SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY AND

HOW IT STACKS UP TO OTHER RENEWABLE

ENERGY SOURCES
A BRIEF DISCUSSION
 WHAT IS SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC
ENERGY?

Solar PV is the rooftop solar you see on homes

and businesses - it produces electricity from solar
energy directly. Solar photovoltaic is an elegant
technology which produces electricity from sunlight
without moving parts.
 COMMON APPLICATIONS OF
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY
1. PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS
PV modules and arrays are just one part of a PV
system. Systems also include mounting structures that
point panels toward the sun, along with the
components that take the direct-current (DC)
electricity produced by modules and convert it to the
alternating-current (AC) electricity used to power all
of the appliances in your home.
2. PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CELLS
Commonly known as solar cells, individual PV
cells are electricity-producing devices made of
different semiconductor materials. PV cells come in
many sizes and shapes, from smaller than a postage
stamp to several inches across. Solar cells are often
less than the thickness of four human hairs. In order to
withstand the outdoors for many years, cells are
sandwiched between protective materials in a
combination of glass and/or plastics to make a PV
module.
 COMPARISONS IN TERMS OF
EFFICIENCY
Efficiency is just one factor to consider when
determining how effective an energy resource is. Some of the
differences between solar and other generation
technologies mean, in some sense, efficiency is not the most
useful measurement when comparing solar PV’s efficiency
with that of other resources.
If you’re comparing solar energy to a fossil fuel or
nuclear plant, it’s important to remember sunlight is free,
while natural gas and coal are not. Once you install your
solar panels, you do not have to pay for sunlight to fuel them.
You don’t lose any money when some of the solar energy
turns to waste heat. You just lose energy potential.
 When you compare solar energy to wind and
other renewable resources, though, it does lag
behind in terms of efficiency. The water that powers
hydropower plants and the wind that powers
turbines are free as well, so you don’t lose money
when you lose energy potential.
 The sun doesn’t shine all the time or always shine
enough to generate the maximum potential amount of
energy, so the capacity factor for solar panels is usually
somewhere between 15 and 25 percent. This capacity
depends on several factors, including where you’re located
and whether the panels move to follow the sun. In 2016, the
capacity factor for utility-scale solar photovoltaic generation
was around 25 percent.
During the same year, wind farms had a capacity factor
of around 35 percent, and hydropower reached 38 percent.
Offshore wind farms have a capacity factor that can be as
high as 77 percent.
 For comparison, nuclear power typically has a
capacity factor of close to 90 percent because it
needs to run all the time to remain economical.
Coal plants typically have about 50 percent, and
natural gas plants often have a factor of only about
10 percent if they only generate electricity when
demand is especially high.
 COMPARISONS BETWEEN OTHER
RENEWABLE ENGINES
The current trend of increasing attention to renewable
energy among policy makers, business community, and the
public, tends to portray it as a unified field that beats
traditional energy sources on all fronts. The recent roadmap,
published by a team of researchers from Stanford University,
also envisions a transition to “100% of wind, water, and solar”,
as if they were indistinguishable. While it is true that the
ultimate aim of the short- and mid-term policies targeted at
renewable energy support is to diversify energy portfolios,
rather than to create a mono-energy source system, there
are significant differences between the main sources of
renewable energy.
 Suppose you own a coal power plant. Once you’ve set
it up, having spent a considerable amount of capital to meet
the upfront costs of building the facility, you can operate it
steadily and without major interruptions. Having reached the
full capacity in terms of output, you will see the breakeven
point fastly approaching, and the average costs gradually
falling down to a minimum. In other words, provided there is a
stable demand for electricity, a coal power plant (or, for that
matter, a nuclear one) can generate relatively cheap
electricity in a stable long-term way.
 This allows for a greater stability in electrical
supply and ensures the minimal necessary
demand is always balanced. The cost of this, of
course, are heavy pollutions and environmental
unsustainability, as can be clearly seen from the
picture in the next slide (a bit old, but still
relevant).
 On the contrary, when it comes to renewables,
there is a very limited possibility to predict and control
the output of solar, wind, and water energy generating
objects, as opposed to traditional generation. Since the
supply of renewable energy depends on the weather
and climatic conditions, it requires a far more flexible
system of demand and supply management. Many
policy initiatives in the field of renewable energy
support, and many energy tech applications are
designed precisely to enable such flexible
coordination.
CYCLES AND SCALES
NATURAL REPRODUCTION CYCLES
 The following table, adopted from a research report by
Clean Line Energy, summarizes the differences in the
timescales of the natural cycles of renewable energy
sources.
 As can be seen from the table, all renewables
are different in terms of the temporal scales of their
lifecycles. The first conclusion that can be drawn
from it is that it is possible to achieve a sufficiently
diversified energy portfolio, based on the
renewable sources alone. Renewable energy
sources that are more prone to temporal
fluctuations in the short-term can be supported by
more stable generating objects that still use
renewable energy.
 The second important issue the table shows
relates to the requirements of flexible balancing
of electricity supply and demand. Such
variable sources as solar and wind energy
require very flexible patterns of supply and
demand management, but can also provide
for a greater flexibility if they are included in the
energy portfolio of a community or a country.
 Finally, roughly speaking, the table can be
read as a snapshot of some broader
correlations: the shorter the scales of temporal
variability of an energy source, the more flexible
it is, and the less upfront investments are
required to install such a facility. While biomass
is an exception to this rule, all other energy
sources can be ranked in such a manner.
TIDAL POWER
RENEWABLE ENERGIES
 Tidal power is the only source of renewable
energy that is independent from the Sun, while
the others are indirectly related to it one way or
another, including ven fossil fuels and biofuel.
On the contrary, tidal power is embedded into
the nature of the Earth-Moon system
interactions.
 Essentially, tides occur because of the
movements of the Sun and the Moon, as well as
because of the Earth rotation effects, and the
effects of landscape. The gravitational forces
exerted by the celestial bodies create motions or
currents in the oceans of the Earth. The sea level
changes as masses of water move horizontally due
to the gravitational effects. As the sea level
increases, water from the middle areas of the
oceans moves closer to the shores, thus creating a
tide.
 The tides are quite predictable and occur in according to
these interacting cycles:
• A half-day cycle caused by the rotation of the earth within the
rotational field of the moon results in tidal movements every 12
hours and 25 minutes.
• A 14-day cycle based on the superposition of the gravitational
fields of moon and sun.
• Interaction of the gravitational fields of sun and moon at new and
full moon result in maximum spring tides.
• Minimum neap tides occur at quarter phases of the moon, when
the sun’s force of attraction cancels out that of the moon.
 The main advantage of tidal power is that
tides will be there as long as there are celestial
bodies of the Sun system. They are thus
renewable, and much more predictable than
wind and solar power. However, in the case of
tidal electricity, location is everything.
 First, depending on the changing positions
of the celestial bodies, the magnitude and
character of the tidal motions also varies. The
effects of the Earth’s rotation and local
geographies of the sea levels and coastal lines
have an impact on the availability and intensity
of tidal power.
 Second, tidal power plants are very site-dependent,
and the number of places where they can be constructed is
very limited geographically, as opposed to the other
renewable energy sources. The following map, created by
B.C. Energy, illustrates this point very clearly.
WINDS AND WAVE POWER
RENEWABLE ENERGIES
 Winds are created by the Sun’s heating of
the Earth and the latter’s rotation. Wind power
is exploited by the means of Horizontal Axis
Wind Turbines (HAWT), which represent 90% of
the world’s wind turbines in use (there is also an
alternative, Vertical Axis design that comprises
the remaining 10% share). There are also smaller
wind turbines in use by individuals.
 HAWTs have large angled propellers with
blades that catches the wind. As the wind passes
through the blades, it causes the entire blade
assembly (the rotor) to spin around the central
nacelle on the top of the tower. The nacelle is a
complex housing, in which a gearbox is located.
The gearbox converts the incoming rotational force
with a low speed into a high-speed outgoing
rotational force that is powerful enough to run an
electrical generator that is also located in the
nacelle.
 While generally cheap and widely available,
wind power is the least predictable of all of the
variable renewable energy sources. Because of the
variable nature of the wind, grid operators are
compelled to use day ahead forecasting to
optimize the use of available power sources next
day. They also rely heavily on weather forecasting
to predict the likely wind energy output
 Wind power also has other limitations. It is highly
intermittent and non-dispatchable, since it depends on many
factors that have an important impact on its output. First,
location does matter, although not as much as in the case of
tidal power. Second, such things as wind speed, air density,
and the characteristics of the turbine (among others) can
cause significant variations in the output of wind power
generators. The speed of the wind is one of the most
important factors, since, depending on the turbine, it must be
above 3.5 m/s in order to generate electricity, but below 25
m/s, otherwise it would damage the turbine.
 Wave energy largely depends on wind, and
that’s why the two can be considered together. In
general, the power available from waves tends to
follow that available from wind, but due to the mass
of the water is less variable than wind power. The
fluctuations of wave energy are different, as waves
in deep water lose their energy and by this smooth
out only slowly and therefore can travel long
distances.
GEOTHERMAL POWER
RENEWABLE ENERGIES
 There are two primary sources of geothermal energy:
radioactive decay and the primordial heat of the Earth that
was created during its original formation. In the former case,
the process of decay of certain radioactive elements (like
uranium-235 or thorium-232) occurs naturally in the ground
below the Earth’s surface. As a result of this process, a lot of
heat is generated, that can be used productively. Since the
Earth’s interior has only decreased its temperature by a few
hundreds degrees over the entire period of its existence,
geothermal energy is practically inexhaustible, and the
process of radioactive decay is ongoing anyway.
 To do so, one needs to find a large source of available
heat, put it into a reservoir to contain it, and lock it in there
using a barrier. Finally, there must be some kind of carrying
agent, for example, a fluid to transfer the heat.
 The reservoirs are usually rock units with high
permeability and temperature. Once such a hot unit of rock
is surrounded by impermeable rock layers, the latter can
function as barriers and contain the heat. The extraction of
geothermal is carried out by means of drilling into the
reservoirs. The conventional way of extracting geothermal
power is implemented in the locations where the rock is
porous, and there is hot water inside. Such locations are
usually found in the areas where magma has poked through
the continental crust and created convective circulation of
groundwater.
 Geothermal power has many advantages,
including its very stable and predictable nature, as
well as minimal operating costs. However, the initial
capital costs are significant, being sometimes up to
$4 M per 1 MW, depending on the size of the power
plant and local geography. Over 50% of the costs
are absorbed by drilling. Moreover, geothermal
power is somewhat site-dependent and, most
importantly, can be a very risky investment,
because after spending millions on exploration, the
resources found can be unfit for exploitation.
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC
RENEWABLE ENERGIES
 Solar PV plants can operate for years without incurring
much of operation and maintenance costs, so that the O&M
costs are extremely low as compared to conventional power
technologies.
In grid-tied PV systems the electricity produced can
reduce or eliminate the use of grid electricity during peak
hours of operation (during the day). This advantage requires
a time-of-use meter, which may not be available to some
users. Grid-tied PV systems also reduce the amount of
transmission losses that occur as a result of transmission of
electricity over long distances. They can also reduce or
eliminate completely the use of grid electricity during the
peak hours.
The other advantages of PV solar energy can be listed as
follows:
• The sun is a clean, renewable, energy resource that is
proven and increasingly cost competitive, as the costs of
solar panels steadily fall down, and more research and
development efforts are put into the field of solar
photovoltaics
• Increased use of solar energy builds energy security,
reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and moves us toward a
sustainable energy future.
• Using solar PV systems help reduce peak loads, postponing
or preventing the need for additional baseload energy
generation and distribution infrastructure (hydroelectric
dams, coal-fired power generation stations, and
underwater electrical cables)
• Solar requires no fuel or moving parts, makes no noise and
produces zero emissions with minimal maintenance.
• In remote sites, solar PV competes aggressively with the
costs of electricity derived from conventional sources and
areas requiring extensive power line construction may find
solar PV to be more cost effective.
 In sum, solar energy is the best investment
choice among the sources of renewable energy. It
is not as heavy in terms of the capital costs as tidal
and geothermal (and much less risky); it is simple,
but, unlike wind and waves, quite predictable. It is
also much less site-dependent, although it requires
considerable amounts of free areas. As the industry
develops, the costs of solar panels, as well as capital
costs per unit of energy will continue to fall down,
making the investment opportunity even more
interesting.
END OF PRESENTATION
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