Estimation of carbon credit and direct

carbon footprint by solar photovoltaic

cells in West Bengal, India
..............................................................................................................................................................

Susmita Mukherjee * and P.B. Ghosh

Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities, Institute of Engineering & Management,
Y-12, Sector-V, Salt Lake Electronic Complex, Kolkata 700091, West Bengal, India
.............................................................................................................................................
Abstract

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Presently, India is almost dependent on coal-based energy, which leads to the generation of a considerable
amount of CO2. In the context of climate change, solar energy is accepted as an important alternative
source of energy as it is green energy. But the single crystal silicon cells, which are the starting material for
solar energy, are produced in exchange of greenhouse gas, the carbon dioxide. Present article highlights
an estimation of solar energy production and carbon credit (CC) earning by the photovoltaic cells of
mono-crystalline silicon in a definite module, largely used in West Bengal, India. In addition, the
quantity of silicon required for the preparation of this module as well as its equivalent amount of carbon
dioxide generation during the extraction from quartzite sand by the Czocharlski’ technique has been
calculated. This analysis is based on the experimental and theoretical performance of the system. The
study reveals that, on considering average light intensity (4.5 kWh) for 10 h/day, the power output of this
solar module is 0.60 kWh/m2/day. CC earned is computed as 0.33 tonnes/MWh/year, under West Bengal
climatic condition as per the norms of the Kyoto protocol. For obtaining 11.86 kg of silicon, which is the
raw material of soar cell used in this study, the amount of CO2 production is calculated as 8.70 kg/MWh/
year. Considering 35 kg CO2/MWh as reference, this amount of CO2 production corresponds to 25% of
the total carbon footprint.

Keywords: solar energy; silicon wafer; carbon dioxide; carbon footprint; carbon credit earned
*Corresponding author.
susmitaiem@rediffmail.com Received 22 February 2012; revised 9 April 2012; accepted 15 May 2012
................................................................................................................................................................................

1 INTRODUCTION energy generation, because CO2 emissions do arise in other

In West Bengal, about 96% power of the state comes from
coal-based thermal power and only 4% from renewable
sources. If sustainability is to be prevailed, fossil fuel consump-
tion will have to play only a supportive role than a predomin-
ant role. The least that can be done is to mitigate the adverse
effects of greenhouse gas (GHG) by adopting green energy
sources. In India, being a tropical country, solar energy has got
largest potential than other green energy sources. But all tech-
nologies of electricity generation do have carbon footprint
(CFP), which is the total amount of CO2 and other GHG,
emitted over the full life cycle of the processes. The utilization
of solar energy is usually accomplished by using photovoltaic
(PV) cells and modules. This technology is often referred to as
low carbon or carbon neutral because they do not emit CO2
during its operation. However, it is not carbon-free form of
phases of its life cycle such as during extraction, construction,
maintenance and decommissioning [1, 2]. These cells are
extracted from silica (quartzite sand) at high temperature.
Production of silicon cells (called as silicon wafers) from silica
can be regarded as the direct non-green part of the technology
and contributes significant fraction to CFP.
Solar technology is encouraged due to its low CFP com-
pared with the fossil fuel technology and also for carbon credit
(CC) by way of reduction of CO2 emission in the environment.
The CC trading (Emission trading) is an administrative ap-
proach that provides economic incentives for achieving reduc-
tions in the emission of pollutants and is a tradable permit
scheme. International treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol set
quotas on the amount of GHG which a country can produce.
Countries in turn set quotas on the emissions of businesses.
Again, the businesses that are over their quotas must buy CC

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2014, 9, 52–55

# The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
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doi:10.1093/ijlct/cts053 Advance Access Publication 1 July 2012 52

for their excess emissions, while businesses that are below their
quota can sell their remaining credits. Even, the credits can be
exchanged between businesses or bought and sold in inter-
national markets (Chicago Climate Exchange and European
Climate Exchange) at the prevailing market price. Study reveals
that during 2005 – 06, European and Japanese Companies were
the major buyers and China was the major seller of the CC [3].
Again, the amount of CC earned is obviously associated with
the amount of solar electricity produced, which usually
depends on climatic conditions of the area and also the effi-
ciency of the cells along with other prevailing conditions.
Hence, there are large variations on the extent of solar energy
production using PV cells and, consequently, on the CC
earned as well as on the contribution of CO2 emission to CFP
[4, 5]. In West Bengal, silicon wafer of the type mono-
crystalline silicon is largely used and is purchased from foreign
countries. The PV cell modules are usually prepared by the
local private industries. The characteristics of PV modules used
in West Bengal are specific to this location.
The solar energy is considered as an important alternative
to mitigate GHG emission in West Bengal, as it is located in
the eastern part of the country receives considerable amount of
solar radiation. In this context, it i’s posing a serious question
whether this technology is reducing CFP or contributing to
CFP and to what extent? This estimation is extremely import-
ant for planning the combination of energy generation system
to be used in the state. Literature survey reveals that the studies
on this aspect are very rare, especially in this region. This has
reinforced the present study to estimate the following: (i) to
quantify the degree of solar energy production; (ii) to reveal
the amount of carbon credit earned per megawatt-hour per
year by using this green technology; and (iii) to quantify the
amount of direct CO2 generation per megawatt-hour per year
during the extraction of silicon wafers used in a PV module
using real-life data and also to highlight the contribution of
this CO2 to CFP in the West Bengal scenario.
2 METHODOLOGY
Single crystal silicon wafer is generally produced using carbon as
the reductant, and the process is carried out at 17008C [2]. Carbon
dioxide is the by-product as oxygen is released from the silica. The
basic technique of the preparation of silicon crystal from quartz
sand is mentioned by the Czochralski technique [6, 7].
SiO2 þCðcoal or cokeÞ ! Si þ CO2 or
coal
SiO2 þ C ¼ Si þ CO2
coke
The silicon wafers prepared by the Czocharlski technique is
98% pure [6, 7]. The oblong-shaped cells are (near square
Estimation of CC and direct CFP
having four corners cut) made from circular-shaped wafers,
which are obtained by slicing cylindrical ingot. Wafers are
transformed into cells by doping and other treatment. The
traditional way of doping (adding impurities) silicon wafers is
carried out with phosphorous. Electrical contacts connect each
solar cell to another and transmit the produced current.
2.1 Amount of energy generation
The calculation of solar energy generation is done here taking
one such module having 72 cells (size 156  156 mm, thick-
ness 200 mm) with efficiency [8] of 14.5%, having life span of
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25 years with an average performance [http://www.webelsolar.
com] of 85%.
As the efficiency of cells may vary with the variation in tem-
perature as well as climatic condition, for calculation purpose,
an average efficiency of 13% has been taken into account. The
power output is then computed as:
Considering, the area of the module having 72 cells ¼ 2 m2
and the efficiency of cell ¼ 13%
The average solar radiation in West Bengal is 4.525 kWh/m2
in a day [http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse]
Poweroutput ¼ Efficiency  rate of solar intensity
¼ 0:13  4:525  2 kWh=day ¼ 1:1765 kWh=day
On considering 300 clear days in a year, the power production
would be 1.1765  300 kWh/year
¼ 1:1765  300 kW h=year ¼ 352:95 kW h=year
During 25 years, the power output becomes
¼ 8823:75 kWh ¼ 8:82 MWh
2.2 Calculation of carbon credit earned
On considering the average value of 0.932 tonnes of CO2 emis-
sion reduction per megawatt-hour of electricity [9], in this
module, CO2 emission reduction per megawatt-hour per year
as per the calculation will be 0.353  0.932 ¼ 0.33 tonnes.
As pointed out earlier, if this value is traded at the rate of
USD 27.5/tonnes [2], then total reduction will be 0.33 
27.5 ¼ USD 9.0 ¼ Rs 450 f1 USD ¼ 53.40 (2011)g.
2.3 Amount of CO2 generation against preparation
of required number of cells
The amount of CO2 generation can be calculated from the
amount of SiO2 to be reduced by equivalent amount of
carbon. Again, the amount of SiO2 can be obtained by quanti-
tative analysis from the amount of silicon present in 72 cells.
Now, it is known that each of these cells with 200-mm
thickness and 156  156 mm of sizes [2] were made from 8-in.
diameter silicon ingot.
International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2014, 9, 52– 55 53
S. Mukherjee and P.B. Ghosh
The volume of silicon ingot from which these cells were cut
¼ p  ðradiusÞ2  height ¼ p ð10:16Þ2  2:15 cm3
¼ 697:510 cm3
where radius of ingot ¼ 4 in. ¼ 10.16 cm and the height of the
ingot from which 72 cells of 200-mm thickness were cut h ¼
f(72  200) þ (71  100)g mm ¼ 2.15 cm.
Assuming that during slicing of 72 cells, around 50% was
lost as silicon dust in cutting each slice; hence, to get the
actual volume of the ingot, this has been incorporated as
71  100.
Again, some amount of loss (20%) must be there during
slicing of wafers from front and back sides of the ingot.
Therefore, the total volume would be
3 3
¼ ð697:51 þ 20% of 697:51Þ cm ¼ 837 cm
The mass (M) of the silicon ingot will be then
M ¼ V  D ¼ 837  density of silicon ½10 ¼ 837  2:329
¼ 1950:21 g:
The amount of silica (SiO2) from which this quantity of
silicon is derived is
 
molecular weight of silica
¼  1950:21 g
atomic weight of silicon
¼ 2:14  1950:21 g ¼ 4179:02 g
Similarly, the equivalent CO2 production from this amount of
silica by carbon reduction
 
molecular weight of CO2
¼  4179:02 g
molecular weight of SiO2
¼ 0:73  4179:02 g ¼ 3063 g ¼ 3:063 kg
2.4 Calculation of CO2 generation considering
1 MWh/year
As per the above calculation, 8.82 MWh of energy is generated
in 25 years by using 72 cells; therefore 1 MWh will be gener-
ated in 1 year by 204 cells.
The mass of the silicon ingot from which 204 cells are pre-
pared becomes 5537.0 g, equal to 5.54 kg (applying previous
calculation), and the amount of silica required to prepare this
number of wafers is 11857.0 g (11.86 kg). Hence, the amount
of CO2 generated in the entire process is 8701.0 g, which is
equal to 8.70 kg.
2.5 Degree of contribution to CFP
CFP takes into account energy inputs and emission outputs
throughout the whole production chains [5] and is normally
expressed as the amount of CO2 emission per unit energy
54 International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies 2014, 9, 52– 55
production. Accordingly, it is essential to calculate the CO2
emission in megawatt-hour or kilowatt-hour per year in the
present study. Its value in cases of solar energy varies from 35 g
CO2/kWh in strong sunshine [4] (in Southern Europe) and
58 g/kWh in case of diffuse sunlight [4] (in UK), considering
every aspect of CO2 generation in the process. As West Bengal
is in tropical belt with bright sunshine and sunlight hour, the
production of solar energy might be higher, and CFP may
similar to the value of 35 g CO2/kWh. Considering this as
reference in West Bengal, the present amount of direct
CO2 production would then corresponds to about 25% of the
total CFP.
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3 DISCUSSION
Solar energy production by a PV module is numerically
equal to the product of cell area, cell efficiency, light intensity
and sunshine hours. In India, the intensity of solar energy
varies from 4 to 7 kWh/m2/day, considering the 10-h dur-
ation of sunshine in a day and always more than the thresh-
old level of 1.50 kWh/day [10]. West Bengal being located in
the eastern part of the country receives a considerable inten-
sity of solar radiation. On the other hand, the cell area and
its efficiency depend on the type, number and characteristics
of the cells used [11], which are important factors in deter-
mining the amount of solar energy produced. Generally, PV
modules are formed by the combination of 36, 60 or 72
numbers of cells with dimensions of 150  150 or 156 
156 mm. All the above facts, in turn, result in the differ-
ence in the overall efficiency of the PV module. Evidently,
power generation by a particular module also differs sig-
nificantly from others. The rate of solar energy production
by the PV module as mentioned in the present study is
0.59 kWh/m2/day (Table 1). Again CC earned is proportion-
al to the power output and is directly deductible from the
cost of electricity produced [12]. As such CC is important in
estimating return on capital cost and also estimating the cost
of electricity production. CC in this study has been calcu-
lated as 0.33 tonnes of CO2 which if traded amounts to USD
9.0 (Rs 450) per MWh power production (Table 1).
Table 1. Details of the PV module and the experimental results in the
present study.
Sl No. Components Data used and output
1 Type of cell Mono-crystalline silicon
2 Cell size (mm) 156  156
3 Module size (cells) 72
4 Module efficiency (%) 14.4
5 Performance ratio 0.85
6 Solar energy production (kWh/m2/day) 0.60
7 CC earning USD 9.0 (Rs 450)
8 CO2 generation (kg/MWh/year) 8.70
9 Carbon footprint contribution (%) 25

One important objective of the study was to show by nu-
merical analysis that solar energy is involved with direct gener-
ation of CO2, apart from many indirect involvement and
consequently contribute to CFP, but definitely less than the
thermal power unit [13]. It is, however, mention worthy that
the silicon wafer, which is the starting material for solar
energy generation, is produced from silica by carbon reduc-
tion with the generation of equivalent amount of CO2. It is,
however, true that the use of equivalent amount of carbon to
completely reduce silica to silicon is actually not feasible;
instead, the excess amount of carbon must be added to
ensure the complete reduction of silica, and consequently, this
excess quantity of carbon may in some way produce some
additional amount of CO2 than the calculated value during
the process. Moreover, quartzite may also contain some im-
purities of various metal oxides which along with silica might
get reduced leading to more CO2 evolution in the atmos-
phere. On considering all the above facts, the total amount of
direct CO2 generation would be more than what has been
shown here. In this study, it has been found that the direct
CO2 generation contributes to 25% of the total CFP gener-
ation by the type of cells used in West Bengal, but if we con-
sider the above possibilities then the contribution to CFP
generation will also increase.
4 CONCLUSIONS
The study clearly highlights a comprehensive method of calcu-
lation for assessing the amount of CO2 generation during
preparation of silicon wafers used as PV cells. From the above
discussion, it can be inferred that during large-scale solar
power generation, there will be significant impact on the envir-
onment. This article may serve as a reference in the research
towards reducing CFP in solar energy generation technology.
The amount of CO2 generation has been calculated here is
direct generation, but there is enough of indirect CO2 gener-
ation, and this leads to further scope of work in terms of indir-
ect CFP generation involved in this process which is not
considered here.
Estimation of CC and direct CFP
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are greatly indebted to Prof. Dr Manish Kumar
Mukherjee, Electronics & Communication Engineering, Depart-
ment of Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata, for
his valuable guidance and inspiration. The authors are also
grateful to West Bengal Renewable Energy Development
Agency, Government of West Bengal.
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