Solar Power Technologies

The course content of “Solar Power Technologies” is designed for undergraduate and post-graduate students in the stream of energy to provide comprehensive knowledge about solar radiation, various technologies to harness solar energy in the form of thermal energy, solar thermal energy storage, concentrated solar power systems for thermal power generation, solar photovoltaic system design and grid integration, , concentrated photovoltaic, need for thermal management for concentrated photovoltaic, economic analysis of solar energy system. Further the course content will be dealt through practical examples and analytical problems. This content of the course will be useful for the students and researchers from various academic background to enhance the knowledge in the area of solar energy.

Syllabus

Week 1: Solar radiation outside the earth’s atmosphere, Solar radiation at the earth’s surface, Instruments for measuring solar radiation.

Week 2: Basic earth sun angles and derived sun angles, Determination of solar time, sunrise, sunset and daylength

Week 3: Technologies to harness solar energy – Liquid flat plate collectors and its energy balance, Solar air heaters.

Week 4: Solar dryer, Solar Pond, Solar distillation, Solar cooking, Solar green houses, Performance testing of solar collectors (Liquid flat plate collector and Solar air heaters)

Week 5: Concentrated solar power systems for thermal power generation – concentrating systems - medium and high temperature devices – Compact linear Fresnel reflectors, Solar parabolic trough,

Week 6: Solar power tower, Solar parabolic dish. Non-concentrating systems.

Week 7: Principle of photovoltaic conversions, Performance characteristics of a solar cell, Types of solar cells, Solar PV modules, arrays

Week 8: Batteries, Charge controllers, MPPT, Inverters, Wires, Types of solar PV systems.

Week 9: Design methodology for solar PV system, Grid -connected solar PV systems.

Week 10: Need for thermal energy storage, Size and duration of storage, thermal energy storage – Sensible heat storage, Storage in phase change materials, Storage in reversible chemical reactions

Week 11: Concentrated photovoltaic, CPV integrated solar parabolic dish and trough system. CPV integrated Frensel lens system, Issues and challenges of CPV, Thermal management of CPV

Week 12: Economic analysis of solar energy systems- Net present value concept, Pay -back period, Life cycle cost of the system, Cost benefit comparison.