MET445- RENEWABLE ENERGY

ENGINEERING

Department of Mechanical
Engineering
MEAEC

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 Module 1
• The Energy Scenario- Commercial energy
sources -World’s production and reserves-
India’ Production and reserves, Energy
Alternatives, Need for alternatives –solar
option-nuclear options.
• Principles of solar radiation : Solar radiation
outside the earth’s atmosphere and at the
earth’s surface , Solar Constant, Basic Sun-Earth
Angles, Instruments for measuring solar
radiation and sunshine , Solar radiation data

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 Module 1

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 Energy Scenario- India
• India is a major force in the global energy economy.
• Energy consumption has more than doubled since 2000,
propelled towards by a growing population- soon to be
the world’s largest and a period of rapid economic
growth.
• Near‐universal household access to electricity was
achieved in 2019, meaning that over 900 million citizens
have gained an electrical connection in less than two
decades.

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• India’s continued industrialisation and urbanis
ation will make huge demands of its
energy sector and its policy makers.
• Energy use on a per capita basis is well under
half the global average, and there are
widespread differences in energy use and the
quality of service across states and between
rural and urban areas.

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The affordability and reliability of energy supply
are key concerns for India’s consumers.

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted India’s

energy use, an estimated fall of about 5% in the
countries energy demand in 2020 due to
lockdowns and related restrictions, with coal and
oil usage suffering the biggest falls.

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• The pandemic has also hit investment
in the energy sector, which fell by an estimated
15% in 2020, exacerbating financial strains
across the board, in particular
among India’s electricity distribution companies.
• How long the impacts last will depend on
how quickly the
spread of the virus is brought under control,
and on the policy responses and recovery
strategies that are put in place.
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• Over 80% of India’s energy needs are met by three fuels:
coal, oil and solid biomass.
• Coal has underpinned the expansion of electricity
generation and industry, and remains the largest single
fuel in the energy mix.
• Oil consumption and imports have grown rapidly on
account of rising vehicle ownership and road transport
use.
• Biomass, primarily fuel wood, makes up a declining
share of the energy mix, but is still widely used as a
cooking fuel.
• Despite recent success in expanding coverage of LPG in
rural areas, 660 million Indians have not fully switched
to modern, clean cooking fuels or technologies.
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• Natural gas and modern renewable sources of
energy have started to gain ground, and were
least affected by the effects of the Covid‐19
pandemic in 2020.
• The rise of solar PV in particular has been
spectacular; the resource potential is huge,
ambitions are high, and policy support and
technology cost reductions have quickly made
it the cheapest option for new power
generation

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• India is the third‐largest global emitter of CO2,
despite low per capita CO2 emissions.
• The carbon intensity of its power sector in particular
is well above the global average.
• Additionally, particulate matter emissions are a
major factor in air pollution, which has emerged as
one of India’s most sensitive social and
environmental issues: in 2019, there were well over
one million premature deaths related to ambient and
household air pollution.

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• India’s energy needs are largely met by three fuels –
coal, oil and biomass.
• These sources have, in aggregate, consistently met over
80% of India’s total energy demand since 1990.
• Coal has strengthened its role as the dominant energy
source, maintaining its strong position in power
generation as well as being the fuel of choice for many
industries (especially heavy industries such as iron and
steel).
• Coal demand nearly tripled between 2000 and 2019,
accounting for half of primary energy demand growth.

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• Today, coal meets 44% of India’s primary
energy demand, up from 33% in 2000.
• Coal has played a significant role in India’s
economic development while also contributing
to air pollution and growing GHG emissions.

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• Traditional biomass – primarily fuel wood but
also animal waste and charcoal – was the
largest energy source in India in 2000 after coal,
constituting about one‐fourth of the primary
energy mix.
• Overall energy demand has doubled since then,
but the share of traditional biomass in the
energy mix has been decreasing: it fell to 12%
in 2019, largely as a result of efforts to improve
access to modern cooking fuels, in particular
LPG.
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Coal
• Coal remains the bedrock of India’s energy economy,
commanding a 44% share of the primary energy mix, the
third‐highest among Group of 20 (G20) countries.
• India is the world’s second‐largest coal market, with plentiful
domestic reserves.
• Indian mines produce over 700 million tonnes (Mt) of coal per
year, mostly in the eastern part of the country in Odisha,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
• The vast majority of production comes from open pit mining.
Since the 1970s, government‐owned Coal India Limited (CIL)
has been the dominant coal producer and today it is the world’s
largest coal mining company, supplying over 80% of the
country’s domestically produced coal.

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Natural gas
• While the share of natural gas in India’s primary energy mix has
largely remained flat in recent years at around 6%, overall
energy demand has risen rapidly, and there have been significant
shifts in demand for natural gas in specific sectors of the
economy.
• The use of natural gas as a fuel in industry has increased about
tenfold since 2010, against the background of an overall 50%
increase in energy use in the sector.
• This has increased the share of natural gas in industry from less
than 2% to nearly 10%.
• Similarly, natural gas use in buildings has tripled over the past
decade, albeit from a low base.
• These increases have, however, been partly offset by a fall in the
use of natural gas for power generation.
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• Solar and wind
• The most remarkable story in India’s power sector in recent
years has been the growth of solar PV and wind, which have
rapidly increased their share of the overall energy mix in
recent years as coal and hydropower capacity growth has
slowed.
• Over the past five years, solar PV capacity has grown at an
average growth rate of around 60% and wind capacity of around
10%, outpacing the 7% growth in overall installed capacity.
• This rapid growth reflects government policy support and falling
equipment costs.

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Other technologies and fuels
• Growth in the share of wind and solar PV in the Indian power
system needs to be accompanied by a strengthening of grid
infrastructure.
• To address this, the government has been focusing on
flexibility in operations, technologies and infrastructure.
• The Green Energy Corridors initiative is one attempt to boost
flexibility; it aims to expand and improve transmission
infrastructure, facilitate the integration of renewable energy
management centres and energy storage options, and enhance
the flexibility offered by India’s thermal power fleet.

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 Energy Scenario – World
• To meet the energy needs, the world
community currently depends heavily on fossil
fuels that are non renewable and unfriendly to
the environment.
• More than half of the global energy is used by
the industrial sector (54.6%) , followed by the
transportation sector with 25.6%, the
residential sector with 12.7% , and the
commercial sector with 7.1 %.

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 Energy Scenario – World
• Energy use expected to increase worldwide,
driven mainly by industry, but this will mostly
take place in developing countries with strong
economic growth.
• Total global energy supply in 2017 was 589
Quad Btu, which is equivalent to 5.6x 1017 kJ.
• Fossil fuels accounted for 82.7 % ( 27.1 % coal,
33.4 % oil, 22.2 % natural gas) of this total
energy production.

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Percentage of global Energy use by end-
use sectors in 2017

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Percentage of total world primary
energy supply by fuel in 2017

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 Energy Scenario – World
• Renewable energy (including hydroelectric
power) which is environment friendly and can
be harvested indefinitely, was responsible for
12.7 % of the total energy supply globally.
• Nuclear power supplied remaining 4.6 % of
the total energy supply.

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Percentage of global electricity generation by
fuel type and source in 2015

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Percentage of electricity generation by fuel
type and source in the United States

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 Energy Scenario – World
• Total installed capacity of electricity in the
United Sates in 2016 was 1074 GW, and the U.S
power plants generated 4077 TWh (4.077x 1012
kWh) of electricity that year.
• Approximately 83.9 % electricity was generated
by coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants.
• The remaining 16.1 % was generated mostly by
renewable sources including hydro (6.5%) and
wind (5.5 %). The remaining generation was due
to biomass, solar, and geothermal.
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 Energy Scenario – World
• A comparison of U.S electricity production
data to global electricity generation data
shows that the share of renewable electricity
in the United States is considerably less than
that in the world.
• Therefore, great potential exists to increase
the share of renewable in the U.S. energy
mixture.

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 Energy Scenario – World
• In 2000, only 9 % of electricity came from
renewables, and EIA (2018) projections
indicate that renewables will constitute 18%
of electricity generation by 2040.
• Coal and nuclear based electricity generation
is expected to increase due to additional shale
gas reserves.

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 Energy Scenario – World
• Total generation by renewables was about 640
billion kWh in 2017. This is projected to
increase to more than 1.6 trillion kWh by the
year 2050.
• Renewable electricity generation is 2017 is
dominated by hydropower and wind, but solar
electricity increased at the highest rate among
all energy sources.

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Renewable electricity generation by source in
the United Sates, in billion kWh

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 Energy Scenario – World
• Solar electricity is expected to take the
greatest share by the year 2050, followed by
wind, hydropower and geothermal.
• Other renewables represented are due mostly
to biomass electricity production by means of
MSW (Municipal solid waste) or LFG (Landfill
gas).

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 Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion
• Fossil fuels have been powering industrial
development and amenities of modern life since
the 1700 s.
• Pollutants emitted during the combustion of
fossil fuels are responsible for smog, acid rain,
and numerous other adverse effects on the
environment.
• Environmental pollution has reached such high
levels that it has become a serious threat to
vegetation, wildlife, and human health.
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 Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion

• CO2 is the greenhouse gas that makes the

greatest contribution to global warming.
• The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere
as of 2019 was about 410 ppm (0.41 %). This
is 20% higher than the level a century ago.
• Various scientific reports indicate that the
earth has already warmed about 0.5oC during
the last century and it is estimated that the
earth’s temperature will rise another 2oC by
the year 2100.
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 Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion

• A rise of this magnitude may cause severe

changes in weather patterns with storms,
heavy rains and flooding in some parts and
draught in others, major floods due to the
melting of ice at the poles, loss of wetlands
and coastal areas due to rising sea levels,
variations in water supply, changes in the
ecosystem due to inability of some animal and
plant species to adjust to the changes.

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 Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion

• The combustion of fossil fuels produces the

following undesirable emissions
CO2- primary greenhouse gas – contribute
global warming
NOx and HC – Cause smog
CO- Toxic
SO2- Causes acid rain
Particulate matter (PM)- causes adverse health
effects
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 Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion

• The concern over the depletion of fossil fuels and

pollutant and greenhouse emissions associated with
their combustion can be tackled by essentially two
methods:
1. Using renewable energy sources such as solar, wind,
hydroelectric, biomass, and geothermal to replace
fossil fuels.
2. Implementing energy efficiency practices in all
aspects of energy production, distribution, and
consumption so that less fuel is used to obtain the
same useful output.
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 Consequences of Fossil Fuel Combustion

• The goal of energy efficiency is to reduce energy

use to the minimum level, but to do so without
reducing standards of living, production quality
and profitability.
• Energy efficiency is the expression for most
effective use of energy resources, and its results
in energy conservation.
• Energy efficiency can only reduce the fossil fuel
use, while renewable energy can directly replace
it.
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 Energy Alternatives
• Renewable energy Sources
Solar
Wind
Hydro
Geothermal
Biomass
Ocean (OTEC, Wave, tidal)

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 Renewable Energy Sources
• The main renewable energy source include
solar, wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal
energy.
• Energy sources from the ocean, including ocean
thermal energy conversion (OTEC), wave, and
tidal are also renewable sources, but they are
currently not economical, and the technologies
are still in the experimental and developmental
stage.

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 Renewable Energy Sources
• An energy source is called renewable if it can
be renewed and sustained without any
depletion or significant effect on the
environment. It is also called alternative,
sustainable, or green energy source.
• The best known renewable source is solar
energy.

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 Renewable Energy Sources
• Although solar energy is sufficient to meet the energy
needs of the entire world, currently it is not used as
extensively as fossil fuels because of the low
concentration of solar energy on earth and relatively
high capital cost of harnessing it.
• The conversion of the kinetic energy of wind into
electricity via wind turbines represents wind energy,
and it is one of the fastest growing renewables as wind
turbines are installed all over the world.

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 Renewable Energy Sources
• Hydro or water energy represents the greatest
amount of renewable electricity production,
and its supplies most of the electricity needs
of the countries.
• Geothermal energy refers to the heat of the
earth. High temperature underground
geothermal fluid found in some locations is
extracted, and the energy of the geothermal
fluid is converted to electricity or heat.
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 Renewable Energy Sources
Geothermal energy is mostly used for electricity
generation and district heating.
Organic renewable energy is referred to as
biomass, and a variety of sources (agriculture,
forest, residues, crops etc.) can be used to
produce biomass energy.

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 Renewable Energy Sources
• Wave and tidal energies are renewable energy
sources , and they are usually considered to
be part of ocean energy since they are
available mostly from oceans.
• Thermal energy of oceans due to absorption
of solar energy by ocean surfaces is also
considered to be part of ocean energy, and
this energy can be utilised using the OTEC
system.
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 Renewable Energy Sources
• Wave and tidal energies are mechanical forms
of ocean energy since they represent the
potential and kinetic energies of ocean water.
• Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can be used
to store renewable electricity.
• Fuel cells convert the chemical energy of
hydrogen into electricity directly without a
highly irreversible combustion process, and
they are more efficient than combustion
based conversion to electricity.
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 Nuclear energy
• The tremendous amount of energy associated with the
strong bonds within the nucleus of the atom is called
nuclear energy.
• Mostly widely known fission reaction involves splitting
the uranium atom (U-235 isotope) into other elements,
and it is commonly used to generate electricity in
nuclear power plants, to power nuclear submarines,
aircraft carriers, and even spacecraft, and as
component of bombs.

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 Nuclear energy
• The first nuclear chain reaction was achieved
by Enrico Fermi in 1942, and the first large
scale nuclear reactors were built in 1944 for
the purpose of producing material for nuclear
weapons.
• When a Uranium- 235 atom absorbs a neutron
and split during a fission process, it produces a
cesium- 140 atom, a rubidium- 93 atom, 3
neutrons, and 3.2 x10-11 J of energy.
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 Nuclear energy
• The complete fission of 1 kg of Uranium – 235
releases 6.73x1010 kJ of heat, which is more than the
heat released when 3000 tons of coal are burned.
• There are over 450 nuclear reactors operating
worldwide with a total capacity of about 400,000
MW.
• The percentage of electricity produced by nuclear
power is 76% in France, 19% in Russia and the United
Kingdom, 14% in Germany, and 20% in the United
States.

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Nuclear Fission and Fusion Reaction

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 Nuclear energy
• Nuclear energy by fusion is released when two
small nucei combine into a large one.
• The huge amount of energy radiated by the
sun and other stars originates from such a
fusion process that involves the combination
of two hydrogen atoms into helium atom.
• When two heavy hydrogen (deuterium) nuclei
combine during a fusion process, they
produce a helium- 3 atom, a free neutron, and
5.1 x 10-13 J of energy.
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 Nuclear energy
• Fusion reactions are much more difficult to
achieve in practice because of the strong
repulsion between the positively charged
nuclei, called Coulomb repulsion.
• To overcome this repulsive force and to enable
the two nuclei to fuse together, the energy
level of the nuclei must be raised by heating
them about 100 millionoC and such high
temperature are found only is stars or
exploding atomic bombs.
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 Need for alternatives –solar
option-nuclear options.
• The main energy sources include coal, oil, natural gas,
nuclear energy, and renewable energy.
• Among these coal, oil and natural gas are fossil fuels.
• Fossil fuels are responsible for more than 90% of global
combustion related CO2 emissions with 37 gigatons
(37000 million tons) in 2017.
• The shares of fossil fuels in global CO2 emissions are
45% for coal, 35% for oil, and 20% for natural gas.

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 Coal
• Coal is made of mostly carbon, and it also
contains hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and
ash.
• Coal is used mostly for electricity production in
steam power plants.
• Four common types of coal with following
general characteristics
• Bituminous coal, Subbituminous coal, Anthracite
coal and Lignite coal.

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 Module 1- part 2
• Principles of solar radiation : Solar radiation
outside the earth’s atmosphere and at the
earth’s surface , Solar Constant, Basic Sun-
Earth Angles, Instruments for measuring solar
radiation and sunshine , Solar radiation data

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 Solar radiation
• The electromagnetic energy emitted by the sun
is called solar radiation or solar energy (or solar
heat).
• Tremendous amount of energy are created
within the sun, and only a fraction of this energy
reaches earth. This keeps earth at a temperature
suitable for life.
• Solar energy reaches the earth by radiation.

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 Radiation fundamentals
• The theoretical foundation of radiation was
established in 1864 by the physicist James Clerk
Maxwell.
• Postulated that accelerated charges of changing
electric currents give rise to electric and
magnetic fields. These rapidly moving fields are
called electromagnetic waves or
electromagnetic radiation.

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 Radiation fundamentals
• Electromagnetic waves transport energy like
other waves, and all electromagnetic waves
travel at the speed of light in vacuum.
• Electromagnetic waves are characterized by
their frequency or wavelength.

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 Solar radiation
• The sun is our primary source of energy.
• The energy coming off the sun, called solar
energy, reaches us in the form of
electromagnetic waves after multiple
interactions with the atmosphere.
• The radiation energy emitted of reflected by
the constituents of the atmosphere form the
atmospheric radiation.

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 Solar radiation
• The sun is a nearly a spherical body that has a
diameter of D= 1.393 x 109 m and a mass of m=
2x1030 kg and is located at a mean distance of
L= 1.496 x 1011 m from the earth.
• Sun emits radiation energy continuously at a
rate of Esun= 3.8x 1026 W.
• Less than a billionth of this energy (about 1.7 x
1017 W) strikes the earth, which is sufficient to
keep the earth warm and to maintain life
through photosynthesis.
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 Solar radiation
• The sun generates energy through a
continuous fusion reaction during which two
hydrogen atoms fuse to form one atom of
helium. Therefore, the sun is essentially a
nuclear reactor, with temperatures as high as
40,000,000 K in its core region.
• The temperature drops to about 5800 K in the
outer region of the sun, the convective zone,
as a result of the dissipation of this energy by
radiation.
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 Solar radiation
• The solar energy reaching the earth’s
atmosphere is called the total solar irradiance,
Gs = 1373 W/m2
• The total solar irradiance (solar constant)
represents the rate at which solar energy is
incident on a surface normal to the sun’s rays at
the outer edge of the atmosphere when the
earth is at its mean distance from the sun.

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 Solar radiation reaching the earth’s
atmosphere and the total solar irradiance

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• The accepted value of the solar constant is
1373 W/m2 , but its value changes by 3.5 %
from a maximum of 1418 W/m2 on January 3,
when the earth is closest to the sun, to a
minimum of 1325 W/m2 on July 4, when the
earth is farthest away from the sun.

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• The value of the total solar irradiance can be
used to estimate the effective surface
temperature of the sun from the requirement
that

Where L is the mean distance between sun’s

center and the earth and r is the radius of the
sun.
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• The LHS of the equation represents the total solar
energy passing through a spherical surface whose
radius is the mean earth-sun distance, and the RHS
of the equation represents the total energy that
leaves the sun’s outer surface.

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The total solar energy passing through
concentric spheres remains constant, but the
energy falling per unit area decreases with
increasing radius
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• The effective surface temperature of the sun is
determined from above equation as T sun= 5780 K.
That is, the sun is treated as a balckbody at a
temperature of 5780 K.
• The spectral distribution of solar radiation beyond
the earth’s atmosphere represents the energy
emitted by a blackbody (perfect emitter and
absorber of radiation) at 5780 K, with about 9% of
the energy contained in the UV region, 39% in visible
region and the remaining 52 % in the near IR region.

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Blackbody
• A blackbody is defined a perfect emitter and
absorber of radiation.
• A black body absorbs all incident radiation,
regardless of wavelength and direction.

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 The Spectral Distribution of Solar radiation just outside the
atmosphere, at the surface of the earth on a typical day, and
comparison with black body radiation at 5780 K

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• About 99% of the atmosphere is contained
within a distance of 30 km from the earth’
surface.
• The dips in the spectral distribution of
radiation on the earth surface are due to
absorption by the gases O2, O3 (ozone), H2O,
and CO2.
• The ozone absorbs UV radiation almost
completely and protects biological systems on
earth from harmful radiation.
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• Absorption in the IR region is dominated by
water vapour and CO2.
• The dust particles and other pollutants in the
atmosphere also absorb radiation at various
wavelengths.
• As a results of these absorption, the solar
energy reaching the earth’s surface is
weakened considerably, to about 950 W/m2
on a clear day and much less on cloudy or
smoggy days.
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• Solar radiation as it passes through the atmosphere
is scattering or reflection by air molecules and the
many other kinds of particles such as dust, smog,
and water droplets suspended in the atmosphere.
• Scattering is mainly governed by the size of the
particle relative to the wavelength of radiation.
• The oxygen and nitrogen molecules primarily scatter
radiation at very short wavelengths, comparable to
the size of the molecules themselves.
• Therefore, radiation at wavelengths corresponding to
violet and blue colors is scattered the most in all
directions which gives sky a bluish color.
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Air molecules scatter blue light much more than they
do red light. At surface, light travels through a thicker
layer of atmosphere, which removes much of the blue
from the natural light, allowing red to dominate.
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• The solar energy incident on a surface on earth is
considered to consists of direct and diffuse parts.
• The part of solar energy which reaches the earth’s
surface without being scattered or absorbed by the
atmosphere is called direct solar radiation, GD.
• The scattered radiation is assumed to reach the
earth’s surface uniformly from all directions and is
called diffuse solar radiation, Gd.

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• The total solar energy incident on the unit
area of a horizontal surface on the ground is

Where θ is the angle of incidence of direct solar

radiation – angle that the sun’s ray make with
the normal of the surface.
The diffuse radiation varies from about 10% of
the total radiation on a clear day to nearly 100
% on totally cloudy day.
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The direct and diffuse radiation incident on
a horizontal surface on earth’s surface

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• The gas molecules and the suspended particles in the
atmosphere emit radiation as well as absorb it.
• The atmospheric emission is primarily due to the CO2
and H2O molecules and is concentrated in the regions
from 5 to 8 μm and above 13 μm and it resembles
with radiation from a black body.
• In radiation calculations to treat atmosphere as a
blackbody at some lower imaginary temperature of
the atmosphere is called effective sky temperature.
• G sky = σ T 4sky

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• The value of Tsky depends on the atmospheric
conditions.
• It ranges from about 230 K for cold, clear-sky
conditions to about 285 K for warm, cloudy-
sky conditions.

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 Measurement of Solar Radiation
• Solar radiation received at a location can be
categorized as global, diffuse and beam
radiation.
Instruments used for Measuring Solar radiation
1. Pyranometer – Global and diffuse radiation
2. Pyrheliometer – beam or direct solar
radiation
Temperature sensors are used for these
instruments
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 Measurement of Solar Radiation
• The response of the temperature sensor is
proportional to the light intensity falling on the
sensor.
• The signals from the sensors are then appropriately
converted into a response independent of
wavelength of radiation over solar energy spectrum.
• A thermocouple or a set of thermocouples
(thermopile) is typically used as light sensors. One
end of the thermopile is attached beneath a black
plate, which gets heated when light falls on it.

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 Measurement of Solar Radiation
• Due to its design, both direct and diffuse
radiations fall on the black plate.
• The black plate is covered with two
hemispherical glass covers which are
evacuated so that the convection and
radiation loss can be minimized.
• The other end of the thermocouple is placed
in such a way that it does not receive solar
radiation.
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 Pyranometer

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 Measurement of Solar Radiation
• Due to this temperature difference, a voltage is
generated.
• The generated voltage is proportional to the amount of
radiation falling on the black plate and it will be
converted to equivalent solar irradiation using a
calibrated device.
• The pyranometer can also be used to measure diffuse
radiation by direct radiation falling on the sensor, the
black plate, is blocked. A shading ring is provided with
the instrument for this purpose.
• When the shading ring is used, the thermocouple
voltage and thus the instrument reading are
corresponding to diffuse radiation.
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 Pyrheliometer
• The radiation sensor is placed at the bottom of
a relatively long tube.
• The role of the tube is to reject the diffuse
radiation reaching the sensor.
• The tube only receives small amount of diffuse
radiation that falls within the acceptable angle
of the tube which allows only narrow beam of
direct radiation to reach the sensor.
• Due to this the tube should be accurately
directed towards the sun.
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 Pyrheliometer

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• For this purpose, the tube is mounted on a
two axis tracking mechanism.
• The arrangement of light sensing and
converting it to radiation reading is same as in
the case of pyranometer.

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 Sunshine Hour recorder
• The number of hours of solar radiation is an
important parameter in determining solar
radiation at a given location.
• The number of bright sunshine hours in a day
is measured by the means of sunshine
recorder.
• The sunshine recorder uses solid glass sphere
of approximately 10 cm in diameter which
produces image of the sun on the opposite
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Sunshine hour recorder

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 Sunshine hour recorder
• The sphere, made of well anealed colourless
optical glass, is securely clamped on a semi-
circular metal arc by means of two bosses
attached precisely across a diameter and
located by an adjusting screw onto the
ballended boss.
• A standard trace paper is fixed at the
particular place on the instrument which is
sensitive to the light intensity.

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 Sunshine hour recorder
• Depending on the intensity of the focused
light, a burn mark appears on the paper.
• The burn stops are generated during bright
sunny day and the lengths of these spots are
then translated to the sunshine hours in a day.
• The metal arc is mounted in a grooved slide to
permit the inclination of the sphere and bowl
to be adjusted for geographical latitude.
• The slide is mounted on a T-shaped metal
base which is supported on levelling screws on
a fixed metal sub-base.
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 Solar radiation geometery
• Solar radiation varies in intensity at different
locations on the earth, which revolves
elliptically around the sun.
• For the calculation of solar radiation, the
position of a point P on the earth’s surface
with regard to sun’s rays can be located, if the
latitude ф , the hour angle Ѡ for a point and
the sun’s declination δ are known.

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• Latitude (ф)
The latitude of a place is the angle subtended by
the radial line joining the place to the centre
of the earth, with the projection of the line on
the equatorial plane.
Declination (δ)
It is the angle subtended by a line joining the
centres of the earth and the sun with its
projection on the earth’s equatorial plane.
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Latitude, hour angle and sun’s
declination

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Variation of declination angle

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• The declination angle changes from a
maximum value of +23.45o on June 21 to a
minimum of -23.45o on December 22.
• The declination is zero on two equinox days,
i.e March 22 and September 22.
• The angle of declination can be calculated as

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• Hour angle (Ѡ)
Hour angle is the angle through which the earth
must rotate to bring the meridian of the point
directly under the sun.
It is the angular measure of time at the rate of
15o per hour.
Hour angle is measured from noon, based on
local apparent time being positive in the
afternoon and negative in the forenoon.
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Sun’s zenith, altitude and azimuth angles
(northern hemisphere)

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• Altitude angle (α)
It is the vertical angle between the direction of
the sun’s rays (passing through the point) and
its projection on the horizontal plane.

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• Zenith angle (θz)
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

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• Surface azimuth angle (γ)
• 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.

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• Slope (β)
• It is the angle made by the plane surface with
the horizontal surface.
• The angle is taken as positive for a surface
sloping towards south, and negative for a
surface slopping north.

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• Solar azimuth angle (γs)
It is an angle is the horizontal plane between the
line due south and projection of beam
radiation on the horizontal plane.
The solar azimuth angle is positive if the
projection of the sun beam in west of south
and negative if east of south in the northern
hemisphere.

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Angle of incidence, zenith angle, solar
altitude angle, slope, surface azimuth
angle for a tilted surface

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 Sunrise, Sunset and Day Length
• The time of sunrise and sunset and the duration
of the day- length depend upon the latitude of
the location and the month in the year.
• At sunrise and sunset, the sunlight is parallel to
the ground surface with a zenith angle of 90o.
• The hour angle pertaining to sunrise and sunset
is calculated as
cos Ѡs = - tan ф tan δ
Ѡs = cos-1(- tan ф tan δ)

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• The value of hour angle corresponding to
sunrise is positive, and negative corresponding
to sunset. The total angle between sunrise
and sunset is given by
2Ѡs = 2 cos-1 (- tan ф tan δ)
Since 15o of hour angle corresponds to one hour,
the corresponding day light (Td) in hours is
given by
Td = (2/15) cos-1 (- tan ф tan δ)

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• Local apparent time (LAT)
• The time used for calculating the hour angle is
local apparent time which is not the same as
the local clock time.
• Local apparent time (LAT) = Standard time ± 4
( Standard time longitude – Longitude of
location) + (Time correction)

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 Empirical equation for estimating the
availability of solar radiation
• The measurement of solar radiation at every
location is not feasible, so engineers have
developed empirical equations by utilising the
meteorological data like the number of
sunshine hours, the days-length and the
number of clear days.
• The amount of sunshine at a given location

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Hg = monthly average of daily global radiation on a horizontal
surface at a given location, in MJ/m2/day
Hc = Monthly average of daily global radiation on a horizontal
surface at the same location on a clear sky day, in MJ/m2/day
DL = Monthly average measured solar day length, in hours
Dmax = Monthly average of the longest day-length, in hours
a, b = constants for the location
It is difficult to define a clear sky day, so it was proposed that Hc
is previous equation should be replaced by Ho which is the
monthly average of daily extra terrestrial radiation that would
fall on a horizontal surface at the given location

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Constants a and b for 20 Indian cities

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 The sun-earth movement
• Two types of motion involved between the
earth and sun- revolution and rotation of the
earth.
• The earth revolves around the sun once every
year. The motion of the earth’s revolution
happens in a plane called elliptic plane.
• Apart from this, the earth rotates about its own
polar axis once every day.

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• Declination angle
The declination angle is defined as the angle
between the lines joining the centre of the
earth to the centre of the sun with its
projection on the equatorial plane of the
earth.

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 Solar data
• The amount of solar radiation incident on a
surface depends on the orientation of the
surface, the latitude and elevation of the
location, humidity of the air, the clearness of the
sky, and time of the day.

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 Annual Solar radiation Pattern
• India is divided into five regions with changing
solar radiation pattern between January and
December.
• It gives the annual average of global solar
energy received on a horizontal plane.
• The daily record of global radiation data is
useful for industry as India lies in the sunny
regions of the world.

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• Solar energy can be used through two routes
1. Thermal route for water heating, cooking,
drying, water purification and power
generation.
2. Photovoltaic route that converts solar
radiation into electricity which can be used
for pumping water, communications and
power supply in unelectrified areas.

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Annual average of global solar
energy

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BASIC SUN-EARTH ANGLES

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 Latitude angle 
Angle made by radial
line joining the given
location to the centre
of earth with its
projection on the
equator plane.
Latitude angle is
denoted by
It is Positive in
northern hemisphere
and negative in
southern hemisphere.

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Declination angle ( )
It is the angular displacement of the sun
from the plane of earth’s equator. It is
positive when measured above the
equatorial line in the northern hemisphere.

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Hour angle
It is the angular displacement of sun
towards the east or west of local meridian
(Due to rotation of earth about its axis ) at
any moment. Since the earth rotates about
its axis once during 24-hours, therefore

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Hour angle

At solar noon sunrays are in line with the local

meridian, therefore hour angle is zero. It is
negative in fornnoon and positive in afternoon.
Thus at 6 Hrs. (A.M.) it is -90 and at 18 hrs(PM)
it is +90.

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Inclination Angle
The angle between sun’s rays and it’s
projection on horizontal surface is known as
inclination angle

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Zenith Angle z
Zenith Angle z
It is the angle between sun’s rays and
perpendicular to the horizontal.

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Solar Azimuth Angle (’A)

Θ’A

Θ’A

Θ’A

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Slope of the plane () or tilt angle

It is the angle between inclined plane

( Collector) and the horizontal. It is taken
positive(+Ve) for surface sloping towards
south and negative (-Ve) for surfacing
sloping towards north.

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Surface azimuth angle A
Surface azimuth angle A : It is the angle in
horizontal plane between the line due south and
horizontal projection of the normal to the inclined
plane (Collector). It is taken as +ve when
measured from south towards west.

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Angle of incidence ( i )
Angle of incidence ( i )
It is the angle between the sun’s rays falling on
the plane surface ( Collector ) and normal to the
surface. The incidence angle is most important
as it decides how much solar energy falls on the
collecting surface.

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Beam and diffuse radiation

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Beam radiation on inclined plane

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Value of Angle of incidence for any surface

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Sunrise, Sunset & Day-Length

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Numerical-1

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Numerical-2

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Assignment

Q 1. Define the following:

Latitude Angle
Declination Angle
Hour Angle Inclination Angle
Zenith Angle
Solar Azimuth Angle
Surface azimuth angle
Angle of incidence
Q 2. Write a note on Sunrise, Sunset and
Daylenth.

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