43/1

43 Solar electricity:
photovoltaics

Mark Hammonds
BP Solar Ltd

Contents
43.1 Solar electricity 43/3

43.2 The past and present 43/3

43.3 How does it work 43/3

43.4 The benefits 43/3

43.5 Uses 43/4

43.6 The future 43/4

43.7 How can plant engineers make use of

photovoltaics? 43/4
43.1.1 Grid connected electricity 43/4
43.1.2 Cost/performance 43/5
43.1.3 Stand alone 43/5

43.8 The plant engineer – the user 43/5

43.9 Conclusion 43/5

43.10 The whole idea sounds good to me but how

do I exploit it 43/6

References 43/6

Further information 43/6

This page has been reformatted by Knovel to provide easier navigation.

43.1 Solar electricity
As we know the sun is responsible for most of the
earth's energy in one way or another. Plant photosynthesis
provides the basis of our fossil fuels such as coal and oil.
At the same time heat from the sun is again indirectly
responsible for other common forms of renewable energy
such as wind and wave power. Solar power in its accepted
working definition, is the supply of energy directly from
the sun. It is made up of two very distinct technologies,
solar thermal and solar electricity. The first is based on
the principle of using the sun's direct heat energy and is
most commonly used for supplying hot water for houses
and, swimming pools. It is solar electricity, with which
this article concerns itself. This is a technology where the
light from the sun is converted directly into electricity:
this process is known as photovoltaics.
43.2 The past and present
Despite its rise to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, this
industry can trace its origins back 150 years. The actual
photovoltaic effect was first noted over 150 years ago by
Professor Becquerel. He observed a light dependent volt-
age between two electrodes immersed in an electrolyte.
Albert Einstein united these threads with his theory of
the photoelectric effect in 1905 which proposed the exis-
tence of the light photon (for which he received the Nobel
Prize). Further practical application of this work had to
wait until the acceleration of the space programme during
the late 1950s. From there the industry has grown in leaps
and bounds.
During the mid to late 'seventies, major improvements
in material processing techniques resulted in cheaper,
more efficient solar cells. This coupled with improvements
i.e. reductions in power consumption in telecommunica-
tion devices provided the necessary spur for the adoption
of solar as a viable energy source for terrestrial applica-
tions. This time also witnessed a dramatic rise in conven-
tional fossil fuel prices and the realization that one day
they were finite. This gave a fresh impetus to the research
and technology being undertaken in this area.
As further improvements in cell processing continued
throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, resultant cost
reductions have made solar power an economic proposi-
tion for an increasing range of applications.
43.3 How does it work
At its simplest, the solar cell works like a diode. Silicon
is intensely refined to remove all the unwanted impurities.
Half is then doped with boron which has excess positive
electrons and half with phosphorous which has excess
negative electrons. When light photons hit the cells, this
results in the movement of electrons between the boron
and phosphorous doped silicon (exactly as a P-N junction
diode). This is then collected by a metal backplate and
grid on the cell, as electricity.
The early work by Becquerel used Selenium and it
wasn't until 1954 that the present dominance of silicon
began as the major raw material for solar systems. Sil-
icon (in its many forms) is the second most abundant
element on earth, its most well known manifestation is
sand. Availability combined with high light to electric-
ity energy conversions made it the predominant industry
raw material. Future work on reducing the price of solar
energy concentrates on this area of solar cells. These being
the most expensive component of a solar system, it holds
the secret of increased energy conversion efficiency of
sunlight into electricity and at the same time improving
manufacturing costs.
To withstand the harsh environmental conditions that
they operate under, the cells are laminated between a layer
of special high transmission glass and weatherproof plas-
tic, commonly tedlar polyester tedlar (tedlar is a Dupont
trade mark). Silicon cells have an inherent potential of
about 0.6V DC so tend to be packaged as 32-36 cells
into a solar module typically 1.2m x 0.6 which can give
nominally 12V DC and 75 watts under industry standard
test conditions. These test conditions are 1000 W/m2 inso-
lation (light), temperature 250C and air mass 1.5 (latter
derates for the effect of light passing through the atmo-
sphere)
The key material used by the photovoltaic industry
today as it has been for the last twenty years is crystalline
silicon solar cells. The starting material is the lower spec-
ification silicon produced by the semiconductor silicon
industry. There are three current ways of utilizing this
technology, monocrystalline, cast multi-crystalline silicon
or ribbon multi-crystalline silicon. The first two are sliced
into wafers of about 125 mm square and 350 um thickness.
This material has enabled relatively high stable conversion
efficiencies typically 13-15%.
Work continues to go into this technology and it is
estimated that there are still major volume cost reductions
to be had here. Studies such as the MUSIC FM project
under the EC Apas program have shown it is possible
to reduce given increases in industry volume costs to
1/0.7 ECU per watt peak i.e. over 80% less than current
costs.
43.4 The benefits
Enough of the present where is this technology going and
how is it getting there? To understand this it is best to
remember the benefits of photovoltaics.
Firstly as a renewable energy source it is environmen-
tally benign. Once manufactured and producing electricity
it does not put into the atmosphere gasses such as Carbon
dioxide, the natural by-products from fossil fuel plants
which lead to global warming.
Photovoltaics require no fuel and minimal maintenance
(usually simply cleaning). As such a big use of this
technology to date has been locations such as marine
navigational aids, telecommunications repeater sites on
mountains where it is very expensive and difficult to bring
in fuel for alternative power supplies.
Solar produces no noise when operating and providing
it has access to light will generate electricity. This enables
it to be by far the most appropriate renewable technology
to be used in the urban area.
43.5 Uses
To understand the technology and where it is going it is
necessary to understand the uses.
The present Photovoltaic market is characterized by a
fairly high and stable increase of over 15% per year. As
at today the annual solar module production is estimated
to be about 160 MW Still only very small in comparison
to conventional power station output but growing fast in
comparison.
Whilst costs have fallen seven fold since 1980's it still
remains an expensive technology.
So how can the market be broken up and where is
the growth coming from? There are several ways to
look at market segments for solar but one of the more
common ones is thefivekey areas - Telecommunications,
Rural infrastructure, consumer, grid connect and specialist
segments such as navigational aids, cathodic protection
Not only are all markets growing but there is increasing
growth in the segment known as grid connect. Here
solar acts as a complement to the standard grid and
solar is utilized in central power station markets or on
individual/company buildings to supplement power to
the grid.
The key drivers for this at present are the reducing
costs of large scale solar developments but above all the
key environmental benefits of using a renewable energy
which does not add to the greenhouse gas problem or
create pollutants. There are large government programs
in place in many countries to stimulate the take up of
solar. Of note are Japan, the U.S.A., Germany, Japan,
and Switzerland.
So what affect is this growth in the grid connect
market having on the solar industry. Firstly companies
are adapting to a different market. There is now a need
to consider reduced installation costs and architectural
choice in solar module design.
43.6 The future
The holy grail of the solar industry is lower cost and
higher efficiency product to compete even further with
conventional power sources. Market growth is important
as it leads to increasing economies of scale. To get a "step"
change in cost however needs above all technological
development.
Traditionally the market has been dominated by the
use of silicon as the base semi-conductor. 80% crystalline
silicon, 20% amorphous. As the silicon used in solar cells
makes up the bulk of the cost it is on alternatives to this
that research is focused. As an indirect semiconductor,
silicon has the disadvantage of absorbing parts of the solar
spectrum rather weakly. Therefore the absorbing layer
of the cell must be fairly thick (>200um) which leads
to a large consumption of expensive high purity silicon
material. It also depends furthermore on the processing
of silicon wafers which complicates and therefore adds to
the costs of module production.
Alternative solar cell materials and cell designs have
been under development for a number of years in many
laboratories. These are now beginning to be commercial-
ized in volume
43.7 How can plant engineers make use
of photovoltaics?
There are two basic approaches:
1. Grid connected systems.
2. Stand alone systems
43.1.1 Grid connected electricity
The first is where solar is connected to the normal grid.
The expectation is that solar will not provide all the power
but a fraction, and can be used as a means of peak-lopping,
or as a base carrier.
Where these systems have mostly been taken up
are: Germany/Switzerland/Japan/Austria (whilst they are
growing in other countries such as the USA, Netherlands,
Denmark, Belgium etc.).
The driving force for their use is the desire to use non-
polluting, environmentally friendly, renewable electricity.
Here to overcome the cost barriers, there are subsidy
schemes in place supplying up to 50% of the cost of the
installation. The reason for these "subsidy" schemes, are
to encourage take up of technology, allow suppliers a
bigger market and ultimately speed cost reductions.
There are no such similar systems, in operation within
the UK, at present, though is a European program which
periodically offers in competitive bidding up to 35% fund-
ing for the right innovative projects, and there maybe
further encouragement given within the European Com-
munity in due course.
At present, systems in the U.K. cannot provide electric-
ity as cheap as the normal grid supplier. And could only
provide a minute fraction of a plant electrical load. Why
plants have considering using the technology even then is
to act as the most visible statement of their environmental
commitment. The world is growing more environmentally
conscious, consumers, employees, regulators, and local
councillors, demand greater private sector concern.
Solar photovoltaics offers the most visible way of
demonstrating that fact even if the electricity generated
cannot yet be a large cost effective part of supply. Dupont
in 1999 for example committed to providing 10% of its
energy from renewable sources. Whilst this can be from
remote plants so called green electrons; a solar system
can visibly demonstrate that commitment by being on
site. Ford for example has solar on its engine plant in
Bridgend.
These systems combine four key elements:
A number of solar modules
A mounting framework to mount the solar modules
An inverter or group of inverter, which connects to the
main system,
Safety relay ./metering set up/
Cabling, interconnecting and protection systems etc.
The key element, the solar module is a bit like a win-
dow in construction. It is usually 1.2m x 0.6m(4feet x
 2 feet) weighing 8kgs. Its front consists of toughened
glass, its rear waterproof plastic. In between are lami-
nated 36125mm pseudo-square solar cells which con-
vert light into electricity. With grid connection as only
part of the plant is being powered by solar, the issue
on quantity tends to be space/budget. The solar modules
simply feed into one or a number of inverters which feed
into the main switch box.
43.1.2 Cost/performance
As a guide a square metre of solar in the UK costs
£600.00 per or square metre all up including panels,
inverters, installation and generates 0.4kwh/day on aver-
age. Basically the more solar used the greater the propor-
tion of output.
43.1.3 Stand alone
For small loads remote from electrical supply a complete
self contained solar power system maybe the solution,
Here the backup power is not the grid but batteries
for poor weather/night-time. This may be cheaper and
less disruptive than laying a cable to the installation
or frequently replacing batteries. Thus at remote ends
of plants it maybe cheaper than laying in cable. This
is already used extensively in UK for telemetry/noise
monitoring, rail degreasing systems.
To provide power during the times when the sunlight
is insufficient either during the night or periods of poor
weather e.g. heavy cloudcover requires an energy store.
The most efficient medium for this is the battery. Whilst
it is true almost any type of battery can be used, providing
the electrical parameters are suitable, solar systems have
some particular design requirements. These are effectively
low maintenance i.e. infrequent battery top-up and long
life i.e. able to withstand the heavy daily battery cycling
required under these conditions. As such batteries have
been specially developed for this particularly rigorous
service The output from the solar modules varies consid-
erably depending on prevailing sunlight and temperature
conditions.
Whilst it is possible to connect directly to the bat-
teries, in unattended situations this may result in con-
siderable abuse of the battery leading to much reduced
system life and greater water loss in the batteries. To
counteract this therefore, electronic control units are sup-
plied which regulate the output from the solar modules to
charge the batteries. This is done to ensure the maximum
energy efficient transfer coupled with the minimal battery
water loss.
With stand alone systems the trick is working out how
many of what type components are needed. At the heart of
solar system design is the predicted performance and sub-
sequent sizing at different locations throughout the world.
This technique has been constantly refined. From a cal-
culation method that could be done on a single sheet
of paper the methodology has evolved to sophisticated
computer programs involving weather pattern probabil-
ity analysis. Only accurate sizings of the system will
result in the benefits of solar being obtained by users.
Demonstration systems such as the 3OKW solar plant
(jointly funded by BP, the DTI and EEC) at Marchwood
power station near Southampton have provided compre-
hensive data on system performance. Data such as this,
again coupled with intense research means that this pro-
cess enables users to receive their required energy with
confidence.
43.8 The plant engineer - the user
There are many ways where full use has and can be made
of the stand alone systems. Probably one of the most
economical uses that have been made of these systems
is in the marine industries. Namely in the lighting of
navigational buoys used in not only coastal waters, but
in the open seas.
The use has completely restructured the maintenance
and inspection of these very important items of equip-
ment.
Originally regular maintenance and routine visits had
to be made to enable illumination to be maintained at all
times, whether it be to replace gas cylinders or batteries
etc sometimes making it necessary for the buoys having
to be lifted from the water, incurring considerable costs.
The use of batteries, which are continuously charged
by the use of the photovoltaic principle, the use of sealed
miniature computerized controls, etc. has reduced the total
programme and saved considerable expense and increased
reliability, so much needed in these particular applica-
tions, and at the same time reduced a very expensive
service to within reasonable limits.
How can this sort of application be applicable to the
Land-based plant and have similar advantages?
Probably when setting up a new plant or even taking
an overall view of an existing plant, it is well worth
carrying out an audit similar to one that would be car-
ried out when viewing the energy consumption account.
One has only to give just a little consideration to the
savings and stress reduction that has been brought about
when the photocell was introduced to the pocket calcula-
tor, virtually eliminating the use of batteries altogether
and the hassle that always went along with a battery
failure.
How many illuminated signs, notices, isolated light-
ing, monitoring equipment requirements are there, which
all will require, in the first place, the installation costs,
which could be very expensive in very isolated situa-
tions, followed up by routing maintenance and repair or
replacement visits etc.
The use of these systems should be more commonplace
that they are an the moment, this is brought home when
visiting some of the towns on the continent of Europe.
43.9 Conclusion
Photovoltaics continues to mirror all the classic signs of a
start up industry. Costs are falling. New applications are
leading to new innovations/new products. New lower cost
technologies are rapidly being commercialized. With the
issues of climate change and environment increasingly at
the forefront of the political agenda, the prospects for this Factors which maximize the kWh/kWp performance of PV instal-
technology are immense. lations in northern Europe: MaSOn 7 N-B., Bruton, T. M. and
Heasman, K. C. (German PV symposium 1997).
Solar above all is the renewable energy which can be Thin films, past present, future - Ken Zweibel (National Renewable
utilized in urban areas on built up equipment. Whilst solar Energy Laboratory 1995).
may not provide the huge amounts of energy that plants The development of coloured silicon solar cells for architectural
traditionally call for; using this power source as part of a applications: Mason, N. B., Bruton, T. M., Heasman, K. C., Rus-
sel, R. and Scott, R. D. W. (Eurosun 1996).
well balanced power consumption system can have some The achievement of 20% efficiency in a CZ silicon solar cell
very definite advantages. under concentration Bruton, T. M., Heasman, K. C., Nagle, J. P.
Russel, R. (13th EC photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference
1994).
43.10 The whole idea sounds good to Multi-megawatt upscaling of silicon and thin film solar cell and
module manufacturing "music fm" (Apas rena ct94 0008).
me but how do I exploit it? TM Bruton, J M Woodcock, K Roy, B Garrard, J Alonso, J Nijs,
A Rauber.
Some of the ideas mentioned, on the face of it look good A Vallera, H Schade, E Alsema, R Hill, B Dimmler.
but have I got the time and the enthusiasm to get down Photovoltaics- Paving the way for the technology of tomorrow.
to carrying out an audit in my plant? ENDS Report 270.
Overview of Energy RD&D options for a sustainable future:
Time is the most important commodity in most engi- European Commission JOU2-CT 93-0280.
neer's life, so how can this be overcome? BP Solar Ltd. PO Box No; 191 Chertsey Road, Sunbury-on-Thames,
The obvious hand to reach for is the consultant who is Middlesex. TW16 7XA. BP Solar is part of BP Solarex, a wholly
involved in the specialist application or direct to a com- owned BP Amoco subsidiary.
Contacts with your local University or College of Further Educa-
pany who have set themselves up either in the application tion.
investigation field or who have systems which they have
developed in a specific field.
Likewise there are usually within easy reach of most Further information
installations, a University, or even more locally a Tech-
nical College, most of which have course leaders looking
for project work for their students. DG TREN
Some companies are developing close associations with European Commission
local schools, which can be a very rewarding experience, Rue de Ia Loi 200
although may not be as cost effective in time and attain- B-1049, Brussels
ment. But this will be up to the individual engineer to Tel: OO 32 2 295 6319
explore. A call to an appropriate engineering department Fax: OO 32 2 296 6283
Head will usually give access to students looking for
project work. DTI New & Renewable Energy Enquiries Bureau
This contact can be very beneficial to both the students ETSU
and to the industry and employs a new view to your very Harwell
familiar surroundings and possibly a wealth of enquiring Oxfordshire
knowledge waiting to be tapped which can have a reward- OXIl OP4
ing return for a little co-operation with that institution. Tel: 01235 432 450
Having said that this co-operation need not be restricted Fax: 01235 432 923
to the application of photovoltaics but to many other
subjects within the scope of many courses. Energie Helpline UK
Your help can pay dividends in the long run. Telegraphic House
As time progresses and global warming is taken seri- Waterfront Quay
ously internationally, there are increasing government Salford Quays
grants and advice available. The project controller and Manchester M5 2XW
energy manager should make every effort to find what is
available. International Energy Technology
DTI
1 Victoria Street
References London SWlH OET
Photovoltaic cells-An overview: Wittling, W., Mertens, R. P., Tel: 020 7215 2813/2647
Sinke, W. C., Schock, H. W. (Eurosun 1996). Fax: 020 7215 2674