Photovoltaic Energy Systems

Found a good "Photovoltaic Energy Systems" link? Let Us Know!

Chris, a viewer wrote us:

"I was checking out your Photovoltaic Energy page and noticed you didn’t have any links for using Stirling engines to convert the sun’s heat into electrical power. If a person really wants to power his/her home with solar energy they should check this technology out. This type of system is probably easier to build and maintain by the average person than a photovoltaic system would be. Also this system is probably cheaper than buying the photovoltaic cells needed to power their house. Basically the system consists of a solar dish with a Stirling engine attached to it. The solar dish collects and focus’s the suns energy on a single point. This point gets very hot which the Stirling engine uses to create power. Here’s a link on the topic: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/csp.html. The thing I like best about this system is that a person can build it completely on their own. They don’t have to rely on a company to buy solar cells. There are several good articles on this topic..."

Here you go, Chris (Thanks for the hint!) SSRsi Stirling Page

How do Photovoltaics Work? Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of light into electricity at the atomic level. Some materials exhibit a property known as the photoelectric effect that causes them to absorb photons of light and release electrons. When these free electrons are captured, an electric current results that can be used as electricity. See also: Photovoltaics - PV Basics

Design and Installation of PV Systems The selection and proper installation of appropriately-sized components directly affect system reliability, lifetime, and initial cost. In any installation, it must be kept in mind that trade-offs are necessary in system design and component selection. Information provided here will assist in making your own system decisions.

Solar Cells - UNDERSTANDING SOLAR CELLS By Dennis Elwell & Richard Komp

Homemade Solar Panels This is the fabrication technique that has evolved out of my trials and errors. I'm sure there are many different ways to build solar panels that would work just fine. I have tried to keep mine as simple as possible.

Basic Electrification for Rural Households - GTZ's Experience with the Dissemination of Small-Scale Photovoltaic Systems (GTZ, 1992, 28 p.) Initially, the discussion focuses on the various ways in which the dissemination of PV systems can be integrated into the overall energy supply planning process and on the general conditions that must be met in order for this linking of technology diffusion and supply planning to be successful in practice. Next we endeavor to specify and precisely define the roles of the various actors in the dissemination process. After this groundwork has been laid, we describe what an organization like GTZ must do in order to ensure that PV systems can be disseminated on a large scale and on a self-sustaining basis.

Photovoltaic Water Pumps & Photovoltaic Applications Factsheet

Low Cost Tracking Ridge Concentrator A new tracking soft (C=1.5 -1.7) concentrator (front page photograph) which can double PV energy harvest (in comparison with fixed panels) and substantially reduce price of PV energy is presented.

Pumping Water for Irrigation Using Solar Energy Interesting 1992 paper on PV powered pumping for irrigation wire. Good analysis of system. Interesting reflector/tracking arrangement on the PV panels that increases panel output significantly.

$35 DIY PV Tracker This tracker uses an old satellite dish antenna tracking base to provide a mount for PV panels that track the sun across the sky each day. The satellite actuator is driven by the $35 tracker from www.RedRok.com. The description was posted on the Fieldlines forum in March of 06 by Volvo farmer.

Mother's Super-Simple Solar Tracker This article provides some how-to information on designing and building solar array trackers that use canisters of refrigerant to passively track the sun. This is similar to the very popular ZomeWorks trackers. Several designs are discussed. The trackers in the article use Freon -- in a new design you would, of course, have to substitute a different refrigerant.

Home Built Solar Mount In my first attempt, I had built six solar panels that were mounted to a framework of treated 2 X 4's constructed in a fashion that resembled a child's swing set. Each end had two legs that supported a cross piece to which three panels were attached. I wanted to be able to raise and lower the bottom edge of the panels as the sun gets higher and lower in the sky with the seasons. The idea was effective with just one itsy bitsy little problem...

$600 gets your house on solar power... kinda Got 600 bucks hiding in an old book somewhere? Maybe it’s time to bring electricity into that little homestead you’ve got tucked away in the woods. But wait a minute, you say, with justifiable hesitancy. Solar-electric systems all cost thousands, don’t they? No, just the expensive ones...

Simpler Solar Power – Grid-Tied Solar Systems Make Choosing Clean, Renewable Electricity Easier and More Affordable Than Ever. See also: A Simple Solar Solution

Grid-Tied Soar In Small Town, USA Good Home Power Article on authors attempt to be "Carbon neutral" through conservation, less fossil fuel, solar active and passive strategies, and a grid tied PV system. Most of the article details his experiences with installing a grid tied PV system in Ashland, OR -- a pretty positive experience all-around.

Observations on Photovoltaic Cell Panels When we installed the panels on our house roof I had the expectation that we could allow them to sit there without a worry or care, to generate electricity during daylight hours for the next twenty-five years when the guarantee runs out. My early discovery that in order to achieve maximum output one must rinse them once each month or so is something not fully appreciated by everyone, even the experts.

The Physics of Photovoltaic Cells

Plug into the Sun This article provides an overview of the financial aspects of building a solar PV system. Concentrates primarily on obtaining government grants to reduce the cost of the system.

Walden Pond -- The Solar Version Good basic article on setting up a small cabin so it can be powered by a small PV system. Mostly about minimizing electric loads so that the PV system does not end up costing more than the cabin.

RE Earthship Design: on-the-job-training [PDF] A good Home Power magazine article on sizing and living with an off grid PV and wind system for an Earthship. Good material for planning how to live on a relatively small PV system -- 1997.

Spray-On Solar-Power Cells a True Breakthrough Scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun's power into electrical energy, even on a cloudy day. The plastic material uses nanotechnology and contains the first solar cells able to harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays. The breakthrough has led theorists to predict that plastic solar cells could one day become five times more efficient than current solar cell technology...

Build this simple Mini Maximizer Greatly improve the performance of solar-powered pumps and motors by building this simple mini-maximizer.

Solar Information Index - GO Solar Company This website map is sorted into three vertical rows of solar energy information, Heating, Electric and Catalog. Additional pages of components and systems specifications are available by clicking on the individual catalog titles.

Design Guide Quite extensive with easy to understand graphics.

Digital Clock with Timer and Solar Panel Regulator (charge controller used to maintain a deep cycle battery) - Bowden's Hobby Circuits

Battery Basics and Information The subject of batteries could take up many pages. All we have room for here is a basic overview of batteries commonly used with photovoltaic power systems. These are nearly all various variations of Lead-Acid batteries. For a very brief discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of these and other types of batteries, such as NiCad, NiFe (Nickel-Iron), etc. go to our Batteries for Deep Cycle Applications page. These are sometimes referred to as "deep discharge" batteries. The correct term is deep cycle.

SOLAR MAP OF THE U.S.

Two sets of solar radiation resource maps are available on the RReDC. Both are derived form the National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB). They are:

The Atlas for The Solar Radiation Data Manual For Flat-Plate and Concentrating Collectors

The Atlas for The Solar Radiation Data Manual For Buildings

Home Power Magazine's RE SYSTEM COMPONENTS. This schematic represents a typical home power system utilizing photovoltaic input (could be any alternate energy system, really). Click on any component for more info. Really excellent stuff, here!

"How to Make Your Own Solar Power Generator for Less Than $300" Article illustrates (with text and graphics) how to build a home solar (photovoltaics) station using components from local sources. Not hi-tech stuff, but should work in a pinch. Use your imagination to make it portable or increase efficiency.

STUFF I LEARNED ABOUT AMORPHOUS SOLAR PANELS Amorphous solar cells have a relatively high output impedance when you compare them to something like a Ni-Cad battery or power supply. This means that the more current you draw from them, the lower their output voltage appears to be.

"Photovoltaic Energy Systems" Experiment PE1 Solar-Modules. Huge, great resource if you can handle the math.

My Homemade Solar Tracker (& how to make your own) If you have enough carpentry skills to make a bird house, you can build this tracker.

PVWATTS: A Performance Calculator for Grid-Connected PV Systems PVWATTS calculates electrical energy produced by a grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system. Currently, PVWATTS can be used for locations within the United States and its territories. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed PVWATTS to permit non-experts to quickly obtain performance estimates for grid-connected PV systems.

REPiS 6.0 Interactive Online Database Search the REPiS database for data on bioenergy, geothermal, hydroelectric, photovoltaic, solar thermal and wind electric plants.

Photovoltaic (PV) Module Angles Article on setting the tilt of your PV array. From Home Power Magazine #36, in Acrobat format.

All of the PV module testing articles ever printed in Home Power magazine.

PV Wire Sizing Windows Excel Wire Size Specifier for any voltage PV array.

Solar Cell Power Doubler - KeelyNet 12/17/01 and other stuff

A Guide to Photovoltaic (PV) System Design and Installation, Endecon Engineering and Regional Economic Research, California Energy Commission, 2001. 40 pp. Publication No. 500-01-020. PDF Format

Photovoltaic Power Systems and the National Electrical Code: Suggested Practices, J. Wiles, Southwest Technology Development Institute (STDI). Updated and republished periodically. Available for free in print or downloadable from the Web at: Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0753; Phone: (505) 844-3698; Fax: (505) 844-6541; Email: [email protected]; World Wide Web: http://www.sandia.gov/pv/

Photovoltaics: Basic Design Principles and Components Summary: This fact sheet explains how you can use the sun, through photovoltaic (PV) technology, to provide your home with electricity. Also available HERE

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago92.html This is not one of those inexpensive solar walk lights sold in garden supply stores. This is a commercial quality light that can easily illuminate a parking area, remote outbuilding, dark driveway, or large road sign.

"The Nanocrystalline Solar Cell Kit: Re-creating Photosynthesis" is a teaching tool which uses natural dyes extracted from berries, and non-toxic materials to create a solar cell that lasts only a few months, but can teach students about sustainable energy production.

Owning a PV/Wind Hybrid System: Being Your Own Utility [PDF] and Being Your Own Power Company - Is It For You? You can't buy a cheaper source of clean electric power generation than photovoltaic power. Combined with a significant use of energy efficiency measures in your home, you can now offset a high percentage of your electric bill with electricity produced by pv panels installed on your roof, or in your back yard.

David Butcher's 4 Phases of Solar Electricity After years of experience with photovoltaic energy, including teaching workshops on assembling your own solar panels from individual cells, I have come to the conclusion that there are four reasonable targets for individuals to consider when choosing a solar electric system. One of the difficult decisions to make when choosing a solar electric system is to choose a size that makes sense for your location, budget, and personal goals.

Photovoltaic Cells The most common type of photovoltaic cell is made primarily from silicon, an element with an outer shell containing 4 electrons. Since 8 electrons fit snugly into the outer shell, when you stick a lot of silicon atoms together they will arrange themselves so that they share each other's outer electrons and have full outer orbitals. When an electron is in the outer orbital of an atom in a solid, it is said to be in a valence band. But, given enough energy, electrons can leave the restrictive valence band and move into the conduction band, where they are able to move around and carry charge. This moving charge is called electric current - the stuff that we're after. Conduction band electrons are either extra electrons that don't fit into an already full valence band or have been coaxed into moving from the valence band to the higher energy conduction band.

Nanostructured Photovoltaic Cells This project involves making efficient photovoltaic (PV) cells with semiconducting polymers that could be deposited in reel-to-reel coaters. Careful analysis and optimization of each process that occurs in bulk heterojunction PV cells will be carried out and devices based on ordered interpenetrating networks of organic and inorganic semiconductors will be created. Specifically this research will lead to devices that will efficiently split excitons and carry charge to electrodes, that will have improved packing of the molecules in the organic semiconductor to enhance its ability to carry charge, and that will have a modified organic-inorganic interface to prevent recombination of electrons and holes. It is anticipated that charge recombination in the cells will be almost completely eliminated and energy conversion efficiencies in the range of 10-15% will be obtained.

MIT Team Demonstrate Plant Protein Photovoltaic Cell Baldo's team isolated a variety of photosynthetic proteins from spinach and sandwiched them between two layers of conducting material. When light was shone on to the tiny cell, an electrical current was generated. Their discovery is reported in Nano Letters1. See also: organic photovoltaics and LEDs

A Step Closer to the Optimum Solar Cell In 2002, the researchers learned that indium gallium nitride (InGaN) would respond to different wavelengths of light if the proportions of indium and gallium in the alloy were adjusted. Thus it might be possible to create a photovoltaic cell sensitive to the full solar spectrum by stacking multiple negatively and positively doped layers to form several current-producing junctions.

Additional information

"Diluted II-VI oxide semiconductors with multiple band gaps," by Kin Man Yu, Wladek Walukiewicz, Wei Shan, and Jeff Beeman of Berkeley Lab, Mike Scarpulla and Oscar Dubon of Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley, and Piotr Becla of MIT, appeared in Physical Review Letters, 12 December 2003.
More about indium gallium nitride for solar cells
More about the structures of solar cells

Please Read The Website Disclaimer!
Copyright 1986-2012, The Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute (SSRsi), All Rights Reserved
Site conceptualized, designed, created & maintained by MEG Raven
Snail Mail: SSRsi, PO Box 2572 Dillon, CO. 80435-2572