In this video, we will look at the various components making

up a photovoltaic system. For the sake of clarity, we need to get acquainted

with the terminology used in the field as well as the
necessity of each component. Later in the course
we will elaborate on the working principles of
the individual technologies, their roles in a photovoltaic
power plant and how to model and design an
entire photovoltaic system. The term photovoltaic, which
is often abbreviated PV, is a combination of
the Greek word phōtós, that means light,
and the last name of the Italian physicist
Alessandro Volta, who discovered the first functional
electrochemical battery. A direct translation
of the word would be "light battery", but it refers to the direct
conversion of sunlight into electrical energy. A solar cell is the
most basic component that converts light
into electricity. In most cases, solar
cells are made of the semiconducting
material silicon, and deliver voltages of
approximately 0.5 volts. The current depends
on the cell area as well as the
level of radiation. So it varies between
0 and 10 amps. Solar cells are connected
in series to achieve more usable voltages in the
range of 20 to 50 volts. This is done in a solar module where the cells are
protected against mechanical damage as well as environmental factors
such as moisture. Now let us consider a
residential building with domestic loads such as a washing machine
and some lighting. We want to build a
photovoltaic system. So let's start out by introducing photovoltaic modules
onto the rooftop. To build up the voltage, several modules must be connected in
series into a string. In this case we have
multiple strings in parallel which is also
known as a solar array. However, our domestic
loads require an alternating current (AC) and the solar panels
deliver direct current (DC). Therefore we need an inverter
to convert the DC into AC. At the end of the 19th century, the invention of the
transformer allowed converting alternating currents
to higher voltages which facilitated the transport
of electric power over long distances with
significantly reduced losses. Combined with the
invention of the AC motor the public grid settled
for AC power lines, and we can therefore
only feed power into the public grid after
converting DC into AC. However, the power
distribution company needs to know how
much electricity we fed into and out of the
public grid and at what time. We therefore install a
meter which comes in various configurations,
but nowadays most meters are bidirectional, meaning that they cannot
only read the current flowing but the
direction as well. There are, however, many
components which we have not considered in this very
simple example and a very important one is the mounting structures which of course
varies significantly from installing a solar array on a rooftop compared to the
ground or on water, or even on a satellite in space. Another common component is
a combiner box that brings the DC output of multiple strings together
into a single set of cables. As we only had two
strings in our example, a combiner box wasn't
really necessary, but in larger projects where we may
have thousands of strings, distributed combiner boxes reduce the length of the very
expensive
DC cables we would need. To figure out how many modules we would need in
our solar system, we would need to know how well the individual module performs.
However, the performance of
a solar cell and therefore also of a solar module varies
with varying conditions. Therefore, a set of standard testing conditions
have been agreed upon to properly compare
different solar cells or modules from different
manufacturers. The standard test conditions
often abbreviated STC, consist of three specifications. The first is that the
level of irradiance must be 1000 watts per square meter. This irradiance level is
also known as 1 Sun. The second condition is that
the spectrum of the light we use to illuminate
the solar cell or a module must correspond to the solar spectrum known
as air mass 1.5 global (AM1.5G). The spectrum of the Sun will be elaborated in
course module two. The third and final condition
is that the temperature of the solar cells must
be 25 degrees Celsius. However, the standard for testing PV performance does not
reflect typical operating conditions as the solar spectrum and level of irradiance
change
throughout the day, and the temperature of a
solar panel is typically much higher than 25
degrees Celsius. Nevertheless, these
conditions are used to evaluate how efficiently solar cells and modules convert
optical power from the Sun
into electrical power. We may write the optical
power from the Sun as the irradiance level multiplied by the area of the module.
The electric power delivered by the module at these conditions is also known as the
rated power of the module and is
given in watt-Peak, where peaks simply specifies that these conditions
are optimal. There are many other
PV system components that we have not covered so far. Trackers are an example of a
performance enhancing
component as they serve to reposition the
photovoltaic modules to maximize the incident
optical power from the Sun. Tracking systems are
usually classified by the number of rotational axes and the single axis tracker
is usually configured to rotate the solar array
from east to west. One could also go in and actually tilt the
mounting structure itself while still having the east-west tracker
rotating the array, such a configuration is known as a one and a half axis tracker.
The two-axis tracking system
is able to reposition the photovoltaic modules to be directly facing the
Sun at all times. However, such
tracking systems are usually rather expensive and not necessarily compatible with
the photovoltaic system that
you're trying to build. Another performance
enhancing component is the maximum power point
tracker, also abbreviated MPPT. Solar cells and modules
have a continuous range of operating points that has to do with the voltage
output of the device. By resistively loading the module, the voltage at which
we operate shifts. The maximum power point tracker finds the operating
point that gives the highest electric
power output of the module and loads
the module accordingly. The maximum power
point changes with conditions such as
irradiation and temperature, and in this case, the module is actually partially
shaded, which has a significant impact
on the operating points. Finally, we have to consider a few safety components as
well. One of the more common
components is a DC breaker designed to interrupt
the DC electricity in case you for example, need to do maintenance. Another
important
type of component is the residual current
device that switches off the electricity automatically
if there is a fault. This is a protective
measure against electrocution as well as
fires caused by earth faults. The relevant system
components depend on what kind of PV system you are designing. We may divide
photovoltaics into grid-connected and
standalone systems where product-integrated PV would fall on the stand alone
applications. This includes: outdoor
lighting products, vehicles, solar-driven rescue
ladders and harbors, and even pocket calculators. As you can see, I
have also divided the grid-connected systems
into three categories, that is; residential, commercial, and
utility-scale system. The residential and
commercial systems are most often simply
installed on rooftops, whereas utility scale covers the PV power plants
and solar parks. From standalone systems, I
have included microgrids. Grid connection refers to the
public distribution grid, whereas a microgrid often refers to a local
distribution grid, generally not connected
to the main grid. A microgrid produces
and distributes electricity independently
in a smaller area. Rooftop installations
have historically been realized by applying photovoltaic modules onto
existing roof constructions. However, PV modules
may be integrated into the building and
thus serve two purposes, producing energy and contributing as a building material
for instance, as a cladding material. This type of system
is known as building integrated photovoltaics,
or simply BIPV. Developers of BIPV systems
have successfully created architecturally and
aesthetically pleasing systems in a variety of colors, which enables the
conservation of the building's
architectural appearance. On the utility scale, there's a large variety
of PV power plants, and this includes tracking
systems and bifacial modules, where the light is absorbed from both sides of the
module, floating PV, where the
modules are located on water, agrivoltaics, where the
agricultural use of land is combined with the use of land for photovoltaics and
the list goes on. Actually, all the
applications marked in red are examples of optimizing
area resources, such as the rooftop systems, where the photovoltaic
system doesn't take up any additional land area. In this video, we learned that the
word photovoltaic refers to the direct conversion of
light into electrical energy. The solar cell is the
most basic component responsible for this
energy conversion process, and several solar
cells are connected in series to obtain usable voltages. This is done in a solar
module that protects the cells from mechanical impacts as well as the environment.
However, a solar module
delivers a direct current, whereas most of our
domestic appliances, as well as the public grid requires an alternating current. We
therefore use an inverter
to convert DC into AC. Furthermore, we also
have to monitor the flow of electricity to
and from the grid, which is done using a meter. Today, most meters
are bidirectional. We have also learned that the performance of a solar cell, as
well as a photovoltaic module varies with varying conditions. Therefore, a set of
standard test conditions known as STC, have been agreed upon
to properly compare devices from different
manufacturers. This includes an irradiance level of 1,000 watts per square meter,
the solar spectrum
known as AM1.5G, and a solar cell temperature
of 25 degrees Celsius. A photovoltaic system may also include performance
enhancing components such as tracking systems and we also need to consider
some safety components, such as DC current breakers
and residual current devices. However, the relevant
components depend on the type of PV system
that you're designing. We therefore, looked into
the applications of PV, which included
rooftops where we had building applied and
building integrated PV. We also looked into
microgrids, floating PV, agrivoltaics, product
integrated PV, bifacial PV, and
the list goes on.