Mahbube Khoda Siddiki

Economic analysis of a photovoltaic system connected to the grid in Recife, Brazil

Brazil has a big potential in solar energy, because of its location and territorial extension. However, this country does not explore this great source of energy, because of the high cost of installation of the photovoltaic (PV) system. This paper brings a design of a grid-interactive PV system with battery backup focusing more on the financial part, as a way to decrease the price to install this type of system. By analyzing a hypothetical load in a house in Recife, two situations were proposed: the use of incentives for financing and capital allowance through tax incentives, and the energy compensation system, net metering. The computational software SAM (System Advisor Model) was used to generate data for economic and financial analysis through methods like NPV (Net Present Value), PAYBACK and LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity). The results obtained show that distributed micro-generation through PV system is not economically viable without incentive instruments, such as regulatory policies, fiscal incentives and public financing.

Feasibility analysis of a solar photovoltaic array integrated on façades of a commercial building

BIPV market is growing fast and contributing to zero-energy buildings. Installing PV systems on walls is unusual, however it has a huge potential to stimulate zero-energy buildings. The production of energy from photovoltaic panels installed vertically is difficult to predict due to some reasons like the interference of shadows caused by nearby buildings or adjacent vegetation, and the lower yield contributed by the radiation mostly because of its angle of incidence. This article aims to determine a method to predict the amount of energy produced by PV systems installed on façades, providing information for engineers to make decisions about the installation of photovoltaic panels on building surfaces.

Grid interactive PV system with battery backup — The viable alternative solution for power crisis in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

This project is done on grid interactive photovoltaic system with battery backup for Rajshahi - an administrative district and 4th largest city in northern part of Bangladesh. Rajshahi is situated in a good position for using solar energy but it failed to get attention from the mass so far because of lack of awareness for renewables and fear of huge initial cost. This project focuses more on the financial part as a way to decrease its installation costs and its benefits. This project is fully designed and stimulated with a computational software SAM(System Advisor Model) that generates data for economic and financial analysis through methods like NPV (Net Present value), PAYBACK and LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity). The result shows that distributed micro generation through PV system is financially viable with incentives and the best solution for Bangladeshi power crisis.

Design, simulation and financial analysis of a fixed array commercial PV system in the city of Abu Dhabi-UAE

This paper is aimed at preliminary study on designing 1.2MW-Commercial PV system and presenting the system performance and the financial analysis. This system is designed assuming that it will be installed at Abu Dhabi City in the United Arab of Emirates (UAE). To ease the designing process, computer based tools have been utilized. In this designing, a System Advisor Model (SAM) and PVWatts modeling tool are presented to design, predict and analyze Commercial PV systems. The results of this simulation showed the system performance hourly, monthly and annually basis. Based on installation, operating costs, and system design parameters that we specified as inputs, SAM and PVwatt software make the performance predictions and cost of energy estimates for this system.

Numerical analysis and optimal design of efficient Si/SiC thin-film solar cells

In general, the efficiency of the single-junction solar cell depends upon various design parameters such as material type, thickness of layers, doping concentrations, texturing type and thickness of the anti-reflective coating. Typically, the performance of solar cells is determined by using a one-dimensional solar cell simulation software such as PC1D. Keeping external parameters constant (one-sun, AM1.5G solar radiation, and 0.1 w/cm2 intensity), numerical simulation and analysis of a crystalline silicon, microcrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon carbide thin-film solar cell was performed using layer by layer optimization techniques. Our results show a significant enhancement in conversion efficiency of 20.82% for an absorber layer thickness of approximately 20μm and a buffer layer thickness of approximately 5μm. A noticeable improvement to the I/V characteristic curve was also observed. As our main objective, we propose a specific set of parameters to increase the efficiency of the single-junction solar cell with a novel buffer layer thickness.

Numerical analysis and optimum design of efficient μc-Si/μc-Si 1−x Ge x thin-film solar cells

This study deals with the numerical simulation and analysis of electrical transport properties of μc-Si/μc-Si_1-xGe_x thin-film solar cells. Layer by layer optimization of this solar cell structure was done by using advanced bandgap engineering for its structural and electrical characterization. Study was performed by varying the thickness of intrinsic μc-Si and doping concentration of μc-Si_1-xGe_x layer. It was found that μc-Si absorber and μc-Si_1-xGe_x strained layers play a critical role to improve the light absorption properties of the solar cell structure. Obtained result shows a significant enhancement in conversion efficiency of the proposed μc-Si/μc-Si_1-xGe_x thin-film solar cells.

Highly controlled crystallization of silicon thin films on low cost substrate by pulsed laser annealing process

This paper presents heat transfer simulation and annealing process of microscale thin silicon (Si) film on low cost substrate using COMSOL Multiphysics. Two different types (Gaussian and Gate) of controlled (time controlled and laser intensity controlled) input laser power source have been applied on the top surface of the thin film for its crystallization. Comparison has been done for these two types input laser power intensity. The results show that at various laser power density with different times Gate input pulse melts higher thickness from top surface than the Gaussian input pulse. At any specific position inside the film melts faster in case of Gate input pulse rather than the Gaussian input pulse. Also the Gate input pulse shows the longer melted phase duration than Gaussian input pulse. Therefore, the annealing depth and temperature at any depth can be precisely controlled by optimizing power density of the heat source, pulse width, pulse type and exposure time. Finally, it is possible to crystallize Si films by controlled melting without melting the substrate.