Solar energy and PV Cells

Presented By:
Supervisor: Dr. Shah
Surbhi Agarwal
Alam Mentor:
Dr.M.J.Siddiqui
 Contents
Basic Concept of Solar energy

Physics of Photovoltaic cells

PV modules

Application of solar panel

Emerging Technologies

Environmental

Aspects Indian

Scenario
What is solar energy?
radiant energy emitted by the sun.

The Sun daily provides about 10,000 times more energy to the Earth than we
consume.
The earth receives 174 petawatts [1015 watts] of solar radiations from the sun.

The total energy absorbed by earth’s atmosphere, oceans, land mass is 3,850,000
exajoules [1018 joules] per year.
The energy reaching earth’s atmosphere consists of about 8% UV radiation, 46%
visible
light, 46% infrared radiations.
 Why Solar Energy ?
Solar energy is the most readily available source of energy.

It is free.

It is also the most important of the non-conventional sources of energy

because it is non-polluting.
It is a renewable source of energy.

(Renewable Energy) (Nonrenewable Energy)

What is a Photovoltaic Cell?
also called solar cell, is an electrical device that converts the energy
of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect.

Ligh Electricit
t y

Solar Cell (PV)

 Photovoltaic effect
Sunlight is composed of photons, or particles of solar energy that contain various amounts
of energy corresponding to the different wavelengths of the solar spectrum.
The electrons present in the valence band absorb energy and, being excited, jump to the
conduction band and become free.
These highly excited electrons are accelerated into a different material by a built-in
potential.

This generates an electromotive force, and thus

some of the light energy is converted into electric
energy.
 History of Solar Cells

Discovery of Photovoltaic effect by French physicist , Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel.

A description of the first solar cells made from selenium wafer were made by Charles
Fritts and operated at 1% effeciency .
Charles Fritts constructed what was probably the first true solar cell. He coated a
semiconductor material (selenium) with an extremely thin layer of gold.
Audobert and Stora discover the photovoltaic effect in cadmium sulfide (CdS).
A cadmium sulphide p-n junction was produced with an efficiency of 6%
The University of South Wales breaks the 20% efficiency barrier for silicon solar
cells under one sun conditions.
The The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy achieve a 44.7% efficiency in solar cell
technology.
Basic structure of a SOLAR CELL
Operation of a solar cells
When sun light falls on silicon metal cell, the
photon energy allows the electrons from the P-
layer to move to the N-layer, creating an
electric potential difference on the
semiconductor borders.

If these borders are connected to a load by

conductive wires, there will be a flow of
electric current, getting back the electrons to
the P-layer and starting the process again.

A photovoltaic cell generally has low current

and voltage levels, of about 3 A and 0.7
V, respectively.
PV modules
Assemblies of cells are used to make solar modules , also known as solar
panels and these panels are combined to form arrays.

For this , many cells are connected in series and/or parallel to obtain the expected
current and voltage levels and this set of cells is mounted on an appropriate structure
to create a photovoltaic module.
 Major Solar Plants
“Nellis solar power plant” contains 70,000 solar
panels that generate 25 gigawatt-hours

“solar
one”, California
1,800 sun-tracking
a solar farm in the Philippines…
mirrors reflect heat
to a central
collector
 Types of PV cells

Silicon Crystalline Cells Thin Film Cells

made by using crystalline silicon solar made by depositing one or more thin
cells,developed from the microelectronics layers (thin film) of photovoltaic material
technology industry. on a substrate.

Mono Crystalline PV Cells Amorphous Silicon PV Cells

Multi Crystalline PV Cells Poly Crystalline PV

Cells (Non-Silicon
based)
 Silicon Crystalline Technology
Currently makes up 86% of PV market
Very stable with module efficiencies 10-16%

Mono crystalline PV Cells Multi Crystalline PV Cells

Made using saw-cut from single cylindrical Caste from ingot of melted and recrystallised
crystal of Si silicon
Operating efficiency up to 15% Cell efficiency ~12%
Accounts for 90% of crystalline Si market
 Thin Film Technology
Silicon deposited in a continuous on a base material such as glass, metal or polymers.
Thin-film crystalline solar cell consists of layers about 10μm thick compared with 200-
300μm layers for crystalline silicon cells.

PROS
•Low cost substrate and fabrication
process.

CONS
• Not very stable .
 Amorphous Silicon PV Cells
 The most advanced of thin film technologies .
 Operating efficiency ~6% .
 Makes up about 13% of PV market .

PROS
• Mature manufacturing technologies
available .

CONS
• Initial 20-40% loss in efficiency .
 Poly Crystalline PV Cells
( Non – Silicon Based Technology )

Unlike most other II/IV material CdTe exhibits direct band gap of 1.4eV and high
absorption coefficient

PROS
 16% laboratory efficiency
 6-9% module efficiency
CONS
 Immature manufacturing process
 Emerging Technologies
‘ Discovering new realms of Photovoltaic Technologies
‘

Electrochemical solar cells have their

active component in liquid phase.

Dye sensitizers are used to absorb light

and create electron-hole pairs in
nanocrystalline titanium dioxide
semiconductor layer.

Cell efficiency ~ 7%

E
 Emerging Technologies
‘ Discovering new realms of Photovoltaic Technologies
‘

Ultra Thin Wafer Solar Cells

Thickness ~ 45μm
Cell Efficiency as high as 20.3%

Anti- Reflection Coating

Low cost deposition techniques use a
metalorganic titanium or tantanum mixed with
suitable organic additives
 Environmental Aspects
 Exhaustion of raw materials
 CO2 emission during fabrication process
 Disposal problems of hazardous semiconductor material

In spite of all these environmental concerns,

Solar Photovoltaic is one of the cleanest form of
energy
 Where India now and its total installed capacity?
In terms of overall installed PV capacity, India
comes fourth after Japan, Germany and U.S. (With
Installed capacity of 110 MW).
India today is the second largest
manufacturer
in the world of PV panels.
The Delhi Government has decided to make use
of solar power compulsory for lighting up hoardings
and for street lighting .
Solar power generation is merely concentrated in
three states.
Gujarat
Rajasthan
Maharashtr
 Disadvantages of solar cells
 Solar panels are expensive.
 Solar power is inefficient in cloudy areas.
 A solar energy installation requires a large area for the system to be efficient in
providing a source of electricity.
 Solar power maintenance is a problem especially to those who doesn’t know the
proper techniques.
 Disposal is difficult for the batteries and solar panels when they have broken down
because they contain toxic chemicals like lead, sulfuric acid & cadmium telluride.

Solarbuzz European and US All Solar Module

Retail Price Index
Conclusions
• Solar energy is the energy emitted by the sun.
• It is the most abundant and renewable form of energy.
• Photovoltaic cells convert light energy into electrical energy.
• Assembly of PV cells make solar panels.
• Solar panels finds its applications in many fields such as domestic
lighting, solar vehicles etc.
• Cost and area are big disadvantage of solar cells.
References:
1 V. Smil, “Energy at the crossroads”, OECD Global Science Forum, 2006.

2 V. Smil, “General Energetics Energy in the Biosphere and Civilization” , xiii + 369 pp (1991).

3 "Climate and Earth’s Energy Budget". NASA Earth Observatory, (2009).

4 Donald A. Neaman, “Semiconductor Physics and devices”, fourth edition, Tata McGraw Hill Pvt. Ltd., pg:-
177-197.

5 B.H.Khan, “Non –conventional energy resources”, second edition , Tata McGraw Hill Pvt. Ltd., pg:-88-192

6 Mohit Kr. Srivastava, Sharad Kr. Gupta, Ashish Gupta, “Environmental Aspects of Solar Cell Modules”.
ThankYou!!
!