. When the direct solar
radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light
and radiant heat. When it is blocked by the clouds or reflects off of other objects, it is
experienced as diffused light. The World Meteorological Organization uses the term
sunshine duration to mean the cumulative time during which an area receives direct
irradiance from the Sun of at least 120 watts per square meter.

Sunlight may be recorded using a sunshine recorder, pyranometer or pyrheliometer.

Sunlight takes about 8.3 minutes to reach the Earth. Direct sunlight has a luminous
efficacy of about 93 lumens per watt of radiant flux, which includes infrared, visible,
and ultraviolet light. Bright sunlight provides illuminance of approximately 100,000
lux or lumens per square meter at the Earths surface. Sunlight is a key factor in
photosynthesis, a process vital for life on Earth.

Peak sun hours

The equivalent number of hours per day when solar irradiance averages 1 kW/m2. For
example, six peak sun hours means that the energy received during total daylight hours equals
the energy that would have been received had the irradiance for six hours been 1 kW/m2.
ST Solar Thermal

Solar thermal energy (STE) is a technology for harnessing solar energy for thermal
energy (heat). Solar thermal collectors are classified by the USA Energy Information
Administration as low-, medium-, or high-temperature collectors. Low temperature
collectors are flat plates generally used to heat swimming pools. 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 electric power production. STE is
different from photovoltaics, which convert solar energy directly into electricity.
While only 600 megawatts of solar thermal power is up and running worldwide in
October 2009 according to Dr David Mills of Ausra, another 400 megawatts is under
construction and there are 14,000 megawatts of the more serious concentrating solar
thermal (CST) projects being developed.

Solar Stepper Motor Backlash

The motion control world has its jargon and buzzwords. Some are used interchangeably
leading to ambiguity and possible confusion. Backlash and stiffness are both important but
have different impacts, and those differences deserve attention. Backlash and stiffness are two
important properties associated with motion control systems. Backlash is a characteristic of a
mechanical drive system; clearances among the elements create slop when stationary, and
dead play during reversals. Stiffness, on the other hand, is a property of a mechanism or a
component and is simply the resistance to deformation or deflection when under a load.
Dual Axis Solar Tracker
Dual axis trackers have two degrees of freedom that act as axes of rotation. These axes are
typically normal to one another. The axis that is fixed with respect to the ground can be
considered a primary axis. The axis that is referenced to the primary axis can be considered a
secondary axis. There are several common implementations of dual axis trackers. They are
classified by the orientation of their primary axes with respect to the ground. Two common
implementations are Tip Tilt trackers and Azimuth-Altitude trackers. The orientation of the
module with respect to the tracker axis is important when modeling performance. Dual Axis
Trackers typically have modules oriented parallel to the secondary axis of rotation.
Tracker Azimuth

An Azimuth Altitude Dual Axis Tracker has its primary axis vertical to the ground. The
secondary axis is then typically normal to the primary axis. Field layouts must consider
shading to avoid unnecessary energy losses and to optimize land utilization. Also
optimization for dense packing is limited due to the nature of the shading over the course of a
year. This mount is used as a large telescope mount owing to its structure and dimensions.
One axis is a vertical pivot shaft or horizontal ring mount, that allows the device to be swung
to a compass point. The second axis is a horizontal elevation pivot mounted upon the azimuth
platform. By using combinations of the two axis, any location in the upward hemisphere may
be pointed. Such systems may be operated under computer control according to the expected
solar orientation, or may use a tracking sensor to control motor drives that orient the panels
toward the sun. This type of mount is also used to orient parabolic reflectors that mount a
Stirling engine to produce electricity at the device.
Solar Concentration Factor
Nonimaging optics achieves the widest possible angular field of view for a given geometric
concentration. As noted earlier, this permits useful concentration without tracking. Low to
moderate concentrations (1.1x=2x; in special cases, upto 4x) can be achieved with a totally
stationary (fixed year-round) collector. Slightly higher levels (~3x-10x) will usually require
occasional (seasonal) adjustment. Another advantage is that such systems collect a substantial
fraction of the diffuse component of isolation, much of which is lost in conventional
focusing concentrators.
Higher concentration(>10x-40,000x) will require tracking. However, with nonimaging
techniques, these levels can be attained with relaxed optics and tracking requirements. These
generally lead to simpler, less expensive, and more easily maintained concentrator systems.
This is particularly important for developing economical and cost-effective solar collector
systems. Furthermore, although the diffuse component of insulation cannot be collected at
these concentration levels,much more of the near-sun circumsolar radiation will be
concentrated with this approach.
In general, wherever concentration of sunlight is desired, nonimaging optics can achieve the
highest possible levels with the most relaxed optical tolerances. These in turn have great
potential for attaining economic viability for solar energy conversion in a wide variety of
applications, from rural applications in developing countries to very high-technology
applications, such as hydrogen production and laser pumping in space.
Multi-junction solar cells
Multi-Junction Solar Cells are the future of PV solar electricity generation. While the current
industry average for solar panels is 12-18% efficiency, the latest multi-junction cells already
offer efficiencies of 40% (for example, these 40% efficiency solar cells from Boeing
subsidiary Spectrolab). Common silicon PV solar cells can be understood by reading out
short introduction to PV solar cells. Basically photons of sun light hit the cell and are
absorbed and converted into electrical current. Around 85% of all solar cells manufacted
today are still made in this way with a p-n junction diode in a silicon wafer. Sunlight is made
up of a broad spectrum covering infrared to ultraviolet with visible light in between. Photons
of light have different energy levels depending on the wavelength of sunlight they are
carrying. Common silicon cells are designed to absorb visible light, however they do not do
so very well. High energy blue light photons do not have all of their energy converted into

electricity some is converted into electricity and the rest is wasted as heat. Low energy red
light photons on the other hand pass straight through the solar cell and are not absorbed at all.
Multi-Junction Solar Cells A solar cell made of just one material cannot be more than about
30% efficient in theory and below around 25% in practice. Therefore researchers came up
with multi-junction solar cells. A multi-junction solar cell is made up of a two or more layers
of semi-conductor material for example, one layer that can absorb blue light well, and a
second layer that can absorb red light well. The overall efficiency of this multi-junction solar
cell is therefore better than was possible when just one material was used. The ideal solar
cell in theory would have hundreds of different layers, each one tuned to a small range of
light wavelengths all the way from ultraviolet to infrared. Although this would lead to
fantastic efficiencies of over 70% it is not possible in practice due to difficulties in
manufacturing such complicated crystals. Therefore researchers have focussed their
attentions on multi-junction solar cells with just a few different layers and they are now
managing to reach efficiencies of 35-40% with improvements to come. The ordering of the
layers of a multi-junction solar device are decided by their individual band gaps i.e. the
wavelengths of light they will absorb. On the top closest to the sun goes the layer with the
largest band gap. Subsequent layers are then positioned in descending order of their band
gaps. The highest energy photons (e.g. ultra violet to blue light) are captured by the top layer,
and the bottom layer captures the lower energy photons (red to infra red) which pass through
the other layers.