Distributed generation resources – I & II

Dr. Premalata Jena

Department of Electrical Engineering

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 Distributed generation resources
• Distributed energy resources (DER) are smaller power sources that can be
aggregated to provide power necessary to meet regular demand. [1]

• DER include any non-Bulk Electric System (Non-BES) resources (e.g.

generating unit, multiple generating units at a single location, energy
storage facility, micro-grid, etc.) located solely within the boundary of any
distribution utility. [2]

• DER are generally interconnected to a distribution provider’s electric

system at the primary voltage (≤ 100 kV but > 1 kV) and/or secondary
voltage (≤ 1 kV).
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 Distributed generation resources
wind
Solar turbines
photovoltaic
Solar Hydropower
photovoltaic

Natural- Small commercial

residential
gas-fired wind and industrial
sectors
fuel cells turbines sectors

fuel
Emergency cells
Biomass
backup combustion
generators Combined
heat and
power systems

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 Installed Capacity of Solar Energy
Top 10 countries in 2016 based on total PV Top 10 countries based on added PV
Installed PV solar power capacity in 2016 installed capacity (MW) capacity in 2016 (MW)

Fig.1: PV solar power scenarios

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 Solar Cell
• Solar cell is a photovoltaic device that converts the light energy into electrical
energy based on the principles of photovoltaic effect.

Photovoltaic effect: [3]

• The photovoltaic (PV) effect is the basis of the conversion of light to electricity in
photovoltaic, or solar, cells.
• Described simply, the PV effect is as follows: Light, which is pure energy, enters a
PV cell and imparts enough energy to some electrons (negatively charged
atomic particles) to free them.
• A built-in-potential barrier in the cell acts on these electrons to produce a
voltage (the so-called photovoltage), which can be used to drive a current
through a circuit.

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 Solar Cell

Fig.2: Light incident on the cell creates electron-hole pairs, which are separated by the potential barrier,
creating a voltage that drives a current through an external circuit. [3]

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 Solar Cell
Advantages of Solar PV: Disadvantages of Solar PV:
• can be used for either centralized or
• High cost.
distributed power generation.
• PV systems have no moving part.
• More surface area requirement.

• Energy independence and environmental • Efficiency depends upon availability

compatible. of sunlight.

• The fuel (sunlight) is free, and no noise or

pollution is created from operating PV systems.

• minimal maintenance and have long service

lifetime.

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 Three generations of solar cells [4]
Generation of solar cell Descriptions
First Generation • consist of large-area, high quality and single
junction devices.
• Ex: Silicon Wafer based solar cell.
Second Generation • developed to address energy requirements
and production costs of solar cells.
• Ex: Thin-film solar cell technology
Third Generation • developed to address production costs and
efficiency of solar cell.
• Ex: Advanced thin-film solar cell technology.

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Types of PV Technology: [6]

Fig.3: Types of PV Technology

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 Types of PV Technology: [6]
• Crystalline cells are made from ultra-pure silicon raw material such as those used in
semiconductor chips. They use silicon wafers that are typically 150-200 microns (one fifth
of a millimetre) thick.

• Thin film is made by depositing layers of semiconductor material barely 0.3 to 2

micrometres thick onto glass or stainless steel substrates. As the semiconductor layers
are so thin, the costs of raw material are much lower than the capital equipment and
processing costs.
Conversion Efficiency of Technologies

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 Cont…

Fig.4: Common PV module Technologies[5]

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 Solar Cell
Cells, Modules, Array [5]
• Photovoltaic cells are connected electrically in
series and/or parallel circuits to produce higher
voltages, currents and power levels.
• Photovoltaic modules consist of PV cell circuits
and are the fundamental building blocks of PV
systems. Photovoltaic panels include one or more
PV modules assembled as a pre-wired, field-
installable unit.
• A photovoltaic array is the complete power-
generating unit, consisting of any number of PV
modules and panels. Fig.5: Cells, Modules, Array

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 Solar Cell
• 36 Cells in Series Make a 12V-Class Panel (Voc  19V)

9 cells x 4 cells is a
common configuration

•Two 12V-Class Panels in Series Make a 24V-Class Array (Voc  38V)

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 Solar Cell
Operation of PV system:

Fig.6: Operational diagram of PV system [5]

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 Types of Solar PV System
Grid-connected solar PV systems Off-grid solar PV systems

Fig.7 (a): Grid-connected solar PV systems Fig.7 (b): Off-grid solar PV systems

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 Solar Charge Controllers

•Prevents battery overcharge

•Blocks reverse current
•Prevent over-discharge from batteries (some
models)
•Prevent electrical overload (some models)
•Displays battery status

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 Types of Solar PV System
Grid-connected solar PV systems
• A building has two parallel power supplies, one
from the solar PV system and the other from
the power grid. The combined power supply
feeds all the loads connected to the main
ACDB.
• Whenever the solar PV supply exceeds the
building’s demand, excess electricity will be
exported into the grid.
• When there is no sunlight to generate PV
electricity at night, the power grid will supply
all of the building’s demand.
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Off-grid solar PV systems
• Off-grid solar PV systems are applicable for
areas without power grid. Currently, such
solar PV systems are usually installed at
isolated sites where the power grid is far
away, such as rural areas or off-shore islands.
But they may also be installed within the city
in situations where it is inconvenient or too
costly to tap electricity from the power grid.
• An off-grid solar PV system needs deep cycle
rechargeable batteries such as lead-acid,
nickel-cadmium or lithium-ion batteries to
store electricity for use under conditions
where there is little or no output from the
solar PV system, such as during the night.
17
 Types of Solar PV System

grid-connected photovoltaic system stand-alone PV system

with battery storage powering DC and AC loads.

Fig.8: Flow diagram of PV system

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 Solar Photovoltaic Array Modeling

 The conversion efficiency - 10–17 % .

 In PV systems, the PV array represents

about 57 % of the total cost of the
system, and the battery storage system
corresponds to 30 % of the cost.
Fig.9: Equivalent circuit of a PV cell

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 Shunt Resistance
Significant power losses caused by the presence of a shunt resistance, RSH, are
typically due to manufacturing defects, rather than poor solar cell design.

Fig.10: solar cell including the shunt resistance.

 Series Resistance
Series resistance in a solar cell has three causes:
 the movement of current through the emitter and base of the solar cell;
the contact resistance between the metal contact and the silicon;
 the resistance of the top and rear metal contacts.

The main impact of series resistance is to reduce the fill factor, although excessively
high values may also reduce the short-circuit current.

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Solar Photovoltaic Array Modeling

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 Solar Photovoltaic Array Modeling
The equation for a solar cell in presence of a shunt resistance is:

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 Solar Photovoltaic Array Modeling
• For a single silicon solar cell, the nonlinear I–V characteristic can be
presented as below

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 Solar Photovoltaic Array Modeling
• Io is the cell saturation current
which can be presented as

• Rad is the cell illumination, W/m2 (1,000

W/m2 = 100 % illumination),Isc is the cell
short-circuit current at 28 °C and 1,000
W/m2 (=2.52 A), EGo is the band gap for
silicon (=1.11 eV),Tair is the ambient
temperature, °C
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 Solar Photovoltaic Array Modeling
• Rad is the cell illumination, W/m2 (1,000 W/m2 = 100 % illumination),Isc is the cell
short-circuit current at 28 °C and 1,000 W/m2 (=2.52 A), EGo is the band gap for
silicon (=1.11 eV),Tair is the ambient temperature, °C

• Since PV arrays are built up with series and/or parallel connected combinations
of solar PV cells, for an array with nS × nP cells, the current equation can be
presented as

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 Solar Photovoltaic Array Modeling

The current–voltage relation of simplified PV cell can be expressed as

and the array current–voltage relation becomes

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Solar Cell Characteristics [7]

Fig. 11: Solar V-I and P-V characteristics

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 Cont..
• ISC = short-circuit current – The maximum current provided by the PV array when the output
connectors are shorted together, A.
Voc- Open circuit voltage, V
Vmp- Voltage corresponds to the Pm (Maximum power)
Imp- Current corresponds to the Pm

• MPP = maximum power point = Imp x Vmp. Watts (W) or peak Watts (Wp)

• FF = fill factor – (Vmp*Imp)/(Voc*Isc).

Lies between 0.7 to 0.8 closer the fill factor is to 1 (unity), the more power the array can
provide.

• %eff = percent efficiency – The efficiency of a photovoltaic array is the ratio between the
maximum electrical power that the array can produce compared to the amount of solar
irradiance hitting the array. The efficiency-10-12%

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 Cont..

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 Rating of solar panels

Manufacturer Tata power solar system

ltd.
Model no. TS230MBT
Pm (W) 230
Vm (V) 29.1
Im (A) 7.9
Voc (V) 36.7
Isc (A) 8.4

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Impact of solar irradiances change
Where as irradiation is the The term Irradiance is defined as the measure of power
measure of energy density of density of sunlight received at a location on the earth and
sunlight . is measured in watt per metre square.

P-V Curve
I-V Curve

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 Impact of temperature change
I-V Curve P-V Curve

Fig.14: Typical I-V and P-V characteristics at different temperatures for constant solar irradiance

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Solar Cell Characteristics

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 Solar Cell Characteristics
• As solar irradiance and temperature change, the P-V curves shift down and to the left.

Fig.10: P-V curves at two solar irradiances and two temperatures

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 References
1. http://www2.epri.com/Our-Work/Pages/Distributed-Electricity-Resources.aspx

2. “Distributed Energy Resources, Connection Modeling and Reliability Considerations, February 2017”, NERC ( North
American Electric Reliability Corporation).

3. “Basic photovoltaic principles and methods”, Solar Information Module 6213 Published February 1982

4. M. A. Green, “Third Generation Photovoltaics: Advanced Solar Energy Conversion”, Springer series in photonics 12, April
2006.

5. http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/consumer/solar_electricity/basics/cells_modules_arrays.htm

6. “Handbook for Solar Photovoltaic System”, Building and Construction Authority, Singapore Government.

7. E. Muljadi, M. Singh, and V. Gevorgian, “PSCAD Modules Representing PV Generator”, National Renewable
Energy Laboratory.

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Thank You

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