Smart Grid and Renewable Energy 

About: Smart Grid and Renewable Energy is an academic journal published by Scientific Research Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Photovoltaic system & Renewable energy. It has an ISSN identifier of 2151-481X. It is also open access. Over the lifetime, 349 publications have been published receiving 3707 citations.

Critical Factors that Affecting Efficiency of Solar Cells

Abstract: A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device which generates electricity directly from visible light. However, their efficiency is fairly low. So, the solar cell costs expensive according to other energy resources products. Several factors affect solar cell efficiency. This paper presents the most important factors that affecting efficiency of solar cells. These effects are cell temperature, MPPT (maximum power point tracking) and energy conversion efficiency. The changing of these factors improves solar cell efficiency for more reliable applications.

Comparison and Simulation of Building Thermal Models for Effective Energy Management

Abstract: Energy consumption reduction efforts in the residential buildings sector represent socio-economical, technological and environmental preoccupations which justify advanced scientific research. These lead to use inverse models to describe thermal behavior and to evaluate the energy consumption of buildings. Their principal goal is to provide supporting evidence of enhanced energy performances and predictions. More specifically, research questions are related to building thermal modeling which is the most appropriate in a smart grid context. In this context, the models are reviewed according to three categories. The first category is based on physical and basic principle modeling (white-box). The second offers a much simpler structure which is the statistical models (black-box). The black-box is used for prediction of energy consumption and heating/ cooling demands. Finally, the third category is a hybrid method (grey-box), which uses both physical and statistical modeling techniques. In this paper, we propose a detailed review and simulation of the main thermal building models. Our comparison and simulation results demonstrate that the grey-box is the most effective model for management of buildings energy consumption.

Optimal Configuration for Design of Stand-Alone PV System

Abstract: This paper presents a design for a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) system to provide the required electricity for a single residential household in rural area in Jordan. The complete design steps for the suggested household loads are carried out. Site radiation data and the electrical load data of a typical household in the considered site are taken into account during the design steps. The reliability of the system is quantified by the loss of load probability. A computer program is developed to simulate the PV system behavior and to numerically find an optimal combination of PV array and battery bank for the design of stand-alone photovoltaic systems in terms of reliability and costs. The program calculates life cycle cost and annualized unit electrical cost. Simulations results showed that a value of loss of load probability LLP can be met by several combinations of PV array and battery storage. The method developed here uniquely determines the optimum configuration that meets the load demand with the minimum cost. The difference between the costs of these combinations is very large. The optimal unit electrical cost of 1 kWh for LLP = 0.049 is $0.293; while for LLP 0.0027 it is $0.402. The results of the study encouraged the use of the PV systems to electrify the remote sites in Jordan.

Smart Grid: An Overview

Abstract: This paper briefly discusses evolution of Smart Grid development. Smart Grid is important as it will take us towards energy independence and environmentally sustainable economic growth. Growth of Smart Power Grid in India will slowly but surely take us towards fulfilling the dreams of former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, “Energy for all and Energy forever”.

Estimation of Hourly Solar Radiation on Horizontal and Inclined Surfaces in Western Himalayas

Abstract: The hourly solar radiation data required for solar energy system design evaluation and performance studies is gener-ally not available for a number of sites especially in remote locations. As such accurate determination of hourly solar radiation data, is important both at horizontal; surfaces and inclined surfaces. A model to estimate global solar radiation using temperature and sunshine hour data has been developed (Chandel et al. [1]) which is used to calculate the hourly solar radiation Data. The hourly solar radiation has also been calculated using Gueymard [2] daily integration approach from the measured daily solar radiation data. These two predicted hourly solar radiation data values are compared with measured hourly values to test the accuracy of the models. The total solar radiation on the inclined surfaces and vertical surfaces for different orientations, have also been estimated. The estimated values are found to be in close agreement with measured values. The method presented can be used to estimate hourly, global, diffuse solar radiation for horizontal surfaces and total solar radiation on inclined and vertical surfaces at different orientations with greater accuracy for any location.