Why PV Modules should preferably not be oriented to the South and why we need new measurements of spectral radiance for the energy meteorology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunther Seckmeyer ◽  
Jens Duffert ◽  
Angelika Niedzwiedz ◽  
Riyad Mubarak

<p>PV modules tilted and oriented toward east and west directions gain gradually more importance as an alternative to the presently-preferred south (north in the Southern Hemisphere) orientation and it is shown to become economically superior even under the reimbursement of feed-in tariff (FIT). This is a consequence of the increasing spread between the decreasing costs of self-consumed solar power and the costs for power from the grid. One-minute values of irradiance were measured by silicon sensors at different orientations and tilt angles in Hannover (Germany) over three years. We show that south-oriented collectors give the highest electrical power during the day, whereas combinations of east and west orientations (E-W) result in the highest self-consumption rate (SC), and combinations of southeast and southwest (SE-SW) orientations result in the highest degree of autarky (AD), although they reduce the yearly PV Power by 5–6%. Moreover, the economic analysis of PV systems without FIT shows that the SE-SW and E-W combinations have the lowest electricity cost and they are more beneficial in terms of internal rate of return(IRR),compared to the S orientation at the same tilt. For PV systems with FIT, the S orientation presently provides the highest transfer of money from the supplier. However, as a consequence of the continuing decline of FIT, the economic advantage of S orientation is decreasing. E-W and SE-SW orientations are more beneficial for the owner as soon as FIT decreases to 7 Ct/kWh. East and west orientations of PV modules do not only have benefits for the individual owner but avoid high costs for storing energy—regardless who would own the storage facilities—and by avoiding high noon peaks of solar energy production during sunny periods,which would become an increasing problem for the grid if more solarpower is installed. Furthermore, two types of commonly used PV software (PVSOL and PVsyst) were used to simulate the system performance. The comparison with measurements showed that both PV software underestimate SC and AD for all studied orientations, leading to the conclusion that improvements are necessary in modelling. Such improvements, however, also require a better knowledge of the angular dependence of the spectral radiance under all sky conditions. Since the spectral radiance is complex and usually changes within seconds, we developed a new instrument capable of measuring the spectra of sky radiance in more than 100 directions within one second. First measurements with this novel instrument are shown. </p>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunther Seckmeyer

<p>PV modules tilted and oriented toward east and west directions gain gradually more importance as an alternative to the presently-preferred south (north in the Southern Hemisphere) orientation and it is shown to become economically superior even under the reimbursement of feed-in tariff (FIT). This is a consequence of the increasing spread between the decreasing costs of self-consumed solar power and the costs for power from the grid. One-minute values of irradiance were measured by silicon sensors at different orientations and tilt angles in Hannover (Germany) over three years. We show that south-oriented collectors give the highest electrical power during the day, whereas combinations of east and west orientations (E-W) result in the highest self-consumption rate (SC), and combinations of southeast and southwest (SE-SW) orientations result in the highest degree of autarky (AD), although they reduce the yearly PV Power by 5–6%. Moreover, the economic analysis of PV systems without FIT shows that the SE-SW and E-W combinations have the lowest electricity cost and they are more beneficial in terms of internal rate of return(IRR),compared to the S orientation at the same tilt. For PV systems with FIT, the S orientation presently provides the highest transfer of money from the supplier. However, as a consequence of the continuing decline of FIT, the economic advantage of S orientation is decreasing. E-W and SE-SW orientations are more beneficial for the owner as soon as FIT decreases to 7 Ct/kWh. East and west orientations of PV modules do not only have benefits for the individual owner but avoid high costs for storing energy—regardless who would own the storage facilities—and by avoiding high noon peaks of solar energy production during sunny periods,which would become an increasing problem for the grid if more solarpower is installed. Furthermore, two types of commonly used PV software (PVSOL and PVsyst) were used to simulate the system performance. The comparison with measurements showed that both PV software underestimate SC and AD for all studied orientations, leading to the conclusion that improvements are necessary in modelling. Such improvements, however, also require a better knowledge of the angular dependence of the spectral radiance under all sky conditions. Since the spectral radiance is complex and usually changes within seconds, we developed a new instrument capable of measuring the spectra of sky radiance in more than 100 directions within one second. First measurements with this novel instrument are shown.</p>


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 4528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riyad Mubarak ◽  
Eduardo Weide Luiz ◽  
Gunther Seckmeyer

PV modules tilted and oriented toward east and west directions gain gradually more importance as an alternative to the presently-preferred south (north in the Southern Hemisphere) orientation and it is shown to become economically superior even under the reimbursement of feed-in tariff (FIT). This is a consequence of the increasing spread between the decreasing costs of self-consumed solar power and the costs for power from the grid. One-minute values of irradiance were measured by silicon sensors at different orientations and tilt angles in Hannover (Germany) over three years. We show that south-oriented collectors give the highest electrical power during the day, whereas combinations of east and west orientations (E-W) result in the highest self-consumption rate (SC), and combinations of southeast and southwest (SE-SW) orientations result in the highest degree of autarky (AD), although they reduce the yearly PV Power by 5–6%. Moreover, the economic analysis of PV systems without FIT shows that the SE-SW and E-W combinations have the lowest electricity cost and they are more beneficial in terms of internal rate of return (IRR), compared to the S orientation at the same tilt. For PV systems with FIT, the S orientation presently provides the highest transfer of money from the supplier. However, as a consequence of the continuing decline of FIT, the economic advantage of S orientation is decreasing. E-W and SE-SW orientations are more beneficial for the owner as soon as FIT decreases to 7 Ct/kWh. East and west orientations of PV modules do not only have benefits for the individual owner but avoid high costs for storing energy—regardless who would own the storage facilities—and by avoiding high noon peaks of solar energy production during sunny periods, which would become an increasing problem for the grid if more solar power is installed. Furthermore, two types of commonly used PV software (PVSOL and PVsyst) were used to simulate the system performance. The comparison with measurements showed that both PV software underestimate SC and AD for all studied orientations, leading to the conclusion that improvements are necessary in modelling.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2308
Author(s):  
Kamran Ali Khan Niazi ◽  
Yongheng Yang ◽  
Tamas Kerekes ◽  
Dezso Sera

Partial shading affects the energy harvested from photovoltaic (PV) modules, leading to a mismatch in PV systems and causing energy losses. For this purpose, differential power processing (DPP) converters are the emerging power electronic-based topologies used to address the mismatch issues. Normally, PV modules are connected in series and DPP converters are used to extract the power from these PV modules by only processing the fraction of power called mismatched power. In this work, a switched-capacitor-inductor (SCL)-based DPP converter is presented, which mitigates the non-ideal conditions in solar PV systems. A proposed SCL-based DPP technique utilizes a simple control strategy to extract the maximum power from the partially shaded PV modules by only processing a fraction of the power. Furthermore, an operational principle and loss analysis for the proposed converter is presented. The proposed topology is examined and compared with the traditional bypass diode technique through simulations and experimental tests. The efficiency of the proposed DPP is validated by the experiment and simulation. The results demonstrate the performance in terms of higher energy yield without bypassing the low-producing PV module by using a simple control. The results indicate that achieved efficiency is higher than 98% under severe mismatch (higher than 50%).


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2982
Author(s):  
Richard Dworak ◽  
Yinghui Liu ◽  
Jeffrey Key ◽  
Walter N. Meier

An effective blended Sea-Ice Concentration (SIC) product has been developed that utilizes ice concentrations from passive microwave and visible/infrared satellite instruments, specifically the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-2 (AMSR2) and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). The blending takes advantage of the all-sky capability of the AMSR2 sensor and the high spatial resolution of VIIRS, though it utilizes only the clear sky characteristics of VIIRS. After both VIIRS and AMSR2 images are remapped to a 1 km EASE-Grid version 2, a Best Linear Unbiased Estimator (BLUE) method is used to combine the AMSR2 and VIIRS SIC for a blended product at 1 km resolution under clear-sky conditions. Under cloudy-sky conditions the AMSR2 SIC with bias correction is used. For validation, high spatial resolution Landsat data are collocated with VIIRS and AMSR2 from 1 February 2017 to 31 October 2019. Bias, standard deviation, and root mean squared errors are calculated for the SICs of VIIRS, AMSR2, and the blended field. The blended SIC outperforms the individual VIIRS and AMSR2 SICs. The higher spatial resolution VIIRS data provide beneficial information to improve upon AMSR2 SIC under clear-sky conditions, especially during the summer melt season, as the AMSR2 SIC has a consistent negative bias near and above the melting point.


2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustaw Mazurek

Abstract Estimation of Global Tilted Irradiation (GTI) is a key to performance assessment of typical solar systems since they usually employ tilted photovoltaic (PV) modules or collectors. Numerous solar radiation databases can deliver irradiation values both on horizontal and tilted plane, however they are validated mostly with horizontal-plane ground measurements. In this paper we have compared GTI estimates retrieved from five Internet databases with results of measurements at two PV systems located in Poland. Our work shows that in spite of good agreement in annual scale, there is a tendency to underestimate GTI in summer and overestimate in winter, when PV modules can receive less than a half of expected irradiation. The latter issue affects sizing of PV system components and implies a correction needed to achieve all-year long operation.


2006 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. T. Naveed ◽  
E. C. Kang ◽  
E. J. Lee

The electrical power generated by a polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) module mounted on an unglazed transpired solar collector (UTC) has been studied and compared to that of a PV module without UTC for a quantitative analysis of electrical output and its role in reducing the simple payback periods of photovoltaic electrical systems. A 75W polycrystalline silicon PV module was fixed on an UTC in front of the ventilation fan, and effectiveness of cooling by means of the forced ventilation at the rate of 160CFM was monitored. The temperature reduction under forced ventilation was in the range of 3-9°C with a 5% recovery in the electrical output power on a typical day of the month of February 2005. The simulated and measured electrical power outputs are in reasonable agreement with root-mean-square error of 2.40. The life cycle assessment of a hypothetical PV system located at Daejeon, South Korea and consisting of 3kW PV modules fixed on a 50m2 UTC shows that with a possible reduction of 3-9°C in the operating temperatures, the system requires three 75W fewer PV modules. The simple payback period of PV system is reduced from 23yearsto15years when integrated into an UTC air heating system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 30-33
Author(s):  
Sourabh Kedar ◽  
Mr. Santosh Singh Negi

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have mainly been used in the past decade. Inverter-powered photovoltaic grid topologies are widely used to meet electricity demand and to integrate forms of renewable energy into power grids. Meeting the growing demand for electricity is a major challenge today. This paper provides a detailed overview of the topological trend of inverters with connection to the photovoltaic grid, as well as the advantages, disadvantages and main characteristics of the individual inverters. For proper integration into a network, coordination between the supporting devices used for reactive power compensation and their optimal reactive power capacity for grid current stability is important.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aron Gauti Laxdal

The overreaching aim of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of the students’ perceptions of the learning environment in upper secondary school physical education, with special focus on marginalized subgroups. More specifically, the intention was to explore whether students perceived their learning environment differently depending on their teachers’ gender, the learning support they received or the perceived competence they had. Despite the learning environment being a well-researched phenomenon in the more academic school subjects, there was a substantial knowledge gap concerning its influence in physical education. The individual works that form this ensemble aimed to occlude some of those gaps. In an effort to achieve the aforementioned aims, a new instrument measuring teacher learning support in the physical education context was also constructed and validated. The chosen methodology for the thesis was cross-sectional, comprising of a multicomponent self-report questionnaire. The data was analyzed using various analytical tools, including structural modeling analysis and MANCOVA between group comparisons. The participants were 1133 upper secondary school students (Mage = 17.2, SD = 0.86) from Norway (n = 554) and Iceland (n = 579), and 17 Norwegian PE teachers (11 males, 6 females). The sampling of participants was performed using a stratified procedure representing both urban, suburban and rural settlements. Multiple steps were taken to ensure adequate sample representability. The collective results of the individual papers indicate that the current organizational trends in PE are more in line with the needs of the highly competent students, and less so with the needs of the less competent students. This tendency intensifies the differences between these groups and may be one of the primary drivers behind the negative relationship between age and appreciation for the subject. Further, the students do not appear to be self- regulating their learning to the same extent as they are in other subjects, despite the teachers efforts to facilitate the behavior. The cause of this discrepancy likely being PE’s reputation as a recreational subject, underlined by the absence of homework and the playful nature of the lessons. Additionally, the role of the teacher’s gender in influencing the PE experience seems to be exaggerated. Gender matching and positive discrimination of female PE teachers are therefore unlikely to improve the learning environment of female students. The concluding recommendations are multitudinous and include suggestions to all the stakeholders of the subject. They include an appeal to the policymakers to rely more heavily on the body of research when implementing or adjusting policy, a plea to the teaching institutions educating the physical education teachers to emphasize formative teaching practices to a greater extent in their program, in order to promote learning behavior, and a call to the physical education teachers to address the various challenges related to the less interested and less competent students by reducing the benefits of sporting experience and ameliorating the current curriculum implementations by introducing more non-traditional sports and activities.


Author(s):  
Barton Byg

This chapter focuses on the three major themes that have helped make the integration between East and West German documentary filmmakers successful and have contributed new strengths to German independent documentary as a productive and innovative enterprise. It first illustrates the phenomenon of collaboration between filmmakers from both East and West Germany, which preceded the fall of the Berlin Wall and provides the basis for unique accomplishments in documentary. Then, partly based on these East–West collaborations, it discuss examples of German documentary's frequent explorations of non-European topics, which challenge the clear separation of European and non-European in both politics and film art. Here, the film collaborations between Helga Reidemeister and Lars Barthel will serve as a case study. Finally, also as a result of decades of experimentation with the nature of the film medium's presentation of ‘reality’, ‘history’, and the individual human subject, Thomas Heise's German ‘portrait film’ Barluschke (1997) is explored as an example of this defining quality of independent German documentary filmmaking in the context of the post-Cold War.


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