ENERGY CONVERSION AND

GENERATION

ELE 3216 2: RE Sources

By Emmanuel Wokulira Miyingo
miyingo@yahoo.com
+256702423774/+256782423774

By E. W. Miyingo 1
 Renewable Energy Sources
• Continuously replenished.
• They include: Solar, Hydro, Biomass, Biogas,
Geothermal, and Wind.
•NOTEHave the following advantages
; advantages make something better over the other
among other
– Clean
– Silent
– Cannot be depleted and solution to global
warming.
– Reduced green house gases and pollution.
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 Renewable Energy Sources
• Advantages Cont’d
– Reduced/no emissions
– Some require simple technologies for harnessing
– Abundant and almost every region is endowed.
– Some have no moving parts.
– Little maintenance in some of them.
– Some consume no fuel especially solar.
– Carbon credits.

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 Renewable Energy Sources
Major disadvantages/challenges.
– Still relatively expensive ------>looking at initial cost as well as maintenance cost
– Rudimentary technologies.----->involving basic principles and in some cases
unsatisfactory to work with

– Policy issues. ----->required for the setup of the technology

– Social issues. ---> cooking using bio gas from cow dung my be considered not good by some
people

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 Relevance of Renewable Energy
are the uses or importance

• Energy Resources availability and not depleted if used sustainably, thus

will used to supply energy

• Increasing world population more man power to grow trees and put up
other energy sources

• Increased expectations for better lifestyle would push people

to look for che

• Economic growth their will be enough money to put up more energy sources such as
solar systems to provide energy

• Energy requirement for anticipated growth

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 Solar Energy
All energy that is obtained directly or indirectly form the sun
• Energy from the sun
• All energy directly and indirectly comes from
the sun.
• Sun's diameter = 1.4×109m (approx. 100×
earth's dia.)
• Average distance = 1.5×1011m (approx. 100×
sun's dia.
• The energy from the sun is either solar PV or
solar thermal (active solar).
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 Solar Energy Cont’d
• The sun converts mass into energy (according
to Einstein's equation E = mc2) by means of
nuclear fusion.
• Suggests the sun will eventually “die”.
• The energy radiates from the sun's surface
(the photosphere at approx. 6000 K) mainly as
electromagnetic radiation.
• The sun's power = 3.8×1026 W, out of which
the earth is irradiated with 1.7×1017 W.
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 Solar Energy Cont’d
• The solar constant GSC = average power of the
sun sun's radiation that reaches a unit area,
perpendicular to the rays, outside the
d atmosphere (thus extraterrestrial or ET), at
earth's average distance from the sun:
• GSC  1367Wm 2 ( ± 1% measured uncertainty)

earth
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 Solar Energy Cont’d
• The letter G is for solar irradiance/intensity = P/A
the radiative power per unit area and index sc
is for solar constant.
• The ET solar spectrum is close to the spectrum
of a blackbody at 5777 K.
• Solar radiation consists of three radiations:
• Beam Radiation = radiation directly from the
sun.

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 Solar Energy Cont’d
• Diffuse Radiation = radiation from the sun
who's direction has been changed (Scattered).
• Albedo =Radiation reaching the earth’s
surface after reflection.
• Thus; Total Solar Radiation = beam + diffuse
radiation on a surface + Albedo.
• Global Radiation = total solar radiation on a
horizontal surface.
• Solar Insolation (I) given in [J/m2,hour].
Insolation refers to the quantity of solar radiation energy received
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on a surface of size X m² during an amount of time T
 Solar PV
• Solar PV = Solar Photovoltaic
• Direct conversion of solar radiation into
electricity.
• Solar cells are the conversion components.
• A solar cell is p-n diode with a large surface.
• They have a property “photoelectric effect”
that causes them to absorb photons of light
and release electrons.
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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Exposed to the sun rays which energize the
electrons bringing about motion.
• Hence current flow.
• A combination of several solar cells results
into a solar panel/module.
• While a solar array results from a combination
of several solar panels.
• Config: series or parallel (bypass or block
diodes used)
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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Illustration solar

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Solar Cell Schematic Symbol

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Solar Cell equivalent circuit

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Solar Cell equivalent circuit

( amperes )

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• I-V Characteristics (light radiation)

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• I-V Characteristics (Temperature)

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Terminal voltage is only weakly dependent on
light radiation,
• while the current intensity increases with
higher luminosity.
of increasing
• The net effect temperature is to linearly
reduce open-circuit voltage.

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Solar cell efficiency: depends on material

• Modern result has suggested efficiency of 35%.

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Solar system: several components/elements

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 Solar PV Cont’d
• Solar system can be stand alone (common in
developing countries like Uganda).
• Can also be grid connected (in developed
countries).

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 Solar System Sizing
• Normally start from the demand side.
• Sizing is very important i.e avoid over/under
size.
• Initial cost of solar systems usually high.
• Recall: solar panels generate DC.
• So DC devices are directly hooked up.
• But can be modified to ss AC devices.

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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
• It can be defined as an engineering process
that determines the ratings and capacities of
the various systems components that are
sufficient to meet the power needs of a client
based on weather data, client information and
engineering knowledge.
• Thus, sizing is a detailed, accurate, time
consuming process that can be carried out by
specialists.
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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
• Here a simple method is explained, but gives
fairly correct values.
• Other approaches can be employed; but basic
principles are the same.
• Decide on loads (AC, DC or both).
• Identify all appliance(s) and their ratings.
Determine the
• Establish daily usage in hours for each
appliance.
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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
• Usage of some appliances may vary daily,
monthly or seasonally e.g. in schools.
• DC & AC loads may be separated. reason
in Wh/day
• Determine the daily energy usage for each
appliance and then the total (Wh/day).
• The system efficiency factor (loss factor)
and/or battery efficiency factor are used to
determine the overall size of the PV generator.

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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
• Note that the total ac power is used to
determine the size of the inverter.
by
• The power demand for the loads is used to
determine the wire sizes.

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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
• Basic Example for DC loads:

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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
(Wh/month)/h_sun_peak=wh/month
• Determine the design power for each month,
by dividing corrected Wh load for the system
for each month, by the monthly average peak
sun hour at the optimal tilt array/module.
• If one value is used then a month with lowest
insolation is used.
solar panels
• Determine the number of modules in parallel
(to meet power requirements).

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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
• Determine the design power for each month.
is`
• PV generator rated in Watt-Peak (Wp).
• Ready to go???
Recall:
• Required: Average insolation, H0 [peak-
sunshine hours/day, PSH] of the site and the
expected overall losses in the system.

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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
Recall cont’d:
• PSH are the equivalent number of hours of
sunlight at an irradiance of 1000 W/m2
• System factor is the inverse of system eff. & can
be calculated, but usually between 1.1 – 1.3.
• For the example above: E  145Wh / day
L
• Daily generation from the module is
determined; assume system factor of 1.25.
the system factor is 1.25 when we have a system efficiency of 80%
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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
for AC =1.25x(145/ (efficency of inverter))
Thus
E pv  1.25 * EL  181.25Wh / day
• Assume Insolation of 4.35
• PV generator: 181.25
Ppv   41.667W p
4.35

• No. of modules = Watt-peak/module rating

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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
Taking 15 W p panels
41.667
 3 panels
• No. of panels: 15
Battery Size
• Determine system voltage e.g 12V
• Determine days of autonomy; e.g 3 days.
• Determine depth of discharge (DoD) e.g 0.6.

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 Solar System Sizing Cont’d
Energy from the battery (Ah) per day:
181.25
EB   15.104 Ah / day
12
• For 3 days: 15.104*3 = 45.31Ah
• Capacity of the battery: 45.31/0.4 =
113.28Ah.
• Battery required: 120Ah.
• Choose suitable batteries.
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 Solar Thermal
• Solar thermal systems use the sun’s heat to
meet a variety of needs.
• Examples; heating water for industrial
processes, domestic water supplies, or
community swimming pools; preheating
building ventilation air; and direct heating of
building interiors (low temp application).

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 Solar Thermal Cont’d
first use
• The most widespread use of solar buildings
technology is solar water heating.
• Significant progress has been made in
improving the reliability and durability of
these systems. through the
• Use solar collectors i.e flat or curved/Parabolic
dishes and troughs.

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 Solar Thermal Cont’d
second use
• It can also be used in the generation of
electricity.
• Heat concentrated, then heats up water into
steam & through steam turbine 2 electricity.
(High temp/industrial application).

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 Hydropower
• More easily used energy from water.
• The prime mover is a water wheel/hydraulic
turbine.
• Transforms KE energy of the water into
mechanical energy.
• First PE because of head, then KE.
• Generation capacity depends on the head of
water and flow rate.
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 Hydropower Cont’d
• Thus

P  gHR
• Where;   eff .
• P = Power in kW
• H = Head in meters
• R = Flow rate in m3s-1
• g= acceleration due to gravity
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 Hydropower Cont’d
Plant lay out

40
 Hydropower Cont’d
• Major components: dam/ reservoir, gate &
control, turbine, penstock, Water turbines,
generator, powerhouse, transformer(s),
tailrace, Transmission line(s), and consumers.
• Study advantages and disadvantages
• Two well-known types of turbines: the Francis
and Kaplan (reaction-type) turbine and the
Pelton (impulse-type) turbine.

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 Hydropower Cont’d
Classifications
• According to amount of power: micro, mini,
small, medium, and large. (get specific ranges)
• According to head: low, medium, and high.
• According to development:
– Run-of-river: directs water to the turbines, using
the natural flow of the river with very little
alteration to the terrain stream channel at the site
and little impoundment of the water.
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 Hydropower Cont’d
Classifications Cont’d
is
– Diversion & canal: water diverted from the natural
channel into a canal or a long penstock, thus
diversion of water flow.
– Storage regulation: extensive impoundment of
water at reservoirs upstream.
– Pumped/storage: Water is pumped from a lower
reservoir to a higher reservoir.
– Others

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 Hydropower Cont’d
• Can be base plant supplying power
continuously.
• Can also supply as peak power plant when
there is very high demand.

ELE 3216 3

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