Solar Power Analysis Under Varying Environmental Condition Using Solar Emulator

The current situation of fast depleting non-renewable resources and excessive damage done to mother earth due to severe mechanization and industrialization has resulted in alarming rate of pollutions. The one-word answer for it is that we should start harnessing renewable resources of energy. Tapping sun’s energy is a wonderful and apt answer to the current situation of energy requirement. World over this technology is worked upon to make use of sun’s energy easy to be converted into usable energy form i.e. electricity. The research work being carried on in varied fields however to mention one such aspect of solar panels is irradiance -receiving and capturing powers. Along with the irradiance, the area of a panel which is exposed to sun, the daytime and location are some of the factors affecting the amount of power generated using solar power as generating source. From research point of view, to analyze the effect of variation of these parameters, it is difficult to get the analysis data using solar panels and hence now a day’s emulator is preferred and used for research purposes. This paper focuses on the basics of emulator, its structure, functioning, effect of various parameter variations on the analysis of the generated power and other related benefits using emulator. The paper also presents the effect of partial shading on the maximum power generated and the efficiency hence obtained. The performance analysis is done on an Experimental set up fabricated in Research lab.

Presenting an Energy-Efficient Model for the Envelope of High-Rise Office Buildings Case Study: Cold and Dry Climate

The expansion of high-rise buildings and vertical cities has made room for a significant potential for large areas in the envelope (façade) of buildings to produce the required energy. This opens the opportunity to conduct research about the city of Mashhad-Iran. This study aims to provide an optimal model of the envelope of an office building and maximum utilization of sunlight in providing energy and indoor lighting in cold and dry climates. DesignBuilder software, version 6.1.0.006, to simulate the building and Energy plus 8.9 simulator engine was used to compare the amount of energy consumed, and electricity generated. We evaluated the data by the analytical-comparative method. The results showed that ,in one year, the energy produced by model number one (#1) (27.6%) and model number two (#2) (18.7%), among other simulated models with 15% efficiency (base efficiency rate) regarding all solar factors used in them, the amount of the electricity generated manifests a significant difference from the total electricity consumption of the building studied, assuming that the percentage of electricity supply with the actual efficiency of the proposed solar factors, are 17.99% and 17.88%, in model (#1) and model (#2). Once compared the given results of the models used for the photovoltaic panels, photovoltaic solar glasses, and the occupied area by them, a direct impact on the efficiency and energy generation of the building model envelope was seen. So, this study paves the road for further use of new technologies of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) for locations that have similar climate.