Energies

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16 pages, 10202 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Advances in Room Temperature of Indium Aluminum Nitride InAlN Deposition via Direct Current (DC) Co-Sputtering for Solar Energy Applications

by Juan David Cañón-Bermúdez and Luis Fernando Mulcué-Nieto

Energies 2024, 17(21), 5447; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17215447 - 31 Oct 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 495

Abstract

This study presents an innovative method for the synthesis of indium aluminum nitride (InAlN) layers by direct current (DC) co-sputtering at room temperature, with the aim of reducing production costs of optoelectronic devices. Indium and aluminum targets are used, varying the power applied [...] Read more.

This study presents an innovative method for the synthesis of indium aluminum nitride (InAlN) layers by direct current (DC) co-sputtering at room temperature, with the aim of reducing production costs of optoelectronic devices. Indium and aluminum targets are used, varying the power applied to the aluminum target. The results show that increasing the target power favors the formation of aluminum nitride (AlN), which modifies the chemical composition of the material. The layers obtained present smooth surfaces with a roughness of less than 3 nm, which is beneficial for applications requiring interfaces with low defect density. Regarding the optical properties, it is observed that the optical bandgap varies between 1.8 eV and 2.0 eV, increasing with the target power. Hall effect measurements indicate a decrease in the free carrier concentration and an increase in the resistivity with increasing power. This approach allows for the synthesis of InAlN with properties suitable for optoelectronic applications, solar cells, photocatalysis, and photoelectrocatalysis at low cost. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Solar Cells and Photovoltaics)

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12 pages, 1760 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Reactive Power Generation in Photovoltaic Installations on the Voltage Value at the Inverter Connection Point

by Grzegorz Hołdyński, Zbigniew Skibko, Andrzej Borusiewicz, Andrzej Marczuk and Adam Koniuszy

Energies 2024, 17(19), 4863; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17194863 - 27 Sep 2024

Viewed by 547

Abstract

Worldwide, photovoltaic installations are making an increasing contribution to electric energy generation. These are power-unstable sources due to the rapid and frequent change in insolation. As a result, a common problem noted in low-voltage power grids is that the permitted voltage values at [...] Read more.

Worldwide, photovoltaic installations are making an increasing contribution to electric energy generation. These are power-unstable sources due to the rapid and frequent change in insolation. As a result, a common problem noted in low-voltage power grids is that the permitted voltage values at the source connection point are exceeded. There are several methods of limiting the voltage values present at the inverter. One of them is the generation of reactive power in a photovoltaic installation. In the literature, one can find many relationships that allow one to determine the increase in voltage caused by the change in reactive power, where the imaginary part of the voltage loss is omitted as insignificant. The authors’ research has shown that this can lead to significant errors. Omitting the imaginary value causes the determined values to be even more than 4.5 times smaller—these differences increase with the length of the line. The analyses carried out by the authors show that the determination of voltage increments with and without taking into account the imaginary part of the voltage loss in the calculations differs from the values determined via computer simulation (failure to take into account the imaginary part results in calculated values of voltage increase being lower than the values determined via a computer by about 40% on average). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Solar Cells and Photovoltaics)

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17 pages, 3525 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Single-Sensor Global MPPT for PV System Interconnected with DC Link Using Recent Red-Tailed Hawk Algorithm

by Motab Turki Almousa, Mohamed R. Gomaa, Mostafa Ghasemi and Mohamed Louzazni

Energies 2024, 17(14), 3391; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17143391 - 10 Jul 2024

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 908

Abstract

The primary disadvantage of solar photovoltaic systems, particularly in partial shadowing conditions (PSC), is their low efficiency. A power–voltage curve with a homogenous distribution of solar irradiation often has a single maximum power point (MPP). Without a doubt, it can be extracted using [...] Read more.

The primary disadvantage of solar photovoltaic systems, particularly in partial shadowing conditions (PSC), is their low efficiency. A power–voltage curve with a homogenous distribution of solar irradiation often has a single maximum power point (MPP). Without a doubt, it can be extracted using any conventional tracker—for instance, perturb and observe. On the other hand, under PSC, the situation is entirely different since, depending on the number of distinct solar irradiation levels, the power–voltage curve has numerous MPPs (i.e., multiple local points and one global point). Conventional MPPTs can only extract the first point since they are unable to distinguish between local and global MPP. Thus, to track the global MPP, an optimized MPPT based on optimization algorithms is needed. The majority of global MPPT techniques seen in the literature call for sensors for voltage and current in addition to, occasionally, temperature and/or solar irradiance, which raises the cost of the system. Therefore, a single-sensor global MPPT based on the recent red-tailed hawk (RTH) algorithm for a PV system interconnected with a DC link operating under PSC is presented. Reducing the number of sensors leads to a decrease in the cost of a controller. To prove the superiority of the RTH, the results are compared with several metaheuristic algorithms. Three shading scenarios are considered, with the idea of changing the shading scenario to change the location of the global MPP to measure the consistency of the algorithms. The results verified the effectiveness of the suggested global MPPT based on the RTH in precisely capturing the global MPP compared with other methods. As an example, for the first shading situation, the mean PV power values varied between 6835.63 W and 5925.58 W. The RTH reaches the highest PV power of 6835.63 W flowing through particle swarm optimization (6808.64 W), whereas greylag goose optimizer achieved the smallest PV power production of 5925.58 W. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Solar Cells and Photovoltaics)

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17 pages, 9460 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the Impact of a Photovoltaic Farm on Selected Parameters of Power Quality in a Medium-Voltage Power Grid

by Grzegorz Hołdyński, Zbigniew Skibko, Andrzej Firlit and Wojciech Walendziuk

Energies 2024, 17(3), 623; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17030623 - 27 Jan 2024

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1266

Abstract

Over the last few years, a dynamic increase in the installed capacity of distributed energy sources has been observed, with the largest share being photovoltaic sources. The power grid is a system of connected vessels, and changing the structure of electricity production has [...] Read more.

Over the last few years, a dynamic increase in the installed capacity of distributed energy sources has been observed, with the largest share being photovoltaic sources. The power grid is a system of connected vessels, and changing the structure of electricity production has a specific impact on the operation of this network, which makes it necessary to study the impact of the sources on the power system. The current and projected increase in the number of connected installations will make the issues of interaction and cooperation of distributed sources with the network extremely important. The article presents an analysis of the impact of a photovoltaic farm on selected parameters of the quality of electricity supply. This analysis was made on the basis of simulation results in a computer program and measurement tests carried out on a real photovoltaic farm with a capacity of 1.8 MW connected to the medium voltage power grid. The impact of the farm-generated power on the values of fundamental indicators of the quality of electricity supply, such as voltage deviations, voltage asymmetry factors, and voltage distortions factors, is presented. These relationships were determined based on the correlation and regression analysis of individual electrical quantities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Solar Cells and Photovoltaics)

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23 pages, 12787 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Application of Artificial Intelligence Algorithms in Multilayer Perceptron and Elman Networks to Predict Photovoltaic Power Plant Generation

by Grzegorz Drałus, Damian Mazur, Jacek Kusznier and Jakub Drałus

Energies 2023, 16(18), 6697; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16186697 - 19 Sep 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1193

Abstract

This paper presents the models developed for the short-term forecasting of energy production by photovoltaic panels. An analysis of a set of weather factors influencing daily energy production is presented. Determining the correlation between the produced direct current (DC) energy and the individual [...] Read more.

This paper presents the models developed for the short-term forecasting of energy production by photovoltaic panels. An analysis of a set of weather factors influencing daily energy production is presented. Determining the correlation between the produced direct current (DC) energy and the individual weather parameters allowed the selection of the potentially best explanatory factors, which served as input data for the neural networks. The forecasting models were based on MLP and Elman-type networks. An appropriate selection of structures and learning parameters was carried out, as well as the process of learning the models. The models were built based on different time periods: year-round, semi-annual, and seasonal. The models were developed separately for monocrystalline and amorphous photovoltaic modules. The study compared the models with the predicted and measured insolation energy. In addition, complex forecasting models were developed for the photovoltaic system, which could forecast DC and AC energy simultaneously. The complex models were developed according to the rules of global and local modeling. The forecast errors of the developed models were included. The smallest values of the DC energy forecast errors were achieved for the models designed for summer forecasts. The percentage forecast error was 1.95% using directly measured solar irradiance and 5. 57% using predicted solar irradiance. The complex model for summer forecasted the AC energy with an error of 1.86%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Solar Cells and Photovoltaics)

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23 pages, 9624 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Time Series Forecasting for Energy Production in Stand-Alone and Tracking Photovoltaic Systems Based on Historical Measurement Data

by Mateusz Sumorek and Adam Idzkowski

Energies 2023, 16(17), 6367; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176367 - 2 Sep 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2171

Abstract

This article presents a time series analysis for predicting energy production in photovoltaic (PV) power plant systems, namely fixed and solar-tracking ones, which were located in the north-east of Poland. The purpose of one-day forecasts is to determine the effectiveness of preventive actions [...] Read more.

This article presents a time series analysis for predicting energy production in photovoltaic (PV) power plant systems, namely fixed and solar-tracking ones, which were located in the north-east of Poland. The purpose of one-day forecasts is to determine the effectiveness of preventive actions and manage power systems effectively. The impact of climate variables affecting the production of electricity in the photovoltaic systems was analyzed. Forecasting models based on traditional machine learning (ML) techniques and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural networks were created without using solar irradiance as an input feature to the model. In addition, a few metrics were selected to determine the quality of the forecasts. The preparation of the dataset for constructing the forecasting models was discussed, and some ways for improving the metrics were given. Furthermore, comparative analyses were performed, which showed that the MLP neural networks used in the regression problem provided better results than the MLP classifier models. The Diebold–Mariano (DM) test was applied in this study to distinguish the significant differences in the forecasting accuracy between the individual models. Compared to KNN (k-nearest neighbors) or ARIMA models, the best results were obtained for the simple linear regression, MLPRegressor, and CatBoostRegressor models in each of the investigated photovoltaic systems. The R-squared value for the MLPRegressor model was around 0.6, and it exceeded 0.8 when the dataset was split and separated into months. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Solar Cells and Photovoltaics)

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9 pages, 1285 KiB

Open AccessCommunication

Low-Cost Passivated Al Front Contacts for III-V/Ge Multijunction Solar Cells

by Olivier Richard, Artur Turala, Vincent Aimez, Maxime Darnon and Abdelatif Jaouad

Energies 2023, 16(17), 6209; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176209 - 26 Aug 2023

Viewed by 1223

Abstract

Improving the performances and reducing costs of III-V multijunction solar cells are crucial in aerospatial energy systems and in terrestrial concentrator modules. We attempted to achieve both objectives by implementing non-ohmic metal/semiconductor interface contacts on the front surface of III-V/Ge triple-junction solar cells. [...] Read more.

Improving the performances and reducing costs of III-V multijunction solar cells are crucial in aerospatial energy systems and in terrestrial concentrator modules. We attempted to achieve both objectives by implementing non-ohmic metal/semiconductor interface contacts on the front surface of III-V/Ge triple-junction solar cells. We demonstrate the feasibility of this concept for this type of solar cell by a simple evaporation of Al only either on the GaAs contact layer or the AlInP window. The best results were obtained when sulfur passivation by (NH₄)2S_x was conducted on the GaAs contact layer. This allowed for a reduction in reverse saturation dark current density by one order of magnitude and a slight increase in V

_{o c}

of almost 20 mV under 1 sun illumination relative to a reference device with Pd/Ge/Ti/Pd ohmic contacts. However, poor performances were observed at first under concentrated sunlight. Further annealing the solar cells with Al front metallization resulted in the reduction of V

_{o c}

to the same level as the reference solar cell but allowed for good performances under high illumination. Indeed, an efficiency over 34% was observed at 500 suns light intensity both for Al and Pd/Ge/Ti/Pd contacted solar cells. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Solar Cells and Photovoltaics)

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15 pages, 3300 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance of Cs-Doped Carbon-Based Perovskite Solar Cells in Ambient Environment

by Tanzeela Yousaf, Nadia Shahzad, Abdul Sattar, Muhammad Ali Tariq, Naveed Hussain, Zuhair S. Khan, Sofia Javed, Muhammad Imran Shahzad and Diego Pugliese

Energies 2023, 16(12), 4748; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16124748 - 15 Jun 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2259

Abstract

The development of organometal halide-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has made remarkable progress in photovoltaics. The commercialization of PSCs is still significantly limited, owing to their poor stability and the high material cost of a hole transport layer (HTL) and metal electrodes. To [...] Read more.

The development of organometal halide-based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has made remarkable progress in photovoltaics. The commercialization of PSCs is still significantly limited, owing to their poor stability and the high material cost of a hole transport layer (HTL) and metal electrodes. To counter these issues, a carbon-based HTL and noble metal-free PSCs are being used. In this work, the effect of Cs-doping on perovskite film morphology and device performance has been systematically studied because the Cs⁺ and Br⁻ ions-doping has proved to be a good choice to improve the stability of PSCs in combination with a carbon electrode. The results showed that when the Cs-doping concentration in perovskite film, MA_1−xCs_xPb(I_1−yBr_y)₃, was equal to x = 0.09, there was a substantial change in the morphological and optoelectronic properties of perovskite films. The grain size of perovskite films was improved from 70 nm (x = 0.00 control) to 170 nm (x = 0.09 Cs-doped), reducing grain boundaries. Moreover, the trap states were additionally passivated resulting in improved radiative recombinations in the perovskite film. The device fabrication was carried out in a controlled dry glovebox, with relative humidity < 40% using carbon as a counter electrode. As a result, Cs-doped PSCs showed a significant increase in efficiency (5.27%) compared to control PSCs (1.55%). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Solar Cells and Photovoltaics)

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