Arasu Engineering College, Kumbakonam-612501

ORO551- Renewable Energy Sources

Special Coaching Material
Unit-1 Principles of Solar Radiation
Part-A
1.Define Solar Constant.
The power of the sun at the earth, per square metre is called the solar constant and
is approximately 1370 watts per square metre (W m-2).
2.Explain solar azimuth angle.
✓ It is an angle subtended in the horizontal plane of the normal to the surface on
the horizontal plane.
✓ By convention, the angle is taken positive if the normal is west of south and
negative when east of south in northern hemisphere, and vice versa for
southern hemisphere.
3.Explain solar insolation.
The amount of solar radiation captured by unit area of earth surface over a specified
time for a given locality is called as solar insolation.
4.Distinguish between diffuse radiation and beam radiation.
Beam radiation (I b): Solar radiation received on the earth’s surface without change
in direction, is called beam or direct radiation.
Diffuse radiation (Id): The radiation received on a terrestrial surface (scattered by
aerosols and dust) from all parts of the sky dome, is known as diffuse radiation.
5.List out the instruments for measuring solar radiation and sun shine.
✓ Pyrheliometer.
✓ Pyranometer.
✓ Radiometer.
✓ Sunshine recorder.
6.What is renewable energy?
Renewable energy sources occur in nature which are regenerative or inexhaustible
like
✓ Solar energy,
✓ Wind energy,
✓ Hydropower,
✓ Geothermal,
✓ Biomass,
 ✓ Tidal and wave energy
7.Compose the Environmental impact of Solar Power.
✓ High cost in populated areas because of a large area of land required.
✓ No reclamation of such land is possible till the plant is decommissioned.
✓ Solar thermal systems use heat transfer fluids like glycol nitrates and sulphates.
for high temperature applications, CFCs and aromatic alcohols are required.
Solar thermal systems may pose a health hazard in public domain due to their
careless disposal.
8.State the principle involved in generating solar power.
The incident solar energy over the solar collectors has been transferred to a working
fluid which in turn converted into steam to rotate the turbine connected to the
generator.
9.List the advantage of solar concentrators.
✓ They will accumulate all the available solar energy to a fixed concentrator.
✓ Efficiency is high when compared to non-concentrated type collectors.
✓ More power output is possible.
10. What is meant by Zenith angle?
It is the vertical angle between the sun’s rays and the line perpendicular to the
horizontal plane through the point. It is the complimentary angle of the sun’s altitude
angle. Thus,

Part-B
1. Discuss about extra-terrestrial and terrestrial solar radiation.
Extra-terrestrial solar radiation:
✓ Extra-terrestrial radiation is the measure of solar radiation that would be
received in the absence of atmosphere.
✓ A typical spectral distribution of extra-terrestrial radiation is shown in Figure .
✓ The curve rises sharply with the wavelength and reaches the maximum value
of 2074 W/m2/mm at a wavelength of 0.48 mm.
✓ It then decreases asymptotically to zero, showing that 99% of the sun’s
radiation is obtained up to a wavelength of 4 mm.
 ✓ The distance between the sun and the earth varies due to the elliptical motion
of the earth.
✓ Accordingly, the extraterrestrial flux also varies, which can be calculated (on
any day) by the Equation

✓ where n is the day of the year counted from the first day of January.
✓ Solar radiation reaching the earth is essentially equivalent to blackbody
radiation.
✓ Using the Stefan–Boltzmann law, the equivalent blackbody temperature is 5779
K for a solar constant of 1367 W/m2.
Terrestrial solar radiation:
✓ For utilisation of solar energy, a study is required to be carried out of radiations
received on the earth’s surface.
✓ Solar radiations pass through the earth’s atmosphere and are subjected to
scattering and atmospheric absorption.
✓ A part of scattered radiation is reflected back into space.
✓ Short wave ultraviolet rays are absorbed by ozone and long wave infrared rays
are absorbed by CO2 and water vapours.
✓ Scattering is due to air molecules, dust particles and water droplets that cause
attenuation of radiation as detailed in Figure.
✓ Minimum attenuation takes place in a clear sky when the earth’s surface
receives maximum radiation.
The terms pertaining to solar radiation are now defined as below:
Beam radiation (Ib): Solar radiation received on the earth’s surface without change
in direction, is called beam or direct radiation.
Diffuse radiation (Id): The radiation received on a terrestrial surface (scattered by
aerosols and dust) from all parts of the sky dome, is known as diffuse radiation.
Total radiation (IT): The sum of beam and diffuse radiations (Ib + Id) is referred
to as total radiation. When measured at a location on the earth’s surface, it is called
solar insolation at the place. When measured on a horizontal surface, it is called global
radiation (Ig).
Sun at zenith: It is the position of the sun directly overhead.
Air mass (AM): It is the ratio of the path length of beam radiation through the
atmosphere, to the path length if the sun were at zenith. At sea level AM = 1, when
the sun is at zenith or directly overhead; AM = 2 when the angle subtended by zenith
and line of sight of the sun is 60°; AM = 0 just above the earth’s atmosphere. At zenith
angle qz, the air mass is calculated As in the figure.
During winter, the sun is low and hence the air mass is higher and vice versa during
summer.
Irradiance (W/m2): The rate of incident energy per unit area of a surface is termed
irradiance.
Albedo: The earth reflects back nearly 30% of the total solar radiant energy to the
space by reflection from clouds, by scattering and by reflection at the earth’s surface.
This is called the albedo of the earth’s atmosphere system.
2. Examine the working of a pyrheliometer.
✓ A pyrheliometer is used to measure direct solar radiation from the sun and its
marginal periphery.
✓ To measure direct solar radiation correctly, its receiving surface must be
arranged to be normal to the solar direction.
✓ For this reason, the instrument is usually mounted on a sun-tracking device
called an equatorial mount.
✓ The structure of an Angstrom electrical compensation pyrheliometer is shown
in Figure.
✓ This is a reliable instrument used to observe direct solar radiation, and has long
been accepted as a working standard.
✓ However, its manual operation requires experience.

✓ This pyrheliometer has a rectangular aperture, two manganin-strip sensors

(20.0 mm × 2.0 mm ×0.02 mm) and several diaphragms to let only direct
sunlight reach the sensor.
✓ The sensor surface is painted optical black and has uniform absorption
characteristics for short-wave radiation.
✓ A copper- constantan thermocouple is attached to the rear of each sensor
strip, and the thermocouple is connected to a galvanometer.
✓ The sensor strips also work as electric resistors and generate heat when a
current flows across them.
 ✓ When solar irradiance is measured with this type of pyrheliometer, the small
shutter on the front face of the cylinder shields one sensor strip from sunlight,
allowing it to reach only the other sensor.
✓ A temperature difference is therefore produced between the two sensor strips
because one absorbs solar radiation and the other does not, and a
thermoelectromotive force proportional to this difference induces current flow
through the galvanometer.
✓ Then, a current is supplied to the cooler sensor strip (the one shaded from solar
radiation) until the pointer in the galvanometer indicates zero, at which point
the temperature raised by solar radiation is compensated by Joule heat.
✓ A value for direct solar irradiance is obtained by converting the compensated
current at this time.
✓ If S is the intensity of direct solar irradiance and i is the current, then S = Ki2,
✓ where K is a constant intrinsic to the instrument and is determined from the
size and electric resistance of the sensor strips and the absorption coefficient of
their surfaces.
✓ The value of K is usually determined through comparison with an upper-class
standard pyrheliometer.

3. Examine the working of a Pyranometer.

✓ A pyranometer is used to measure global solar radiation falling on a
horizontal surface.
✓ Its sensor has a horizontal radiation-sensing surface that absorbs solar
radiation energy from the whole sky (i.e. a solid angle of 2π sr) and
transforms this energy into heat.
✓ Global solar radiation can be ascertained by measuring this heat energy.
✓ Most pyranometers in general use are now the thermopile type, although
bimetallic pyranometers are occasionally found.
Thermoelectric pyranometer is shown in Figure.
The instrument’s radiation-sensing element has basically the same structure as
that of a thermoelectric pyrheliometer.
Another similarity is that the temperature difference derived between the
radiation-sensing element (the hot junction) and the reflecting surface (the cold
junction) that serves as a temperature reference point is expressed by a
thermopile as an thermoelectromotive force.
✓ In the case of a pyranometer, methods of ascertaining the temperature
difference are as follows:
✓ Several pairs of thermocouples are connected in series to make a thermopile
that detects the temperature difference between the black and white
radiation-sensing surfaces.
✓ The temperature difference between two black radiation-sensing surfaces
with differing areas Is detected by a thermopile.
✓ The temperature difference between a radiation-sensing surface painted
solid black and a metallic block with high heat capacity is detected by a
thermopile.
4. How can solar energy be converted into electrical Energy? Give a diagram
showing the elements of such a plant.
Photovoltaic conversion:
✓ Several solar modules are connected in series/parallel to increase the
voltage/current ratings.
✓ When modules are connected in series, it is desirable to have each module’s
maximum power production occur at the same current.
✓ When modules are connected in parallel, it is desirable to have each module’s
maximum power production occur at the same voltage.
✓ Thus, while interconnecting the modules; the installer should have this
information available for each module.
✓ Solar panel is a group of several modules connected in series-parallel
combination in a frame that can be mounted on a structure.
Solar PV Systems:
1. Central Power Station System
✓ Central PV power stations are conceptually similar to any other conventional
central power station.
✓ They feed power to grid. These are being proposed in few MW range to meet
daytime peak loads only.
✓ Central PV power stations of up to 6 MWp (peak MW) capacities have already
been experimented within USA and Europe.
✓ While the concept has been demonstrated through such experimental plants,
the capital costs are currently somewhat high for their commercial exploitation.
2. Distributed System
Distributed form of energy use is unique and much more successful with solar and
most other renewable energy sources. These systems can be further divided into three
groups:
Stand Alone or Off Grid It is located at the load center and dedicated to meet all
the electrical loads of a village/community or a specific set of loads.
Energy storage is generally essential. It is most relevant and successful in remote and
rural areas having no access to grid supply. Indicative capacity of such a system is 10
Wp–100 kWp.
Various types of configurations for stand-alone PV system are shown in Fig
In Config. 1, a dc load is directly connected to PV panel. This is the simplest possible
configuration. Power is available only during sunshine hours and no arrangement is
made for power storage. Such type of arrangement may be used for supplying raw dc
load such as minor irrigation.
In Config. 2, a regulated power is supplied to the load. A DC-DC converter is inserted
between panel and load. The converter may be controlled using MPPT algorithm to
extract maximum power from the PV panel. Usually when MPPT is implemented a
battery is used to absorb excess power, which the load cannot consume.
Config. 3 is used for loads such as lighting for which battery storage is required. For
safe charging and discharging operation a charge controller is also required. The use
of battery ensures uninterrupted and smooth power availability. In the charge
controller operation, MPPT may also be implemented to optimize the use of solar
power.
Config. 4 also includes ac loads for which an inverter is also required. Since most of
the commonly available loads are ac type, this configuration is suitable for most
domestic and commercial applications.
Grid-Interactive or Grid Tied This system is connected to the utility grid with two-
way metering system.
It may be a small rooftop system owned and operated by the house owner or a
relatively bigger (rack mounted) system meant for the whole village or a community.
It meets daytime requirements of the house owner without any battery backup and
surplus power is fed to the grid.
During peak hours and during nights the energy shortage may be met from grid.
The grid serves as infinite source or sink of energy.
Grid-connected PV systems usually employ two stages, to appropriately condition the
available solar power for feeding into the grid, as shown in Fig.
While the first stage is used to track the maximum solar power, the second stage
inverts this DC power into high quality AC power.
 Part-C
1.Derive the solar radiation falling on a tilted surface.

The above eqn can be demonstrated as

2.Examine the Environmental impact of solar power.

✓ Every energy generation and transmission method affect the environment.
 o As it is obvious conventional generating options can damage air,
climate, water, land and wildlife, landscape, as well as raise the levels
of harmful radiation.
o Renewable technologies are substantially safer offering a solution to
many environmental and social problems associated with fossil and
nuclear fuel.
o Solar energy technologies (SETs) provide obvious environmental
advantages in comparison to the conventional energy sources, thus
contributing to the sustainable development of human activities
✓ Not counting the depletion of the exhausted natural resources, their main
advantage is related to the reduced CO2 emissions, and, normally, absence of
any air emissions or waste products during their operation. Concerning the
environment, the use of SETs has additional positive implications such as:

✓ reduction of the emissions of the greenhouse gases (mainly CO2, NO x) and

prevention of toxic Gas emissions (SO2, particulates)
✓ reclamation of degraded land;
✓ reduction of the required transmission lines of the electricity grids; and
✓ improvement of the quality of water resources

✓ The basic research in solar energy is being carried in universities and

educational and research institutions, public sector institution, BHEL and
Central Electronic Limited and carrying out a coordinated program of research
of solar energy.