scholarly journals The uncertainties involved in measuring national solar photovoltaic electricity generation

2022 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. 112000
Author(s):  
O.T. Huxley ◽  
J. Taylor ◽  
A. Everard ◽  
J. Briggs ◽  
K. Tilley ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sándor Szabó ◽  
Irene Pinedo Pascua ◽  
Daniel Puig ◽  
Magda Moner-Girona ◽  
Mario Negre ◽  
...  

AbstractLack of access to modern forms of energy hampers efforts to reduce poverty. The provision of electricity to off-grid communities is therefore a long-standing developmental goal. Yet, many off-grid electrification projects neglect mid- and long-term operation and maintenance costs. When this is the case, electricity services are unlikely to be affordable to the communities that are the project’s primary target. Here we show that, compared with diesel-powered electricity generation systems, solar photovoltaic systems are more affordable to no less than 36% of the unelectrified populations in East Asia, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. We do so by developing geo-referenced estimates of affordability at a high level of resolution (1 km2). The analysis illustrates the differences in affordability that may be found at the subnational level, which underscores that electrification investments should be informed by subnational data.


2022 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qusay Hassan ◽  
Saadoon Abdul Hafedh ◽  
Ali Hasan ◽  
Marek Jaszczur

Abstract The study evaluates the visibility of solar photovoltaic power plant construction for electricity generation based on a 20 MW capacity. The assessment was performed for four main cities in Iraq by using hourly experimental weather data (solar irradiance, wind speed, and ambient temperature). The experimental data was measured for the period from 1st January to 31st December of the year 2019, where the simulation process was performed at a 1 h time step resolution at the same resolution as the experimental data. There are two positionings considered for solar photovoltaic modules: (i) annual optimum tilt angle and (ii) two-axis tracking system. The effect of the ambient temperature and wind on the overall system energy generated was taken into consideration. The study is targeted at evaluating the potential solar energy in Iraq and the viability of electricity generation using a 20 MW solar photovoltaic power plant. The results showed that the overall performance of the suggested power plant capacity is highly dependent on the solar irradiance intensity and the ambient temperature with wind speed. The current 20 MW solar photovoltaic power plant capacity shows the highest energy that can be generated in the mid-western region and the lowest in the northeast regions. The greatest influence of the ambient temperature on the energy genrated by power plants is observed in the southern regions.


Author(s):  
P. J. Escamilla-Ambrosio ◽  
M. A. Ramírez-Salinas ◽  
O. Espinosa-Sosa ◽  
G. Gallegos-García ◽  
M. Morales-Olea ◽  
...  

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 5502
Author(s):  
Dominic Samoita ◽  
Charles Nzila ◽  
Poul Alberg Østergaard ◽  
Arne Remmen

Currently, Kenya depends mainly on oil, geothermal energy and hydro resources for electricity production, however all three have associated issues. Oil-based electricity generation is environmentally harmful, expensive and a burden to the national trade balance. The rivers for hydropower and their tributaries are found in arid and semi-arid areas with erratic rainfall leading to problems of supply security, and geothermal exploitation has cost and risk issues amongst others. Given these problems and the fact that Kenya has a significant yet underexploited potential for photo voltaic (PV)-based power generation, the limited—although growing—exploitation of solar PV in Kenya is explored in this paper as a means of diversifying and stabilising electricity supply. The potential for integration of PV into the Kenyan electricity generation mix is analysed together with the sociotechnical, economic, political, and institutional and policy barriers, which limit PV integration. We argue that these barriers can be overcome with improved and more robust policy regulations, additional investments in research and development, and improved coordination of the use of different renewable energy sources. Most noticeably, storage solutions and other elements of flexibility need to be incorporated to balance the intermittent character of electricity generation based on solar PV.


2018 ◽  
Vol 175 ◽  
pp. 65-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abel ◽  
Tracey Holloway ◽  
Monica Harkey ◽  
Arber Rrushaj ◽  
Greg Brinkman ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Kazuaki Yazawa ◽  
Ali Shakouri

We conducted an analytic study of concentrated solar photovoltaic and hot water co-generation based on various solar cell technologies and micro channel heat sinks. By co-optimizing the electricity generation and heat transport in the system, one can minimize the cost of the key materials and compare different tradeoffs as a function of concentration ratio or other parameters. Concentrated solar Photovoltaic (PV) based on multi junction cells can yield around 35–40% efficiency. They are suitable for high photon energy flux and they are already available in the market. However, due to high heat fluxes at large concentrations, such as 100–1000 Suns, heat sinks could be costly in terms of material mass, space, energy for pumping fluid, and system complexity. In addition, since the efficiency of solar cells decreases as the ambient temperature increases, there is a tradeoff between electricity and hot water cogeneration. Similar to our previous analysis of thermoelectric (TE) and hot water co-generation, PV/solar thermal system is also optimized. The results are compared with thermoelectric systems as a function of the concentration ratio. The solar concentrated co-generation system using either PV or TE for direct electricity generation collects more than 80% of solar energy when it is optimized. We calculate the overall cost minima as a function of concentration ratio. Although there are some differences between PV and TE, the optimum concentration ratio for the system is in the range of 100–300 Suns for both.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Faiman

ABSTRACTThe paper argues that solar photovoltaic or wind systems would need to be implemented at a rate of hundreds of gigawatts each year to obviate the continuing worldwide growth of fossil-fueled electricity generation. It suggests that an electricity consumption tax could constitute a sustainable mechanism for funding such an endeavor.It is observed that the atmospheric content of carbon dioxide rose by approximately 16 Gt in 2012. A non-negligible contribution to this increase must surely have come from the 35 Gt of CO2 emitted by fossil fuel consumption that year, of which 11 Gt came from fossil-fueled electricity generation (FFEG). Yet, new FFEG plants continue to be built. Although it is questionable whether economic forces would permit a halt to the construction of such plants, it is argued that, from the perspectives of technology, manufacturing capability, land availability, and cost, it could be feasible to use solar photovoltaic and wind plants to provide for the annual increase in the worldwide need for electricity. However, the required capital expenditure cost of approximately US$ 0.5 trillion per year might be difficult to raise by conventional methods for funding renewable energy plants. A number of alternative funding mechanisms are examined. Among them, an electricity consumption tax is found to be capable of providing an assured amount of regular funding on this scale. In North America and Europe, such a tax would add approximately 1 US¢/kWh to present electricity tariffs. In other regions, it would amount to an addition of 2–5 US¢/kWh.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document