Review of the maximum power point tracking algorithms for stand-alone photovoltaic systems

Solar photovoltaics is ready to power a sustainable future

Life prediction of batteries for selecting the technically most suitable and cost effective battery

Operation conditions of batteries in PV applications

Grid-independent hybrid renewable energy systems (HRESs), being eco-friendly and cost effective, are turning out to be more effective option for the rural areas where grid power availability is poor. This paper presents the techno-economic analysis and optimum design of a HRES, as proposed to meet out the residential and agricultural electric load requirements of an energy poor community of Yamunanagar district in the State of Haryana, India. Three different optimal configurations, viz. wind/battery, PV/battery and wind/PV/battery are compared in respect of net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE) to determine most economically viable option. For economic analysis and optimum sizing, all the necessary modelling and simulation is carried out using HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable) software. From the simulation results, it is established that wind/PV/battery based HRES is the most cost-effective configuration for the specific location this investigation is about and also the optimum sizes of the different components are obtained. Further, for technical analysis, a MATLAB/Simulink model of the optimized system is built and its effectiveness is demonstrated in terms of maintaining active power balance between the different components of HRES as well as keeping DC link voltage (VDC) and output AC voltage constant, irrespective of variations in solar irradiance, wind speed and connected load. The novelty of this work lies in using both HOMER and MATLAB simulation tools sequentially to carry out techno-economic analysis of the proposed HRES and validate the proposition.

Techno-economic analysis of a hybrid renewable energy system for an energy poor rural community

Implementation of agrophotovoltaics: Techno-economic analysis of the price-performance ratio and its policy implications

Combining agriculture and photovoltaics on the same land area gains in attention and political support in a growing number of countries accompanied by notable research activities in France, USA and Korea, amongst others. This study assesses the technical feasibility of agrivoltaic (APV), while it gives insights on how to design an APV system. Furthermore, it analyses the electrical yield and the behavior and productivity of four crops grown in Germany's largest agrivoltaic research facility installed in 2016 near Lake Constance within the research project APV-RESOLA by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. The German design differs from most other agrivoltaic approaches by allowing for a wide range of machine employment, facilitated by a vertical clearance of 5 m and a width clearance of up to 19 m. Crops cultivated under the APV system and on the reference field under a crop rotation scheme include potato, celeriac, clover grass and winter wheat. The land use efficiency measured by the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) indicated a rise between 56% and 70% in 2017 while the dry and hot summer in 2018 demonstrated that the agrivoltaic system could increase land productivity by nearly 90%. Radiation simulations showed that deviating from full south by around 30° resulted in equal distribution of radiation on ground level, representing the basis for the agrivoltaic design. Considering climate change and increasing land scarcity, our overall results suggest a high potential of agrivoltaics as a viable and efficient technology to address major challenges of the 21rst century.

Combining food and energy production: Design of an agrivoltaic system applied in arable and vegetable farming in Germany

Analysis of the performance parameters of lead/acid batteries in photovoltaic systems

Energy storage in photovoltaic stand-alone energy supply systems

In the last two decades many states introduced renewable energy policies to support climate change mitigation. For this reason the global photovoltaic (PV) market has grown substantially. In particular the market share of ground mounted PV installations is globally increasing and already today considerable large (REN21, 2012; EPIA, 2012). Through this development a conflict in land use between the energy and agricultural sectors emerged, where food production/security competes with energy production/security. With increasing renewable energy deployment, awareness of the energy-food-conflict is increasing, too, and yet, a vast majority of studies available focus on electricity production from biomass when assessing this conflict. Hardly any studies can be found on the conflict between PV and agriculture, even though this issue had been addressed already long ago (Goetzberger, 1982). In this paper, we suggest developing an innovative PV system technology allowing simultaneous production of solar electricity and agricultural goods. We suggest calling this new technology an Agrophotovoltaic (APV) system. Optimized elevated APV systems permitting agricultural production will effectively and efficiently endorse sustainable land use and thus diminish (or even eliminate) the aforementioned conflict between the energy and agricultural sectors. 2010, in Germany, to solve this intersectoral conflict, PV dissemination regulation was altered by the legislator and support for ground mounted PV limited to land areas in conversion, such as former military bases or former landfill areas, as well as to land areas along transportation routes, such as railway lines or motorways. APV may relieve the PV industry by bringing ground mounted systems out of the niche, back into the mainstream PV market.

Georg Bopp

Papers

Implementation of agrophotovoltaics: Techno-economic analysis of the price-performance ratio and its policy implications

Combining food and energy production: Design of an agrivoltaic system applied in arable and vegetable farming in Germany

Analysis of the performance parameters of lead/acid batteries in photovoltaic systems

Energy storage in photovoltaic stand-alone energy supply systems

Agrophotovoltaic – Agricultural Production Below Optimized Elevated Photovoltaic Systems.