Name: Abdallah Ahmed Maged

Reg no: 20100717

Class: 2CC

Topic: Solar Energy

Content of the report:

What is the main principle of Solar Energy

harvesting?

What types of solar systems exist?

What are the advantages and disadvantages

of Solar Energy?
What is the main principle of Solar Energy generation?
The main principle of solar energy and the harvesting of solar energy is the
photovoltaic effect which is also known as the PV effect. The PV effect is
the result of the conversion of sunlight energy into electrical energy.
when in a PV system, the photovoltaic cells cause this effect. The
materials in the semi-conducting PV cells are doped (which is the
intentional introduction of impurities) to form a positive-negative structure
to serve as an internal electric field
the positive-type silicon has the inclination to give up electrons and the
negative accepts them, so when sunlight hits the cell, some electrons are
excited and become negative positive (electron-hole) pairs. The internal
electric field causes them to separate, and so holes move to the positive
electrode and electrons move to the negative electrode a wire connects
all the components to form a series circuit and a current is generated
Here's an illustrative image to help explain
What types of solar systems exist?

When we talk about solar systems which are also known as PV systems,
there is generally speaking 2 types only which are off-grid systems and
grid-tied systems depending on their connection to the main power grid
1- Off-grid AC/DC PV system (dc without inverter/ac with inverter)
Off-grid DC systems work so that the DC output is routed without delay to
the DC loads attached to it and a charge controller is used to store any
surplus power generated, this type of configuration is typically found in
RVs,boats and rural communications services, sometimes a backup
generator is also present
This is an image of such a system without an inverter
2-grid-tied systems where some of them have a battery backup and
others don’t have one
Grid-tied systems without a backup battery. In such a system the DC
electricity is generated and then converted to AC to be used on site a
solar production meter is used to monitor the solar power production
levels, if at any point excess energy is generated it will be then routed to
the main electricity grid, and if on the other hand the solar power system
isn’t able to generate enough electricity to satisfy the required demand,
the needed amount of energy will be drawn from the grid, throughout this
whole process an export/import meter is used to monitor the drawing and
feeding process of electricity

This is an image to further explain the layout of such a a system

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Solar
Energy?
Advantages:
Renewable Energy Source: possibly the most important advantage
of solar energy is the fact that it’s renewable, it can be harnessed at any
location in the world during most days, and unlike other sources of energy
it is impossible to run out of solar energy

Diverse Applications: solar energy is quite a versatile source of

energy. It can be used to generate electricity through photovoltaics or it
can be used to generate heat through solar thermal, in addition solar
energy can be used to generate electricity in areas without access to the
energy grid, to distill water in poor regions in the world without plenty of
clean water supplies or fuel satellites in space

Low Maintenance Costs: generally speaking, most solar systems

don’t need a lot of maintenance work, cleaning them a couple times a
year is sufficient as cleanliness is the only main concern, and since there
are no moving parts in a solar system as a consequence wear and tear
isn’t a problem

Technological Development: seeing that technology in the solar

power industry is constantly improving and innovating. In the future there
is bound to be improvements that will increase the effectiveness of solar
panels and increase the electrical input of solar panels by 2 or even 3
times their current amount
Disadvantages

Cost: the starting price of a solar system is quite high which includes
paying for a whole bunch of components like batteries, inverters, wires
and the installation for all of them, however since It’s a developing field
the prices are likely to drop

Weather-Dependent: despite the fact that solar energy can still be

collected on rainy and cloudy days, their efficiency drops significantly.
Solar panels are depended on sunlight by nature to properly gather solar
energy, and so cloudy and rainy days will have a measurable effect on
their effectiveness, in addition to the fact that they don’t work at night

Uses a Lot of Space: the more electricity you’re looking to produce

the more solar panels you will need which in turn means that you will need
more space to catch as much sunlight as possible and the number of
solar panels you can have is limited by the size of the roof on which they
are installed

Solar Energy Storage Is Expensive: solar energy can be stored in

large batteries or used immediately, batteries when used in off-grid
systems can be utilized at night after being charged in the day it is a good
solution, however it is quite expensive as the batteries used are fairly
expensive
Conclusion:
Solar Energy is a form of energy than can be harvested through
the photovoltaic effect which creates an internal electric field
through which electrons move creating current this effect can
be used in 2 solar systems one of which is off-grid systems and
the other is grid-tied systems solar energy has many advantages
and disadvantages one of which is the fact it’s a renewable
energy source which never runs out as it comes from the sum
but it has a downside that it’s very dependent on the weather
so it won’t work well on rainy or cloudy days, and it won’t work
at night

End Of Report