Received: 29 May 2021 Revised: 24 July 2021 Accepted: 9 August 2021

DOI: 10.1002/er.7197

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Renewable energy adoption: Design, development, and

assessment of solar tree for the mountainous region

Roushan Kumar1 | Kamal Bansal2 | Adesh Kumar2 | Jitendra Yadav1 |

2 3
Mukul Kumar Gupta | Vivek Kumar Singh

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
School of Engineering, University of
Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun,
India
2
Department of Electrical & Electronics
Engineering, School of Engineering,
University of Petroleum and Energy
Studies, Dehradun, India
3
Energy for Sustainability Initiative,
University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Correspondence
Roushan Kumar, Department of
Mechanical Engineering, School of
Engineering, University of Petroleum and
Energy Studies, Dehradun, India.
Email: automotive.roushan@gmail.com
Summary
The primary objective for promoting clean energy in India is sustainable devel-
opment, improving energy poverty, energy security, access to energy, and miti-
gate climate change. Solar-based renewable energy systems are considering as
clean energy because of it does not emit any greenhouse gases when producing
electricity. The solar tree is a very good example of the integration of various
technologies. The study presents the design, development, and validation of a
solar tree in the Himalayan region. The solar tree is emerged out as one of the
most creative and environmentally friendly solutions in the mountainous
region as it overcomes the problem of the scarcity of land. A modular design
approach for the solar tree is adopted. The tree design is a nontracking solar
tree, equipped with LED lights, multiple USB ports, electrical sockets for
charging laptops, mobile phones, electric bicycles, and electric vehicles. It gen-
erates 28% more power in comparison to the land-based system. Its annual
electricity generation is 2160 to 2520 units at the rate of 6 to 7 units per day.
The factor of safety at a wind speed of 100 km/h and 200 km/h are 6 and 1.52.
The photovoltaic energy density improvement and solar energy footprint
improvement with the land-based system during sunny and bright environ-
mental conditions are 42.37% and 39.47%, respectively.

KEYWORDS
modular design, non-tracking, renewable energy, solar tree, sustainable development

1 | INTRODUCTION such promising alternative energy sources is solar

In the present era, rigorous research is going on to dis-
cover techniques that can harness clean and renewable
energy sources. Which indeed has become necessary to
overcome the challenges imposed by the rapid depletion
of fossil fuels and the increasing demand for energy sup-
plies. Presently, the rapid exploitation of conventional
fossil fuel, global warming due to the thermal power
plant, and high-energy demand1 substantiate the adop-
tion of green and renewable sources of energy.2 One of
energy,3 which is clean, renewable, safe, and abundant.4
Solar photovoltaic (SPV)5 installations are growing
rapidly,6 due to their demand for economic, technical,
and environmental benefits.7 To cater to the energy
demand currencies, the photovoltaics (PVs)8 are the most
promising source of sustainable9 power generation,
which can be installed in solar trees.10 The solar tree is a
fixed mechanical structure with solar energy11 technol-
ogy. It is aesthetically as well as functionally a great
source of renewable12 and clean energy.13

Int J Energy Res. 2021;1–17. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/er © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1
2 KUMAR ET AL.
The solar tree design is based on mechanical struc-
tures, which are called stems. Stems are attached to e
central trunk, which is named as a pillar of the solar tree.
The solar tree replicates the tree wherein the solar panels
mounted14 on stems are analogous to leaves at the bra-
nches of the tree. A solar tree is a great source of solar
energy15 and electricity, and its panels are arranged in
the form of a tree-like tower/pole.16 The function of a
solar tree is to receive heat from the Sun and to harness it
through multiple progressing techniques, such as solar
thermal electricity, photovoltaic17 cell, solar heating,
solar fuels, and artificial photosynthesis. The energy gen-
erated from photovoltaic cells18 is the most prominent
and popular practice to harness the solar energy.19 Solar
irradiance patterns, local climatic conditions, and robust
technology20 are the main factors for deciding the effi-
ciency of the solar PV system. The robust design21,22 of
the solar tree23 should have proper solar irradiance pat-
tern assessment and radiation data assessment24 through-
out the year, which enables the optimum design for a
proficient solar energy conversation system.25
The Sun movement14 changes throughout the day
round the year. Therefore, it is essentially required to
optimize the performance of the solar system with mov-
able plates as the fixed angle solar plates limit the maxi-
mum efficiency. However, the overall cost of the variable
plate base system is very high in comparison to that for a
fixed26 plate-based system. The concept of a solar tree is
rapidly attracting researchers to achieve higher energy
generation27 per unit ground footprint area.10 In the
urban and hilly areas, the biggest challenge is the avail-
ability of land for the installation of the solar trees
because procurement of land from private and govern-
ment bodies is a very complex and tedious job due to the
various restriction imposed by local and central authori-
ties in these areas. In urban areas, the land is a premium
commodity, whereas in hilly areas clearance from agen-
cies like forest departments has to go through a very com-
plex mechanism.28 The alternate solution to the problem
may be rooftop-based solar systems29 in urban areas, but
limited space available on the rooftop limits the capac-
ity30 of solar modules. The solar tree is one of the novel
and promising methods4 to integrate photovoltaic
plates31 in a limited constructed environment.32 The solar
tree needs high initial investments primarily to bear the
cost of structure.10,33 The novel mechanical structure
plays a vital role in the successful and economical imple-
mentation34 of the solar tree, land usage, and public
acceptability.
The research objective is to design, develop, fabricate
and analyze the solar tree and extend the model for eco-
nomic mountainous region solutions. Even though sev-
eral research findings are available for the land-based
system but limited findings are available for the solar tree
in terms of factors of safety, PV energy density, solar
energy footprint, and economic analysis. The present
research work considers these factors into account to get
the real-time solution. These factors derived the interest
toward present work. The present study intended to
design and built a solar tree system, which is capable of
producing electricity in an eco-friendly environment for
domestic, agricultural, and commercial uses. The
research study also covers performance comparison of PV
energy density and solar energy footprint for different
environmental conditions. The research outcomes will
provide useful evidence for policymakers, investors, asso-
ciated stakeholders researchers, and scientists.
The organization of the paper is as follows: Section 2
describes the approach for the solar tree with system
operation. Section 3 presents control design parameters
includes incremental conductance algorithm, electrical
and electronic control design. Section 4 explains the oper-
ation of the solar tree system. Section 5 shows the results
and discussions which include azimuth angle, elevation
angle, collector/receiver geometry, and its orientation,
monthly solar radiation data, PV and IV Characteristics
of a photovoltaic module with different irradiation levels,
the factor of safety (FOS), and solar tree output compari-
son and economic analysis. Finally, Section 6 offers con-
clusions and future works.
2 | A P P R O A C H F O R SO L A R T R E E
2.1 | Design components for solar tree
The proposed solar tree system is a standalone system
that ensures the quality and reliability of power genera-
tion and can stop the dependency on others for power
requirements. Thus, the land-based system35 is slightly
oversized to meet the load requirement during the low
radiation36 period in winters. In the stand-alone inverter
mode of operation, SPV is the main source. It ensures a
stable and reliable37 energy supply at different loads. The
standalone power plant design38 is based on the data
available in Dehradun District, Uttarakhand, India.
Figure 1 shows the block diagram of the SPV power
plant.
The PV arrays are mounted on a structure comprising
PV modules connected in series and parallel combina-
tions39 and facing toward the south direction. The struc-
ture is fixed at an angle equal to the latitude of that
location, having a provision for seasonal adjustment
between 0
and 30
to maximize the solar radiation inci-
dence on the PV array.40 Further, daily trekking arrange-
ments (at least three times a day) enhance the annual
KUMAR ET AL.
power generation and generate optimum power from the
PV array.
The system DC voltage, battery voltage, and the input
DC voltage of the standalone inverter are either 240 or
360 V. It is supported with maximum power point track-
ing (MPPT) operating system41 that occurs in the range
of 300 to 600 V. This enables the optimum supply of gen-
erated energy to the charge controller42,43 and battery
banks.44 The purpose of selecting DC voltage is to mini-
mize the current losses45 in cables and voltage drop. The
standalone inverters of the solar system are connected to
either a 240 or 360 V battery bank46 to minimize loss load
probability losses. The MPPT, charge controller, and
inverters are installed in a suitably designed enclosure
that protects the system from dust, wind, rain, and adul-
teration.47 The latest IT-enabled technology48 is used in
the development process.
2.2 | Fabrication of solar tree
The solar tree39 subsystem is listed in Section 2 and the
proposed system is fabricated at the laboratory level to
test the different design parameters of the system. The
FIGURE 1 Standalone solar photovoltaic power plant
F I G U R E 2 (A) Three-
dimensional view of solar tree;
(B) two-dimensional view of the
solar tree (front view)
3
solar tree is fabricated and installed to check its feasibility
in the Himalayan region. The main components of the
solar tree are the central trunk with 200 mm external and
192 mm internal diameter. The stems are welded to the
central trunk as shown in Figure 2. The stems are
100 mm external and 95 mm internal diameter. The SPV
plates are mounted on the tips of the stem as cantilever
support.
The total weight of the tree is 600 kg and the com-
plete structure is made of low-grade cast iron. The total
height of the central trunk is 2971 mm. The analysis
through the three-dimensional model helps to make
the tree aesthetically soothing and helps in under-
standing the shading and wind effects after the instal-
lation.29,30 The fabricated working model of the solar
tree is installed on the university campus as shown in
Figure 3.
2.3 | Design and development of
components for solar tree
The design process of a solar tree involves multiple steps.
The first step is the prototype development,49 followed by
various real-time steps for laying down a strong founda-
tion so that the solar tree may stand firmly during normal
as well as extreme conditions such as earthquakes and
high wind speed. The metallic tree structure is used for
the development of solar trees to hold the solar plates.
The structure is designed with the optimum orientation
of the plates to avoid the shadowing effect through the
time of exposure to the Sun. The exact orientation of
solar panels (28
inclination with horizontal) is crucial
for electricity generation.50 The circuit design51 of the
solar system consists of solar panels, array junction box,
tubular battery, solar inverter, AC distribution box, and
LED cob lights.
The proposed design ensures the safety of the struc-
ture against the high-speed wind flow and storms. The
structure is safe against wind blow even up to 200 km/h,
4 KUMAR ET AL.

FIGURE 5 Solar tree foundation design layout

and only the bending effect due to the air impact on vari-
ous panels are considered. The maximum bending
moment will occur at point O that is the base of the trunk
of the tree. The maximum bending moment at point O is
FIGURE 3 Final layout of functional solar tree
represented in Equation (2).

M o ¼ F  OF þ F  OE þ F  OD þ 2F
ð2Þ
 OC þ F  OB þ 2F  OA

M o = F  L m.
where Lm is the effective lever arm length of 19.3 m for
the structure and F is the force acting on a single plate.
The induced bending stress is calculated by
Equation (3)

π 3

M¼ d 1  K 4 σB, ð3Þ
32 o

where do = 0.2 m, di = 0.184 m, K = 0.92, and σB is the

bending stress.
The FOS, defines the safety of the trunk against bend-
ing failure represented in Equation (4) and the material
FIGURE 4 Solar structure load diagram for the trunk is low-grade cast iron with a bending capac-
ity of 190 N/mm2.

which is the highest intensity of storm ever faced by the FOS ¼ σpermissible =σinduced : ð4Þ
region. The dynamic energy6 in the air is converted to
high pressure when airstrikes to the solar panels and
pressure force acts on projected surfaces of the solar 2.3.1 | Design of solar tree foundation
panels, which ultimately leads to the bending of the cen-
tral trunk. Figure 4 layouts the load distribution over the A solar tree foundation is used for connecting mechanical
trunk of the solar tree. Equation (1) represents the wind structures with the ground for the transfer of the struc-
pressure force. tural load to the ground. A strong foundation is required
to hold solar tree structures against adverse environmen-
1 tal conditions such as storms and earthquakes. The civil
F w ¼ ρ v2 A, ð1Þ
2 work consists of the foundations52 for the solar tree, shed
for the controller, ACDB, and battery bank. The height,
where Fw is wind force (N), A is the maximum projected weight, orientation, and wind velocity are the factors of
surface area (m2), ρ is the density of air (kg/m3), and v is the solar tree that determines the actual design width
the wind speed (m/s). The torsional effects are ignored and depth of the foundation.
KUMAR ET AL. 5

Figure 5 shows the design layout of the foundation

for the solar tree. Live load and dead load forces are con-
sidered in the design of solar tree foundations.
Force = 600 kg  10 = 6 kN.
Fbolt = 45 kW.
Total force on 8 bolts = 360 kW, Considering, bolt
grade = 4.6 and concrete grade = M 35.

2.3.2 | Design of mechanical structure of the

solar tree

The mechanical structure of the solar tree includes a cen- F I G U R E 6 Mechanical structure design of a solar tree with
tral trunk, stubs, and branches. Solar PV panels are multiple stubs and branches
attached at the tip of branches. The height and number
of solar panels are fixed as per the 2 kW load. It consists
of eight solar panels with a maximum output of 2000
Wp. To maintain solar plate inclination of 28
33 following
calculation adopted.
Figure 6 explains the solar tree stubs hold PV panels
with supporting branches. The design of branch length
and appropriate angle is 28
to maintain PV plate inclina-
tion. The design assumptions for length and calculation
are considered as: I = 1645 mm, x = 259 mm,
h0 = 500 mm and pivot at midpoint of AB = lx 2 =
1645259
2
= 693 mm. The outer diameter of the solar tree stub is
102 mm, connected to the main central trunk having an
outer diameter of 200 mm. Where I1 and I2 are the
lengths of supporting rod 1 and rod 2, respectively, θ1, θ2
are the inclinations of rod 1 and rod 2 with the horizontal
axis respectively, z is the horizontal projection of plate
supported by rods at point A and B and x is the overhung
of the plate attached to rod 2. FIGURE 7 Front view of solar tree
Considering the horizontal length and pivot point are
represented in Equation (5).
Y’ = 1386 sin 28
= 650 mm, first branch length and
Z angle calculation.
cos 280 ¼ ð5Þ
lx
y0 þ y00 650 þ 174:5

tan θ2 ¼ ¼ ¼ 1:471, ð8Þ
Z = 1386 cos 28 = 1223 mm. 2  51
z
560:5
Similarly, perpendicular height and half-point the
first and second branch length and angle calculation are
represented by Equations (6) to (10). θ2 = tan1(1.471) = 56
.
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
z 2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

P y
sin 28 ¼ ¼ , ð6Þ l2 ¼ ðy0 þ y00 Þ2 þ  51 ¼ ð650 þ 174:5Þ2 þ ð560:5Þ2
h ðl  x Þ=2 2
¼ 996:97mm:
Y = 693 sin 28
= 325.5 mm. ð9Þ
Y” = h’ - y = 500 - 325.5 = 174.5 mm.

y0 Similarly, second branch length and angle

sin 28
¼ , ð7Þ
lx calculation.
6 KUMAR ET AL.

y00
2.4.2 | Size of the solar plate system
tan θ1 ¼ z , ð10Þ
2  51
The size of the solar plate used in the solar tree installa-
tion is represented by Equation (11). It is the ratio of solar
θ1 = tan1(174:5 560:5) = 17.2 .


tree system peak watt rating and tilted surface daily sun
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi hours.

2ffi
l1 ¼ ðy00 Þ2 þ 2z  51 = ð174:5Þ2 þ ð560:5Þ2 = 587 mm.
W peak ¼ Parray =T average , ð11Þ
Therefore,
l1 ¼ 587 mm , θ1 = 17.2
, l2 ¼ 996:97 mm and θ2 = 56
. where Wpeak = Peak Power = 5044/5 = 1008 WP;
Similarly, other stubs and branches of the solar tree Parray = Solar tree system peak watt rating;
are calculated and accordingly installation and commis- Taverage = Tilted surface daily sun hours (Uttarakhand
sioning are done. The front view of the solar three is pres- Region average value is 5 hours29).
ented in Figure 7.

2.4.3 | PV array size determination

2.4 | Electrical design parameters for
solar tree
The electrical design parameters of the solar tree are load
estimation, solar plate size, PV array size, system voltage,
battery size, charge/discharge cycle, charge controller,
electrical wiring, and solar tree layout.
Photovoltaic array size design is based on different equip-
ment efficiency. The efficiencies of the lead-acid battery
and the smart hybrid controller are 85%, wire and
battery bank losses are considered as 3%. The energy
requirement through the photovoltaic cell is represented
in Equation (12) and the peak wattage rating of the PV
module in Equation (13).

The energy requirement through photovoltaic cell ¼

1
¼ 1=ð0:85  0:85  0:97Þ ¼ 1:42 ≈ 1:40:
ð charge controller efficiency  battery efficiency  battery bank and wiring lossÞ
ð12Þ

2.4.1 | Load estimation Therefore, the energy required from the PV mod-
ule is.
The load is estimated based on the daily use of equip-
ment, the total load requirement for the electrical devices E arr ¼ E L  1:4: ð13Þ
is estimated and shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Load estimation for different electrical appliances

Rated Hours/
Appliances Power (W) Qty day (H) W kW Wh/day kWh/day
Lightning/bulbs 7 3 4 21 0.021 84 0.084
Lightning bulbs for panel and system 2 20 4 40 0.04 160 0.16
Laptop charger 80 4 12 320 0.32 3840 3.84
USB mobile charger 10 8 12 80 0.08 960 0.96
Total load 5.044
KUMAR ET AL. 7

where EL = Daily energy consumption in watt-hour per TABLE 2 Battery rating parameters calculation
day. Earr = 5044 Wh  1.4 = 7061 Wh. = 7100 Wh Households Nos. 1
approximately. Epeak = Earr/average daily sun hours on
Spare household Nos. 0
the tilted surface at latitude angle.
Total household Nos. 1
Epeak = 7100/5 = 1420.
where Epeak is the peak wattage rating of the PV module Power supply (in Watt) Watts/House 461
and average daily sun hours on the tilted surface at lati- Number of hours Hours 10
tude angle is taken as 5 hours29 from actual Uttrakhand Load kW 0.461
industrial data. Demand increase considered percent 0%
Actual load kW 0.46
Load kVA kVA 0.58
2.4.4 | System voltage selection and total
array current Total energy required kWh 4.610
Total energy generated kWh 8.000
System voltage has been taken as 48 VDC since the AC Battery design
load required is less than 5 kW. Direct current (IDC) is System voltage Volts 48
calculated based on peak wattage rating and system volt- Single cell battery voltage volts 2
age VDC as per Equation (14).
No. of battery cells nos. 24

I DC ¼ E peak =V DC ¼ 1420=48 ¼ 29:5A: ð14Þ Conversion efficiency 0.80

Depth of discharge 0.80
Battery Ah rating Ah 260
2.4.5 | Calculation for battery size w.r.t PV system capacity
charging and discharging Power generation factor (GHI) 5.00
System efficiency 80%
The charging/discharging rate is given as the amount of
Generation/kW 4.00
charge added/removed from the battery per unit time.
Table 2 lists the calculation parameters for the battery PV capacity 2.00
bank size in terms of current, voltage, conversion effi-
ciency, usage hour, and depth of discharge.
temperature handling capacity. The cable link from the
PV module to the battery bank is represented in
2.4.6 | Charge controller Equation (16) and the cable link from the inverter to
ACDB or DCDB in Equation (17).
A charge controller is also known as a battery regulator. a. Cable link from PV solar module to 48 V bat-
The purpose of a charge controller is to regulate the cur- tery bank.
rent flow through the battery bank. It is intended to pre-
vent undercharging and overcharging of the battery. I Cable ¼ I sc  N pm  F safe , ð16Þ
Desired charge controller current (Icc) is calculated
based on Equation (15). ICable = 8.58  2.6  1.3 = 29 A ≈ 30 A.
Based on DC from PV solar module to 48 V battery
I cc ¼ I sc M  N pm  F safe , ð15Þ bank with proper gauge size and material, the copper
conductor wire is used with single-core cable viz
Icc = 8.58  2.6  1.3 = 29 A ≈ 30 A. 4 sq. mm.
Where IscM is the short circuit current of the PV module b. The DC cable from the battery bank inverter has a
and Fsafe is the appropriate safeguard factor to allow sys- single core (10 sq. mm). The single-core cable is designed
tem expansion. to connect the inverter to the power supply system and
can be used for both outdoor as well as indoor installa-
tion. It is also instrumental in stable and flexible
2.4.7 | Solare tree wiring rating and sizing installations in extreme weather conditions, with good
mechanical strength.
The rating and size of the solar tree wire determine the c. The AC/DC cable is used for the inverter to the ACDB
wire gauge size, current rating, voltage rating, and and DCDB. The inverter current output is as follows:
8 KUMAR ET AL.

9
I Inv ¼ Ptotal =ðV oi  p:f:Þ ¼ 3750=ð230  0:8Þ ¼ 20:3 A: dP >
>
> 0 then VP < VMPP >
>
ð17Þ dV >
>
=
dP
¼ 0 then VP ¼ VMPP ð22Þ
dV >
>
>
>
As per electrical standards, 3 core 4 sq. mm. cable is dP >
>
< 0 then VP > VMPP ;
used to handle 20.3 A of the current rating. dV

The incremental conduction algorithm in the photo-

3 | C ON T R O L DE S IG N F OR S OL A R voltaic system plays an important role in controlling the
TREE SYSTEM duty cycle of the buck booster converter according to
the changes in solar radiation, thus the converter remains
The control design covers structure design, simulation, at the maximum power. The INC algorithm53 minimizes
and implementation of a solar tree control system for an the design system cost and allows MPPT to operate with
off-grid energy storage system. The design covers incre- maximum efficiency. The algorithm is a gradient of cur-
mental conductance algorithm (INC algorithm), electri- rent and voltage and is instrumental in tunning the duty
cal and electronic control design, and data exchange. cycle.54 The working principle of instantaneous conduc-
tance, incremental conductance, and maximum power is
represented in Equations (18) to (21).
3.1 | Incremental conductance The maximum number of power points can be decided
algorithm (INC algorithm) with the help of Equation (22). The negative difference of
output conduction will actuate the module to operate at the
The incremental conductance technique is the most pop- maximum power points. The flow chart for incremental
ular the algorithm used in PV system due to its simplicity conductivity is shown in Figure 8. It is palpable from the
and low cost.21,22 This technique is based on the slope of flow chart that V(k) is the new detection voltage, I(k) is the
the power–voltage curve of PV panel, as explained by the new detection current, and V(δ) and I(δ) are the previous
following equation: detection value of voltage and current respectively. It works
on a feedback loop55 namely, it compares the new value
I dI with the previous value to calculate the voltage difference
¼ ð18Þ
V dV whether it is zero or not. If the current and voltage differ-
ence both are zero then impedance will be the same and
where VI ¼ Instantaneous Conductance and dI
dV = Incre- the duty cycle will remain as it was.
mental Conductance. The zero value of voltage difference with the nonzero
value of the current difference is the indication of the
dP change in insulation. The duty ratio increases with a pos-
And if ¼ 0, maximum power with respect to voltage is zero
dV itive value of the current difference and vice versa. If the
ð19Þ voltage difference value is calculated to be none zero, it
will check whether Equation (22) is satisfied or not. The
dP dV I dV dI slope of the power curve is zero when Equation (22) will
¼ ¼I þV
dV dV dV dV : be satisfied which implies that the system is operating at
the maximum power point.56 If the conduction deviation
dP dI is greater than the negative conductivity then the slope of
¼IþV ð20Þ
dV dV the power curve is positive and correspondingly the duty
ratio increases and vice versa.
From Equations (17) and (18)

0¼IþV
dI 3.2 | Electrical and electronics control
dV design
dI I The block diagram of the electrical and electronic control
¼ ð21Þ
dV V circuit is shown in Figure 9. The control system processes
four PIR sensor inputs (PIR1, PIR2, PIR3, and PIR4) and
The following observations are recognized concerning one RTC input (DS1307).24,25 The PIR sensors are con-
Equations (19), (20), and (21). nected to the Arduino Nano digital input/output pins D1,
KUMAR ET AL.
F I G U R E 8 Flow chart of
incremental conductance algorithm
FIGURE 9 Block diagram of the control circuit
D2, D3, and D4. The RTC module is connected to analog
I/O ports A5 and A6 via two lines, that is, serial data
(SDA) and serial clock (SCL).26,27 SCL line of the I2C bus
generates a clock signal by coordinating the data transfer
between the Arduino Nano and the I2C bus. The SDA
line transfers real-time clock information to the micro-
controller. The two lines operate on the principle of
“open-drain” and are equipped with 5 kΩ resistors that
need to be attached to them so that the lines remain high
in default nonconductive state. The two-output relays
belong to the D5 and D6 pins of the microcontroller. The
9
main function of the first relay is to control the eight
white COB light which has been installed under the solar
plate, automatically (using real-time clock that is, RTC).
If a user wants to turn it on manually, he or she may use
the manual switch S1. Similarly, the function of the sec-
ond relay is to control the three-cob light, installed on
the main central trunk of the solar tree that will automat-
ically turn “ON” (using four PIR sensor pairs with a
microcontroller board).
4 | SY ST E M O P E R A T I O N
Solar energy is one of the sources of electricity that char-
ges battery banks and supplies power to the different
loads. First, the solar energy is converted to DC electrical
energy using solar panels then the DC electrical energy is
converted to AC electrical energy by using an adaptive
algorithm57 for high-efficiency MPPT solar chargers and
high efficient inverters. The inverter converts DC power
to AC power to feed the microgrid. Moreover, the MPPT
charge controller53,58 is intended to utilize the SPV mod-
ules at peak value that indeed forces the PV modules to
operate at peak radiation. Whenever the DC power is
generated, it is delivered to the load requirement directly
if needed; otherwise, the battery bank is used to store the
energy for the time when the sunlight is not available.
The generated solar power will charge the battery bank
10
during the sunshine hours if the load requirement is not
at its peak. In the absence of sunlight, the charged battery
banks will be able to drive the load. The advantage of the
solar tree47 is that the generated solar power will be used
directly for the loads and prioritize to charge the battery
banks if the loads are not operative. It is difficult to gen-
erate electrical energy during the night for the entire
electric load but the available power in battery banks can
serve the purpose.40 The solar panels charge the battery
during the daytime. In the evening, solar tree switches
are “ON” automatically, and LED lights glow accord-
ingly. The internal control also regulates the extent of
light produced according to the charge is left in the bat-
tery. The solar tree is equipped with a PIR sensor59 and a
luminance sensor (Lux). The PIR sensor and luminance
sensor (Lux) measure human movement and light inten-
sity, respectively in the atmosphere, and triggers the LED
lights accordingly. The LED light triggers “ON” at sunset
and “OFF” at sunrise.
The research work considered a 2 kWp solar tree for
the Himalayan region, having India's geographical coor-
dinates of 30.345
N and 78.029
E and an elevation of
447 m above sea level for Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The
location receives the maximum and minimum average
global horizontal irradiance of 6.5 kWh/m2 (April, May,
and June) and 3.1 kWh/m2 (December and January). The
solar tree consists of eight solar panels each rating
250 Wp. The dimension of the solar panel is considered
as 1955 mm  9820 mm  36 mm. Tilt angle and azi-
muth angle are varied to obtain the power generation
curve and irradiance for various combinations. The per-
formance of the solar tree is ascertained based on five
influencing parameters, namely, azimuth angle, elevation
angle, monthly solar radiation data, and PV and IV char-
acteristics of a photovoltaic module with different irradia-
tion levels.
5 | R ESULTS A ND DISCUSSIONS
The comparative results regarding the solar tree assess-
ment cover solar radiation geometry, structural analysis,
the FOS, and economic analysis herein considered and
presented.
5.1 | Solar radiation geometry
Sun geometry is determined with a different aspect of
heat gain, shading, and daylight potential. Here, we cal-
culated that various sun angles as azimuth, elevation
angle and solar radiation, PV characterization of different
irradiation levels in the next sub-section.
KUMAR ET AL.
FIGURE 10 Solar azimuth and elevation angle for apparent
position
5.1.1 | Azimuth angle
It defines the directive angle of sunlight impingement
with horizontal. It is measured due north for the south-
ern sphere and vice versa. It is considered positive west-
ward and represented in Figure 10.
The variation of azimuth angle for moving solar plate
with the progression of the day for the Himalayan region
is shown in Figure 11. The azimuth angle is like a com-
pass direction at the North Pole showing zero degrees,
while at the south pole it shows 180
. The azimuth angle
is instrumental in obtaining maximum energy production
over the considered period. Since the highest irradiance
in Dehradun is from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, the Azimuth
angle for all the plates is taken as 7
.
5.1.2 | Elevation angle
The elevation angle, also called altitude angle, is the mea-
sure of the height of the Sun from the horizontal. It is
used to represent elevation in meters above sea level. The
angle of elevation is 90
when the Sun is overhead while
zero degrees at the time of sunrise. As the day progresses,
the angles of elevation change concerning the day, as
well as the latitudes shown in Figure 12. The design of a
solar tree requires maximum and minimum azimuthal
angles and elevation angles to determine the maximum
height of the Sun throughout the year. In the Himalayan
region, the availability of Sun irradiation is optimum for
an elevation angle of 30
to 100
.
5.1.3 | Monthly solar radiation data
India Meteorological Department (IMD) is the premier
government agency and is instrumental in maintaining
the solar radiation network by collecting data from
KUMAR ET AL.
F I G U R E 1 1 Azimuth angle
variation with the progression of
the day
FIGURE 12 Elevation
angle plot
45 ground stations. The solar radiation pattern of the
Dehradun district, Uttarakhand has shown in Table 3.
5.1.4 | PV and IV characteristics of a PV
module with different irradiation level
Figure 13 explains the relation between P-V voltage and
P-V power and Figure 14 explains current and voltage
characteristics at room temperature with unstable radia-
tion levels. The current and PV power increase when the
total radiation level is high.
5.2 | Optimization of structural design
In the Himalayan region, high wind speed creates drag
forces that are responsible for solar tree mechanical fail-
ure. The stress analysis of the solar tree design under
11
different loading conditions using the solid mechanic's
approach in stationary mode. The wind speed, wind force
on each solar plate, maximum bending moment, stress
magnification factor, and FOS were calculated and repre-
sented in Table 4. The calculated results fit into the
desired range of a FOS parameters.
5.3 | Solar tree comparison and
economic analysis
The performance of the solar tree depends on the length
of the day, temperature, and irradiation level. The cur-
rent, voltage, and improvement percentage of the solar
tree is compared with the land-based system29 and cap-
tured in Table 5. The energy generated, PV energy den-
sity, and solar energy footprint are captured in Table 6 in
comparison29 with the land-based system under different
environmental conditions. During testing, the
12 KUMAR ET AL.

performance of the solar tree is tabulated concerning dif- solar energy footprint (CO2e/kWh), and PV energy den-
ferent environmental factors. sity (kWh/m2) in comparison with the land-based system.
Tables 5 and 6 list the increased percentage in DC It can be seen in the tables that solar tree generates more
voltage, AC voltage, current, energy generated (kWh), current, voltage output in comparison with the land-
based solar system. For sunny and bright environmental
conditions, DC voltage improvement is 7.69% and for clo-
T A B L E 3 Solar radiation pattern for Dehradun, Uttarakhand udy and breezy conditions current improvement is 9.52%.
(kWh/m2/day) Similarly, energy generated, PV energy density, and solar
energy footprint under sunny and bright environmental
Dehradun District (Bidholi Village)
conditions have been improved by 28.02%, 42.37%, and
Direct Global Radiation 39.47%, respectively.
normal horizontal at
Months irradiance irradiance latitude tilt
January 7.32 4.71 5.75 5.3.1 | Simple payback period
February 7.52 5.43 6.36
March 6.74 5.76 6.10 The payback period of the solar tree is the amount of
April 5.58 5.92 5.74
time for total electricity harvest per/year, it takes to
recover the initial costs of the installation of a solar tree
May 4.41 5.37 4.99
system shown in Equation (23).
June 2.87 4.55 4.45
X
July 2.09 4.11 3.84 SPTi ¼ IISi= ðFS  310Þ ð23Þ
August 2.65 4.25 4.03
September 3.31 4.19 4.20
October 4.04 3.98 4.32 where SPi is simple payback time and IISi is the initial
investment of solar tree system and EH as annual elec-
November 4.93 3.86 4.59
tricity harvest during 310 effective operational days. The
December 5.93 3.91 4.77
approximate cost of the initial investment of a solar tree
Annual 4.79 4.91 4.93 system is 4000 ($). the simple payback period is nearly
average
3 years in Table 7.

F I G U R E 1 3 PV Characteristics
of a photovoltaic module with
different irradiation level

F I G U R E 1 4 IV Characteristics
of a photovoltaic module with
different irradiation level
KUMAR ET AL. 13

TABLE 4 Solar tree safety parameters against wind speed

S. Wind Wind force on each Maximum bending Stress- Factor of

no speed (kmph) plate (N) moment (Nm) induced (N/mm2) safety
1. 100 363.10 7007.83 31.14 6
2. 150 816.99 15 767.9 69.77 2.72
3. 200 1452.42 28 031.7 124.5 1.52

TABLE 5 Comparison of the solar tree and land-based system for different conditions

DC output (V) Current output (A) AC output (V)

S. Environmental Solar Land29 Improvement Solar Land29 Improvement Solar Land29 Improvement
no conditions tree based (%) tree Based (%) tree based (%)

1 Sunny and bright 28 26 7.69 8.1 7.3 9.87 230 221 3.91

2 Cloudy and breezy 12.4 11.1 10.48 4.6 4.2 9.52 121 114 5.78
3 Rainy 10 8.1 23.4 3.9 2.4 38.46 80 71 11.25

4 Dusty and dirty 24.5 22.6 8.4 6.8 5.9 13.23 210 195 7.14
5 Humid 22 20.4 7.27 6.1 4.8 21.3 165 151 8.48
atmosphere

TABLE 6 Comparison of the solar tree and land-based system on different attributes

S. Environmental
Energy generated (kWh) PV energy density (kWh/m2) Solar energy footprint (CO2e/kWh)
no conditions
Solar Land Improvement Solar Land Improvement Solar Land Improvement
tree based29 (%) tree based29 (%) tree based29 (%)

1 Sunny and Bright 2312 1664 28.02 291.2 167.8 42.37 3.8 5.3 39.47

2 Cloudy and 1582 1256 20.6 171.6 137.9 19.63 3.3 4.4 33.33
Breezy
3 Rainy 1421 1121 21.11 165.8 149.3 9.95 1.9 1.2 36.84

4 Dusty and Dirty 2156 1954 9.36 272.1 251.9 7.43 2.7 2.4 11.11
5 Hot and Humid 2048 1866 8.88 249.6 231.3 7.33 2.3 1.8 21.73

TABLE 7 Simple payback of solar tree system

Solar Simple
tree Electricity Operational Life Total electricity Investment Energy payback
/unit harvest unit/ day day/year spans harvest per/year cost ($) trarif ($) (years)
7 310 25 2170 4000 0.7 2.6

5.3.2 | Saving to investment ratio where Ii is the total investment cost in solar tree sys-
tem i supported by the public authority, ESit is the yearly
The savings to investment ratio (SIR) considers the total energy savings (in INR), according to electricity cost,
present value of electricity saving cost ($) over the life- d represents the discount rate and t is the lifetime of the
time of the solar tree system divided by the cost of the solar tree. In the economic analysis, the considered dis-
investment ($) represented by Equation (24). count rate of 6% and 4.5% according to the SIR is also
known as a benefit-cost ratio and an effective approach
PT ESit
t¼1 ð1þdÞt
to the analysis's relative merits of variables or alternative
SIRi ¼ ð24Þ system. Similar to payback extended approaches,
Ii
extended SIR studies of the solar tree system. Annual fuel
14 KUMAR ET AL.

TABLE 8 Saving to investment ratio with solar tree system

Total electricity harvest Life SIR SIR PV PV NPV NPV

cost ($)/year spans (6%) (4.5%) (6%) (4.5%) (6%) (4.5%)
1519 25 4.9 1.5 19 418 22 294 15 418 18 294

TABLE 9 Carbon dioxide mission mitigation of solar tree system

Annual electricity harvest Life Kaya Carbon dioxide for Carbon price in Carbon
Solar
per year spans identity life spans tonne credit
tree/unit
kWh years kgCO2/kWh $
2170 25 0.9832 53 339 21 1120

saving cost obtained with Table 7. Discount rate at 6%
and 4.5% based SIR, Net Present Value (NPV), and Pre-
sent Value (PV) for solar tree given in Table 8. The SIR of
solar trees in acceptable ranges (greater/higher than 1.0).
If SIR is equal to 1.0, the PV of future savings is also
equal to obtain these savings. SIR is higher than 1.0, the
investment of return is better than easily obtain a return.
5.3.3 | Carbon dioxide emission mitigation
3. The tree output has DC voltage and current improve-
ment of 7.69% and 9.52%, respectively, in comparison
with the land-based system. Similarly, the improve-
ment in energy generation, PV energy density and
solar energy footprint are found as 28.02%, 42.37%,
and 39.47%, respectively.
4. The structure is capable to withstand with the wind
load in Himalayan region and the FOS against
wind speed of 100 km/h and 200 km/h are 6 and 1.52,
respectively.

Kaya identity is formulated by Japanese energy econo-
mist Yoichi Kaya, for calculating emission factors of the
greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. In the case of a country
like India, the carbon conversion factor for solar electric-
ity is 0.9832 kgCO2/kWh. Kaya identity calculation based
on the annual harvest of electricity of the solar tree sys-
tem is obtained in Table 7. The proposed carbon credit
earned by the solar tree is given in Table 9.
6 | C ONCLUSIONS A ND
FUTURE WORKS
The study describes the detailed road map for the design
and development of the solar tree for electricity
harvesting in detail. The research and development bar-
gain many benefits in outlining the implementation of
solar trees at mass level in the mountainous region:
1. The design provides guidelines to implement similar
systems as an innovative solution for lighting systems
in smart cities and offers optimal land use and cost-
efficiency.
2. The design structure is instrumental in creating
awareness about solar technology, which indeed will
encourage people to adopt it for their electricity needs.
International agencies like United Nations Development
Program, Global Environment Facility, and United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
should focus on any pilot case study in urban/rural
areas. Energy security based on renewable sources such
as solar tree plays a very important role in the eco-
nomic and social development of all nations. Hence, it
is essentially required to include any alternate energy
production source for the economic development of a
country. Therefore, developing countries such as India
need to promote solar tree-based installation systems.
In this context, energy self-sufficiency plays an impor-
tant role in the economic/social development and pros-
perity of developing countries. The government should
be involved in providing financial support in terms of
subsidy for procurement and installation of a solar tree,
making it a popular choice and promote the eco-
friendly energy solution. The future development of
solar trees includes use of biological-solar cells, res-
haping solar spectrum to turn light into electricity, and
FPGA hardware integration for faster computation. The
electrical and electronic components of the solar tree
need to be addressed with exhaustive study on electro-
magnetic compatibility. Electromagnetic interference
impact analysis is required at every stage of the devel-
opment process.
KUMAR ET AL.
A C K N O WL E D G M E N T S
We are grateful for the support of the mechanical engi-
neering, electrical and electronics engineering, and
research and development department of the University
of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India for
their ceaseless support and motivation.
ORCID
Roushan Kumar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7358-2086
Adesh Kumar https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0209-9206
R EF E RE N C E S
1. Murugaperumal K, Srinivasn S, Satya Prasad GRKD. Optimum
design of hybrid renewable energy system through load fore-
casting and different operating strategies for rural electrifica-
tion. Sustain Energy Technol Assess. 2020;37:100613. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2019.100613
2. Shukla AK, Sudhakar K, Baredar P. Renewable energy
resources in south Asian countries: challenges, policy and rec-
ommendations. Resour Technol. 2017;3:342-346. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.reffit.2016.12.003
3. Hassan G, Yilbas BS, Al-Sharafi A, Sahin AZ, Al-Qahtani H.
Solar energy harvesting and self-cleaning of surfaces by an
impacting water droplet. Int J Energy Res. 2020;44:388-401.
https://doi.org/10.1002/er.4935
4. Cao W, Li Z, Yang Y, et al. “Solar tree”: exploring new form
factors of organic solar cells. Renew Energy. 2014;72:134-139.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.06.045
5. Shahrukh Anis M, Jamil B, Azeem Ansari M, Bellos E. Gener-
alized models for estimation of global solar radiation based on
sunshine duration and detailed comparison with the existing: a
case study for India. Sustain Energy Technol Assess. 2019;31:
179-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2018.12.009
6. Dey S, Lakshmanan MK, Pesala B. Optimal solar tree design for
increased flexibility in seasonal energy extraction. Renew Energy.
2018;125:1038-1048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.02.017
7. Dhoke A, Sharma R, Saha TK. An approach for fault detection
and location in solar PV systems. Sol Energy. 2019;194:197-208.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2019.10.052
8. Yilbas BS, Al-Sharafi A, Sahin AZ. Solar energy harvesting and
a water droplet cleaning of micropost arrays surfaces. Int J
Energy Res. 2020;44:2072-2083. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.5063
9. Al Garni H, Kassem A, Awasthi A, Komljenovic D, Al-
Haddad K. A multicriteria decision making approach for evalu-
ating renewable power generation sources in Saudi Arabia.
Sustain Energy Technol Assess. 2016;6:137-150. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.seta.2016.05.006
10. Dey S, Pesala B. Solar tree design framework for maximized
power generation with minimized structural cost. Renew
Energy. 2020;162:1747-1762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.
2020.07.035
11. Hayat MB, Ali D, Monyake KC, Alagha L, Ahmed N. Solar
energy—a look into power generation, challenges, and a solar-
powered future. Int J Energy Res. 2019;43:1049-1067. https://
doi.org/10.1002/er.4252
12. Malik P, Awasthi M, Sinha S. Biomass-based gaseous fuel for
hybrid renewable energy systems: an overview and future
15
research opportunities. Int J Energy Res. 2021;45:3464-3494.
https://doi.org/10.1002/er.6061
13. Hyder F, Sudhakar K, Mamat R. Solar PV tree design: a review.
Renew Sustain Energy Rev. 2018;82:1079-1096. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.rser.2017.09.025
14. Sarkar J, Bhattacharyya S. Application of graphene and graphene-
based materials in clean energy-related devices Minghui. Arch
Thermodyn. 2012;33:23-40. https://doi.org/10.1002/er
15. Akinyele DO, Rayudu RK. Review of energy storage technolo-
gies for sustainable power networks. Sustain Energy Technol
Assess. 2014;8:74-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seta.2014.07.004
16. Shanmukhi K, Rajeev Kumar J, Siva Prasad NVSS, Naidu MK,
Srinivasa RS. Design and Analysis on Structure of a Solar Tree
for 3 kW Capacity. Switzerland, AG: Springer Nature; 2019;32:
747-757. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7643-6_60
17. Senthil R, Yuvaraj S. A comprehensive review on bioinspired
solar photovoltaic cells. Int J Energy Res. 2019;43:1068-1081.
https://doi.org/10.1002/er.4255
18. Khezzar R, Zereg M, Khezzar A. Modeling improvement of the
four parameter model for photovoltaic modules. Sol Energy.
2014;110:452-462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2014.09.039
19. Manian R, Devananda M, Kathirvel K. Design and develop-
ment of a trencher. AMA Agric Mech Asia Africa Lat Am. 2000;
31:12-18.
20. Kurt H, Ozkaymak M. Performance evaluation of a small-scale
sodium carbonate salt gradient solar pond. Int J Energy Res.
2006;30:905-914. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.1193
21. Bhuvaneswari C, Rajeswari R, Kalaiarasan C,
Muthukumararajaguru KMS. Idea to design a solar tree using
nanowire solar cells. Int J Sci Res Publ. 2013;3:1-3.
22. Gangwar P, Singh R, Tripathi RP, Singh AK. Effective solar
power harnessing using a few novel solar tree designs and their
performance assessment. Energy Sources Pt A Recover Util Envi-
ron Eff. 2019;41:1828-1837. https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.
2018.1549162
23. Duque E, Isaza A, Ortiz P, Chica S, Lujan A, Molina J. Urban
sets innovation: design of a solar tree PV system for charging
mobile devices in Medellin - Colombia. Paper presented at:
2017 6th Interenational Conference on Renewable Energy
Research and Applications ICRERA; 2017; San Diego,
CA. https://doi.org/10.1109/DISTRA.2017.8191109.
24. Tasri A, Susilawati A. Selection among renewable energy alter-
natives based on a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process in Indone-
sia. Sustain Energy Technol Assess. 2014;7:34-44. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.seta.2014.02.008
25. Madeti SR, Singh SN. Modeling of PV system based on experi-
mental data for fault detection using kNN method. Sol Energy.
2018;173:139-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2018.07.038
26. Oluwafemi I, Laseinde T, Salau AO. Design and construction
of a 0.5 kW solar tree for powering farm settlements. Int J Mech
Eng Technol. 2019;10:19-33.
27. Huang Q, Huang C, Liu S, Wang F, Guo C. Solar vapor genera-
tion optimization of a carbon-black/wood-flour system with
strength enhanced by polystyrene. Int J Energy Res. 2020;44:
3687-3696. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.5154
28. Bishoyi D, Sudhakar K. Modeling and performance simulation
of 100 MW LFR based solar thermal power plant in Udaipur,
India. Resour Eff Technol. 2017;3:365-377. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.reffit.2017.02.002
16
29. Hyder F, Baredar P, Sudhakar K, Mamat R. Performance and
land footprint analysis of a solar photovoltaic tree. J Clean
Prod. 2018;187:432-448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.
03.249
30. Kumar R, Divyanshu KA. Nature based self-learning mecha-
nism and simulation of automatic control smart hybrid anti-
lock braking system. Wirel Pers Commun. 2021;116:3291-3308.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-020-07853-7
31. Bontempo Scavo F, Tina GM, Gagliano A, Nižetic S. An assess-
ment study of evaporation rate models on a water basin with
floating photovoltaic plants. Int J Energy Res. 2021;45:167-188.
32. Baitule AS, Sudhakar K. Solar powered green campus: a simu-
lation study. Int J Low-Carbon Technol. 2017;12:400-410.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlct/ctx011
33. Doss CRJ, Kumaravel M, Jagadeesh Kumar V. A novel mea-
surement technique for performance comparison of sun tracker
systems. Paper presented at: 2013 IEEE International Instru-
mentation and Measurement Technology Conference; 2013;
Minneapolis, MN: 1156–60. https://doi.org/10.1109/I2MTC.
2013.6555595.
34. Muminovic A, Pervan N, Tasic P, Avdic V, Muminovic A,
Pervan N, et al. Implementation of the Project “Solar tree” in
Sarajevo. Paper presented at: Conference: Green Design Con-
ference. Vol. 2; 2013; Sarajev, Bosnia Herzegovina.
35. Gupta S, Gupta M. The benefits and applications of solar tree
with natural beauty of trees. SSRG Int J Electr Electron Eng.
2015;29-34.
36. Vasconcelos Sampaio PG, Aguirre Gonzalez MO, Monteiro de
Vasconcelos R, et al. Prospecting technologies for photovoltaic
solar energy: overview of its technical-commercial viability. Int
J Energy Res. 2020;44:651-668. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.4957
37. Kumar Patro S, Saini RP. Mathematical modeling framework
of a PV model using novel differential evolution algorithm. Sol
Energy. 2020;211:210-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.
2020.09.065
38. Voyant C, Notton G, Kalogirou S, et al. Machine learning
methods for solar radiation forecasting: a review. Renew
Energy. 2017;105:569-582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.
2016.12.095
39. Almaktar M, Abdul Rahman H, Hassan MY. Effect of losses
resistances, module temperature variation, and partial shading
on PV output power. Paper presented at: PECon 2012: 2012
IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy; 2012;
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. https://doi.org/10.1109/PECon.2012.
6450238.
40. Kouchaki A, Iman-Eini H, Asaei B. A new maximum power
point tracking strategy for PV arrays under uniform and non-
uniform insolation conditions. Sol Energy. 2013;91:221-232.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2013.01.009
41. Kumar A, Bansal K, Kumar D, Devrari A, Kumar R, Mani P.
FPGA application for wireless monitoring in power plant. Nucl
Eng Technol. 2020;53:1167-1175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.net.
2020.09.003
42. Chen W, Shen H, Shu B, Qin H, Deng T. Evaluation of perfor-
mance of MPPT devices in PV systems with storage batteries.
Renew Energy. 2007;32:1611-1622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
renene.2006.06.009
43. Shukla AK, Sudhakar K, Baredar P. A comprehensive review
on design of building integrated photovoltaic system. Energ
KUMAR ET AL.
Build. 2016;128:99-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.
06.077
44. Kumar Singh V, Ravi TL. Direct current and alternative cur-
rent based solar micro-grid in rural energy infrastructure.
J Fundam Renew Energy Appl. 2015;6:1. https://doi.org/10.
4172/2090-4541.1000196
45. Wu L, Wen C, Ren H. Reliability evaluation of the solar power
system based on the Markov chain method. Int J Energy Res.
2017;41:2509-2516. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.3816
46. Baci AB, Salmi M, Menni Y, Ghafourian S, Sadeghzadeh M,
Ghalandari M. A new configuration of vertically connecting
solar cells: solar tree. Int J Photoenergy. 2020;1-8. https://doi.
org/10.1155/2020/8817440
47. Kumar R, Kumar A. Design and hardware development of
power window control mechanism using microcontroller.
Paper presented at: 2013 Interenational Conference on Signal
Processing and Communication (ICSC); 2013; Noida, India.
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSPCom.2013.6719813.
48. Ji YH, Kim JG, Park SH, Kim JH, Won CY. C-language based
PV array simulation technique considering effects of partial
shading. Paper presented at: Proceedings of IEEE International
Conference on Industrial Technology, 2009; Churchill,
Australia. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICIT.2009.4939687.
49. Das AS, Dwivedi PK, Mondal AK, Kumar R, Reddy RM,
Kumar A. Storage optimization of automated storage and
retrieval systems using breadth-first search algorithm. In:
Nath V, ed. Proceedings of the Internatioal Conference on
Nano-electronics, Circuits and Communication Systems.
Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering. Singapore:
Springer; 2017:229-238. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-
10-2999-8_18
50. Ishaque K, Salam Z, Syafaruddin. A comprehensive MATLAB
Simulink PV system simulator with partial shading capability
based on two-diode model. Sol Energy. 2011;85(9):2217-2227.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2011.06.008
51. Kumar R & Kumar A Design and hardware development of
power window control mechanism using microcontroller.
Paper presented at: 2013 Interenational Conference on Signal
Processing and Communication (ICSC); 2013; Noida, India:
361–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSPCom.2013.6719813.
52. Heisler GM. Effects of individual trees on the solar radiation
climate of small buildings. Urban Ecol. 1986;9:337-359. https://
doi.org/10.1016/0304-4009(86)90008-2
53. Jaleel JA, Omega AR. Maximum power point tacking simula-
tion of PV array at partially shaded condition using LabVIEW.
Paper presented at: 2013 International Conference on Control
Communication and Computation (ICCC). IEEE Computer
Society; 2013; Thiruvanathapuram, India:319–324. https://doi.
org/10.1109/ICCC.2013.6731672.
54. Nguyen XH. Matlab/Simulink based modeling to study effect
of partial shadow on solar photovoltaic array. Environ Syst Res.
2015;4:20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40068-015-0042-1
55. Kumar R, Ahuja NJ, Saxena M, Kumar A. Automotive power
window communication with DTC algorithm and hardware-in-
the loop testing. Wirel Pers Commun. 2020;114:3351-3366.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-020-07535-4
56. Jakubiec JA, Reinhart CF. A method for predicting city-wide
electricity gains from photovoltaic panels based on LiDAR and
GIS data combined with hourly Daysim simulations. Sol
KUMAR ET AL. 17

Energy. 2013;93:127-143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2013. Conference on Power Electronics (IICPE); 2015;

03.022 Kurukshetra, India. https://doi.org/10.1109/IICPE.2014.
57. Kumar R, Ahuja NJ, Saxena M. Improvement and approval of 7115821.
impediment recognition and activity for power window. In:
Singh R, Choudhury S, Gehlot A, eds. Intelligent Communica-
tion, Control and Devices. Advances in Intelligent Systems and
Computing. Vol 624. Singapore: Springer; 2018. How to cite this article: Kumar R, Bansal K,
58. Bogno B, Sawicki JP, Salame T, et al. Improvement of safety, Kumar A, Yadav J, Gupta MK, Singh VK.
longevity and performance of lead acid battery in off-grid PV Renewable energy adoption: Design, development,
systems. Int J Hydrogen Energy. 2017;42:3466-3478. https://doi. and assessment of solar tree for the mountainous
org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.12.011
region. Int J Energy Res. 2021;1-17. https://doi.org/
59. Kumar R, Dwivedi PK, Praveen Reddy D, Das AS. Design
and implementation of hydraulic motor based elevator sys-
10.1002/er.7197
tem. Paper presented at: 2014 IEEE 6th India International