Report for the subject

REAL TIME POWER SYSTEMS(UEE634)

On

DESIGN OF ROOFTOP PHOTO-VOLTAIC SYSTEM

Submitted by:
Aniket Babuta
101704024
ELE- 1

THAPAR INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

(Deemed to be University)
PATIALA – 147004, PUNJAB, INDIA
January – May 2020
Date of submission: 30/04/2020
Abstract The worldwide decline of fossil fuel supplies has
prompted an urgent search for alternative energy sources
to meet the demands of the present day. Solar energy
among the numerous renewable energy options is clean,
inexhaustible, environmentally friendly and a potential re-
source The amount of solar radiation incident significantly
influences the electricity produced by the PV systems. The
photovoltaic(PV) systems are used directly from the sun
to receive electrical energy. This project report proposes a
modeling and simulation approach for photovoltaic (PV)
system. The main objective here is to achieve a circuit-
based simulation model of a Photovoltaic (PV) cell with
the goal of estimating the functional cell’s electrical be-
havior with respect to changes in environmental param-
eters such as irradiation and temperature. The model is
simulated for academic block of Thapar Institute of Engi-
neering and Technology(TIET) with respect to the energy
consumption of the academic block E and F according
the average irradiance and temperature in Patiala, Punjab.
This report also discusses different configurations of solar
PV systems like, grid-connected, stand-alone which are
either on ground surface or on rooftop. Further I-V and
P-V characteristic curves are analysed in this report.
Keywords Photovoltaic(PV) system, solar radiation data
1 INTRODUCTION
The use of solar energy is a now a necessity. Increased eco-
nomic growth has brought significant increase in energy
demand in view of the global energy scenario. Conven-
tional energy sources such as oil, coal, natural gas etc. are
being utilized at a faster pace to meet the growing demand
for electricity. Such sources are extensive, and vanish in
the future, so there is an energy security issue. This also
causes environmental problems like global warming be-
cause they become more polluting. Therefore, renewable
resources which have been harvested worldwide for a long
time or in exhaustive, safer and cheaper manner. Solar
energy has enormous potential on Earth, and is a renew-
able energy source. Its usage has been growing day by
day and policymakers have been formulating new policies
to encourage a greater use of solar energy. Solar energy
is obtained in various forms, such as direct heating us-
age, which is known as solar thermal and converted to
electricity using photovoltaic solar. Solar photovoltaic
systems have separate, grid-connected, stand-alone con-
figurations that are either on ground surface or on rooftop.
The power produced by a single module is seldom enough
1
for ommercial use, so modules are connected to form ar-
ray to supply the load. The connection of the modules in
an array is same as that of cells in a module. Modules can
also be connected in series to get an increased voltage or
in parallel to get an increased current [1].
The voltage and current available at the terminals of a PV
device may directly feed small loads such as lighting sys-
tems and DC motors. More sophisticated applications re-
quire electronic converters to process the electricity from
the PV device. These converters may be used to regulate
the voltage and current at the load, to control the power
flow in grid connected systems. The efficiency of a PV
device is dependent on the spectral distribution of solar
radiation. The evaluation of PV devices is generally done
with reference to a standard spectral distribution. Usually
we specify standard conditions. This is done so that a com-
parison on the basis of performance between different PV
cells can be done. The parameters are generally given in
a datasheet. The datasheets provide remarkable parame-
ters regarding the performance and characteristics of PV
arrays with respect to these standard test conditions.
In this assignment report, a simplified PV equivalent cir-
cuit is proposed and the I-V characteristics and theory of
maximum power point are disccussed. Simulations are
done in Matlab Simulink. The report contains various
sections as discussed below.
2 SOLAR ENERGY SCENARIO
The world mainly depends on fossil fuels like petroleum,
coal and natural gas to meet its most of energy needs. As
per the world energy statics data published by the EIA in
2015, over 80% of the total global energy requirements is
met by oil, natural gas and coal. Based on the trends in
energy consumption with overall economic growth, the
estimated rise in worlds total energy consumption will be
12,487 Mtoe annually by 2040. The emission standards
are also becoming more and more strict and precise. India
needs a sustained growth rate of 8-9% over the next twenty
years to meet its growth objective. This implies that it will
need to increase its primary energy supply by a factor of
three to four and to the electricity generation by a factor of
five to six. India receives nearly 300 to 330 days of solar en-
ergy and there is a large potential available for generating
solar power using unutilized space on rooftops of individ-
ual houses, industrial buildings, educational institutions
or any other type of buildings can be used to partly fulfill
the requirement of the building occupants and surplus, if
any, can be fed into the grid [2]. ings, residential complexes etc. It generates power during
day hours so that the generated power can be utilized by
loads and the excess power is supplied to the grid. If solar
power is not sufficient i.e. during monsoons and rainy
days loads can be served by the power supplied from the
grid. The grid interactive rooftop solar PV systems thus
work on ‘net-metering’ basis wherein the beneficiary pays
to the utility on net meter reading basis only [3].

Figure 1: Capacity addition targets under 100GW solar Figure 2: India’s installed solar PV capacity
scale up plan

The worlds solar PV installed capacity as of the end of year

2015 were at 227 GW of which the 50 GW capacity addition 3 HOW A PV CELL WORKS
in the year 2015 itself. China, Germany, Japan and USA
have vast new installation in the year 2015. With this the
A photovoltaic cell is basically a semiconductor diode
china has topped the list in total solar installation around
whose p–n junction is exposed to light. Photovoltaic cells
the world while the Germany, Japan and USA stood at sec-
are made of several types of semiconductors using differ-
ond, third and fourth number respectively. For the first
ent manufacturing processes. The monocrystalline and
time India came in the top 10 countries ranked ninth in re-
polycrystalline silicon cells are the only found at commer-
newable capacity installation. With such fast revolution in
cial scale at the present time. Silicon PV cells are com-
solar power technology in coming years, the total installed
posed of a thin layer of bulk Si or a thin Si film connected
capacity in 2019 would reach an approximate to 450 GW.
to electric terminals. One of the sides of the Si layer is
Geographically India lies in the high solar insolation re-
doped to form the p–n junction. A thin metallic grid is
gion and therefore has got huge solar energy potential. In
placed on the Sun-facing surface of the semiconductor.
most part of the country there are about 300 sunny days
Fig. 2 roughly illustrates the physical structure of a PV cell.
per year with an annual mean daily global solar irradiance
in the range of 5-7 kWh/m 2 /day. The total estimated solar
potential of the county is approximately 748.98 GW as esti-
mated by National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE). At the
World Future Energy Summit (WFES) held in Abu Dhabi in
January 2018, the government of India announced the set-
ting up of a $350 million solar development fund to enable
financing of solar projects. So the best suitable long term
design solution for India would be a highly distributed set
of individual rooftop power generation systems connected
through a local grid. Thus a rooftop solar PV system could
be with or, without having grid interaction. In grid interac- Figure 3: Working of PV cell
tive system, the DC power generated from solar PV panels
is converted to AC power using power conditioning unit Working of a PV cell is based on the basic principle of pho-
and is then given to the grid either of 11 KV three phase toelectric effect. Photoelectric effect can be defined as a
line or, of 220V single-phase on the basis of the system phenomenon in which an electron gets ejected from the
that has installed at various places like commercial build- conduction band as a consequence of the absorption of

2
sunlight of a certain wavelength by the matter (metallic or
non-metallic solids, liquids or gases).So, in a photovoltaic
cell, when sunlight strikes its surface, some portion of the
solar energy is absorbed in the semiconductor material.
If absorbed energy is greater than the band gap energy of
the semiconductor, the electron from valence band jumps
to the conduction band. By this, pairs of hole-electrons
are created in the illuminated region of the semiconduc-
tor. The electrons thus created in the conduction band Figure 5: Grid-connected photovoltaic system.
are now free to move. These free electrons are forced to
move in a particular direction by the action of electric field
present in the PV cells. These flowing electrons constitutes 4.2 S TAND -A LONE PV S YSTEM
current and can be drawn for external use by connecting a
metal plate on top and bottom of PV cell. This current and The stand-alone PV systems are designed to operate in-
the voltage (created because of its built-in electric fields) dependent of utility grid. In this type of systems the vari-
produces required power [4]. ous configuration are found as direct coupled, with stor-
age and charge controller and hybrid PV systems. The
schematic of direct-coupled PV system is shown in Fig.
6. It is the simplest type of stand-alone system where PV
array output is directly connected to DC load; there is no
storage and controller. So, these systems operate during
sunlight hours. These systems are suitable for loads such
as ventilation fans, water pumps, and small circulation
pumps for solar thermal water heating systems. A typi-

Figure 4: Photovoltaic Hierarchy

Figure 6: Direct coupled PV systems

4 TYPES OF SOLAR PV SYSTEMS
cal stand-alone PV system powering DC and AC loads are
Solar Photovoltaics convert daylight into electricity and shown in above Fig. 7. It consists of a battery storage and
can be used in Grid-Tied Solar PV Systems where renew- charge controller.
able electricity is fed directly into the properties power
supply, excess electricity being exported (sold) to energy
companies using the National Grid and in Off-Grid situa-
tions where electricity is generated and stored in batteries
for use locally. A detailed description of the analysis and
the validation of the scale are given in the following sec-
tion.

4.1 G RID -C ONNECTED PV S YSTEM

These systems are designed to operate in parallel and
interconnected with utility grid. The schematic of grid-
connected PV system is shown in below Fig. 5. A bidi-
rectional power flow interface is made at site to supply
electrical load at site and pumps extra power into the grid.
The Power conditioning unit takes care of power conver-
sion and power quality of supply [5].
Figure 7: Stand-alone PV system with battery storage pow-
ering DC and AC loads
A typical hybrid PV system configuration is shown in be-
low Fig. 8. In this the solar PV array and an auxiliary source
like wind generator and or diesel generator and or a utility
grid is used to supply load. The hybrid systems are more
reliable as compared to other described above. The con-

3
trollers like Maximum Power Point Tracking(MPPT) are
used to utilize the maximum array capacity and increase
the efficiency of system .

Figure 9: Annual Temperature Pattern of Patiala

Figure 8: Hybrid PV system

by Karam Chand Thapar. The Patiala lies on 254m above

sea level The climate in Patiala is referred to as a local
4.3 G RID C ONNECTED RTPV steppe climate. During the year, there is little rainfall in
The rooftop solar photovoltaic (RTPV) grid connected Patiala. This climate is considered to be BSh according
models available in commercial market are broadly clas- to the Köppen-Geiger climate ◦
classification. The average
sified into two categories as Gross-metering and Net- annual temperature is 24.5 C | 76.1◦ F in Patiala. In a year,
metering [6]. the rainfall is 754 mm | 29.7 inch. It is observed that the
month of December produced the lowest solar radiation.
Considering the monthly peaks, the average peak output
4.3.1 G ROSS M ETERING is calculated from where as estimate of the possible plant
rating is made. The methodology adopted seems satis-
In gross-metering arrangement all the energy generated
factory for determining the possible plant capacity for an
from rooftop solar PV is fed to the grid at a Feed-in-Tariff
arbitrarily chosen area. From the calculations we found
as per state electricity regulatory policy. A Power Purchase
a solar photovoltaic power plant of capacity 9 KW can be
Agreement is signed between the distribution utility and
achieved in Patiala over an available area of 100m 2 .
the system owner. The system installation can be done
either by roof owner or by a third party player. The instal-
lation done by roof owner termed as Self-owned and the
third party installation is done with roof rent agreement
with roof owner [7].

4.3.2 N ET-M ETERING

In net-metering arrangement the energy generated is first

consumed by system owner internally and surplus gener- Figure 10: Average Direct Normal Irradiance
ation, if any, is fed to utility grid. The energy charges for
net energy fed to grid are settled as per local net-metering
regulation [8].
5.1 S ITE A SSESSMENT
Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology’s two aca-
5 ROOFTOP DESIGN demic blocks E and F are considered for RTPV installa-
tion. In site visit roof condition, shadowing objects and
Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, previ- available shadow free area were are to be assessed. The
ously known as Thapar University, is a private institute collected data is shown in Fig. 11. Data analysis of each
deemed to be university, in Patiala. It was founded in 1956 building was done by considering the following factors,

4
 Figure 13: Generalized PV Model

Figure 11: TIET electricity consumption data varies with temperature, different values of MPP can also
be obtained at respective temperature values [10]. The
characteristics of PV cell are a combination of current
1. Shadow free area available for array installation: The source and diode. The current source V-I characteristics
shadow free area out of total roof area is calculated. are considered separately and the diode V-I characteristics
The deductions were applied for shadowing objects are determined separately. Here these two elements are
on the roof and near to roof. in parallel connection so by adding currents the PV array
characteristics are achieved [11].
2. Annual electricity consumption in the building and
all buildings under single consumer number: This in-
formation is analyzed from collected electricity bills.

3. Existing power network: The data like interconnec-

tion voltage from utility, contract demand, etc. is
analyzed. The recommended capacity calculations
were done based on the four factors as per net meter-
ing policy in Punjab state.

6 SIMULATION RESULTS Figure 14: P-V Plot of simulated Solar Module

The photovoltaic system is simulated in Matlab simulink

and the corresponding IV and PV curves are plotted [9].

Figure 12: Subsystem implementation of generalized PV
model
From the above Fig. 14, voltage and current characteristics
at constant irradiance and different values of temperature
can be obtained. As the maximum power point(MPP)
Figure 15: I-V Plot of simulated Solar Module
From the above Fig. 15, voltage and power characteristics
at constant temperature and various irradiance levels can
be obtained. Power increases with increase in voltage and
after reaching MPP, it decreases [12].

5
 7 C ONCLUSION
Use of solar energy is a need of time. With the view of
global energy scenario, increased economic growth has
put substantial increase in energy demand. At the same
time over exploration of conventional energy sources to
meet the increased energy demand results in depletion of
these resources, increased pollution and raised environ-
mental issues like global warming. Also these resources
are exhaustive and with this rate of utilization they are
going to vanish, so also possess issue of energy Security.
As per the sustainable development agenda by govern-
ments optional energy sources has been searched, which
are in-exhaustive, cleaner and cheaper. Solar energy has
tremendous potential on earth and it is a cleaner source of
energy. Solar energy harvesting across the world has been
increased at a faster rate. In this assignment report cur-
rent global scenario of solar energy usage is discussed in
details. Site assessment for rooftop PV installation is done
at Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Pa-
tiala, Punjab is also discussed in the report. A generalized
PV model has been simulated using MATLAB/ Simulink
tool. The simulation results show the nonlinearity of the
array output. The I-V characteristic shows nearly constant
current up to open circuit voltage and the P-V character-
istic shows the power has maximum pick with respect to
the voltage for particular environmental condition. With
changing irradiation cell current changes linearly whereas
cell voltage changes logarithmically which is clear from
the simulation equations. The proposed model can be
applied in research activities in Solar energy application
with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) scheme for
grid interactive and off grid PV system.
[10] D. L. King, J. A. Kratochvil, and W. E. Boyson, “Tem-
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