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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A2: Solar Energy and Photovoltaic Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 December 2019) | Viewed by 33252

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Gorazd Štumberger

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Guest Editor

Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 46, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: design; optimization; modeling and control of electric devices; machines, drives, and power system elements; electric power generation, transmission, and distribution; renewable energy sources and distributed generation; smart grids and microgrids; energy management systems
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Dr. Niko Lukač

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Maribor, Koroška cesta 46, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: simulation and modelling; remote sensing; parallel computing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, PV systems have become one of the most appealing solutions for the utilization of renewable energy. On the one hand, tremendous progress has been made in the fields of PV materials, module technologies, power electronic converters, small PV systems, modeling, and simulation. On the other hand, new methods have been developed for large-scale, PV-system resource assessment based on heterogeneous earth observation data (e.g., digital terrain models, LiDAR, and satellite imagery) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in which the accuracy of the simulations and optimizations increases with the increasing resolution of the input data, yielding new applications for PV systems. Some of the new challenges related to the large-scale implementation of PV systems are resource assessment optimization, monitoring, grid integration, and interactions with the grid, including data fusion, combining grid configuration and operation data with earth observation data. The Special Issue covers, but is not limited to, the following:

PV materials, including new and further developed solutions, modeling, and simulations
PV cells and modules
devices and solutions for PV systems (power electronics converters, DC-DC, DC-AC, optimizers, inverters, micro inverters, sun tracking systems, etc.)
on-grid and off-grid operation, combined with energy storage
the integration of PV systems in electric grids, and interaction with electric grids
the operation and monitoring of PV systems
modeling, simulation, control, and optimization (components, devices, and systems)
large-scale applications (GIS, PV resource assessment, etc.)

Potential authors are invited to submit manuscripts containing original or substantially further developed solutions related to PV systems.

Prof. Dr. Gorazd Štumberger
Prof. Dr. Niko Lukač
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

PV systems
PV materials
PV modules
power electronic converters
interactions with the electric grid
resource assessment
solar energy
modeling, optimization, simulation
large-scale applications

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3402 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Solar Energy Data Analytics: PV Deployment and Land Use

by Francesco Mancini and Benedetto Nastasi

Energies 2020, 13(2), 417; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13020417 - 15 Jan 2020

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 8121

Abstract

EU targets for sustainable development call for strong changes in the current energy systems as well as committed protection of environmental resources. This target conflicts if a policy is not going to promote the compatible solutions to both the issues. This is the case of the additional renewable energy sources to be exploited for increasing the share in the electricity mix and in the gross final energy consumption. Solar energy is, currently, the cheapest solution in Southern European Countries, like Italy. In this paper, thanks to the availability of three open databases provided by National Institutions, the authors compared the historic trends and policy scenarios for soil consumption, electricity consumption, and renewable electricity production to check correlations. The provincial scale was chosen as resolution of the analysis. The deviations from the policy scenarios was then addressed to identify the demand for policy recommendations and pathways to promote in order to achieve the target for renewable electricity share as well as the reduction in soli consumption trend in 2030. The role of renewables integrated in the existing contexts, such as building integrated photovoltaics, is considered a key driver for solving this issue. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue PV Systems: from Small- to Large-Scale)

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20 pages, 4820 KiB

Open AccessArticle

PV Module-Level CHB Inverter with Integrated Battery Energy Storage System

by Chiara Sirico, Remus Teodorescu, Dezso Séra, Marino Coppola, Pierluigi Guerriero, Diego Iannuzzi and Adolfo Dannier

Energies 2019, 12(23), 4601; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12234601 - 3 Dec 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4554

Abstract

In this paper, a photovoltaic (PV) module-level Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) inverter with an integrated Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is proposed. The advantages and drawbacks of the CHB circuit architecture in distributed PV generation systems are highlighted. The main benefits are related to the higher granularity of the PV power control, which mitigates mismatch effects, thus increasing the power harvesting. Nevertheless, heavy unbalanced configurations due to the intermittent nature of PV sources need to be properly addressed. In order to smooth the PV fluctuations, a Battery Energy Storage System is used to provide both an energy buffer and coordination of power supply and demand to obtain a flat profile of the output power. In particular, by exploiting the inherent modularity of the conversion circuit, a distributed storage system is also implemented by splitting the battery into smaller units each of which represents the backup module of a single power cell of the PV CHB. The proposed design and control strategy allows overcoming the operating limits of PV CHB inverter. Simulation results, carried out on a single-phase nineteen-level PV CHB inverter, evidence the effectiveness of the proposed design and control approach to minimize the adverse impact of deep mismatch conditions, thus enabling continuous power output by compensating PV power fluctuations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue PV Systems: from Small- to Large-Scale)

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20 pages, 3799 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Simplified Five-Parameter Estimation Method for Single-Diode Model of Photovoltaic Panels

by Vincenzo Stornelli, Mirco Muttillo, Tullio de Rubeis and Iole Nardi

Energies 2019, 12(22), 4271; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12224271 - 8 Nov 2019

Cited by 62 | Viewed by 7038

Abstract

This work proposes a new simplified five-parameter estimation method for a single-diode model of photovoltaic panels. The method, based on an iterative algorithm, is able to estimate the parameter of the electrical single-diode model from the panel’s datasheet. Two iterative steps are used to estimate the five parameters starting from data provided by the manufacturer (nameplate values or I–V curves). The first step permits finding the optimal value of the diode ideality factor A, and the second step allows the calculation of the R_p value to improve the accuracy. A model that takes into account variations in temperature and solar irradiance has been used to validate the behavior of the output parameters. Compared to other estimation work, the proposed method shows the best result in the standard test condition (STC) and with a variable solar irradiance. Indeed, the optimization of the A, R_s, and R_p parameters allows guaranteeing the minimum error between I–V curves obtained from method and datasheet. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue PV Systems: from Small- to Large-Scale)

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17 pages, 8295 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simplified Method for Analyzing the Availability of Rooftop Photovoltaic Potential

by Primož Mavsar, Klemen Sredenšek, Bojan Štumberger, Miralem Hadžiselimović and Sebastijan Seme

Energies 2019, 12(22), 4233; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12224233 - 6 Nov 2019

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 3026

Abstract

This paper presents a new simplified method for analyzing the availability of photovoltaic potential on roofs. Photovoltaic systems on roofs are widespread as they represent a sustainable and safe investment and, therefore, a means of energy self-sufficiency. With the growth of photovoltaic systems, it is also crucial to correctly evaluate their global efficiency. Thus, this paper presents a comparison between known methods for estimating the photovoltaic potential (as physical, geographic and technical contributions) on a roof and proposes a new simplified method, that takes into account the economic potential of a building that already has installed a photovoltaic system. The measured values of generated electricity of the photovoltaic system were compared with calculated photovoltaic potential. In general, the annual physical, geographic, technical and economic potentials were 1273.7, 1253.8, 14.2 MWh, and 279.1 Wh, respectively. The analysis of all four potentials is essential for further understanding of the sustainable and safe investment in photovoltaic systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue PV Systems: from Small- to Large-Scale)

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10 pages, 1910 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Collector Shading and Masking on Optimized PV Field Designs

by Avi Aronescu and Joseph Appelbaum

Energies 2019, 12(18), 3471; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12183471 - 9 Sep 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2040

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) solar fields are deployed with multiple rows. The second and subsequent rows are subject to shading and masking by the rows in front. The direct beam incident radiation on the second row is affected by shading and the diffuse incident radiation is affected by masking, expressed by sky view factor. Hence, all rows, besides the first one, receive lower incident radiation. The design of PV fields must take into account the decrease in the incident radiation caused by these two effects. The paper investigates by simulation the annual incident diffuse, direct beam and global radiation on the first and on the second row for optimized PV fields at two sites: Tel Aviv, Israel, with low diffuse component, and Lindenberg–Germany monitoring station, with a high diffuse component. The study emphasizes the importance of the diffuse incident radiation on the energy loss of the PV field. The percentage annual global energy loss due to shading and masking on the second row amounts to 1.49% in Tel Aviv and 0.46% in Lindenberg. Isotropic and anisotropic diffuse models were considered. The calculated diffuse incident energy for the isotropic model is lower than the values for anisotropic model by about 8% in Tel Aviv and 3.75% in Lindenberg. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue PV Systems: from Small- to Large-Scale)

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19 pages, 4620 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Review, Comparison, and Proposal for PWM Converters Integrating Differential Power Processing Converter for Small Exploration Rovers

by Masatoshi Uno, Toshiki Shinohara, Yota Saito and Akio Kukita

Energies 2019, 12(10), 1919; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12101919 - 20 May 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3037

Abstract

Partial shading often appears on photovoltaic (PV) strings installed in small space probes, such as moon exploration rovers, due to their body structures, reducing the power yield of PV strings. Such partial shading issues can be precluded by differential power processing (DPP) converters. However, in addition to a main dc-dc converter, a DPP converter is required, increasing the system complexity and cost. In this paper, several kinds of integrated pulse width modulation (PWM) converters that can reduce the system complexity thanks to the integration are reviewed and are quantitatively compared in terms of the switch and magnetic component counts, and voltage conversion ratio. Based on the comparison and consideration from the perspectives of reliability, circuit volume, and voltage conversion requirement, a single-switch single-magnetic integrated PWM converter with a resonant voltage multiplier (RVM) was selected as the best suitable topology for small exploration rovers. Furthermore, the improved version with a non-resonant voltage multiplier (NRVM) was also proposed to achieve further circuit miniaturization and improved reliability. The experimental verification tests using the proposed integrated PWM converter were performed emulating a partial-shading condition. The maximum power yield from the PV modules was improved by 11.1% thanks to the DPP function of the proposed integrated converter. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue PV Systems: from Small- to Large-Scale)

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18 pages, 959 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Weighted-PSO Applied to Tune Sliding Mode Plus PI Controller Applied to a Boost Converter in a PV System

by Gloria Milena Vargas Gil, Lucas Lima Rodrigues, Roberto S. Inomoto, Alfeu J. Sguarezi and Renato Machado Monaro

Energies 2019, 12(5), 864; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12050864 - 5 Mar 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4623

Abstract

In this paper, a sliding mode plus proportional-integral (PI) controller for a boost converter in a photovoltaic system is proposed. The proposed controller is characterized by being easy to implement and by operating with constant switching frequency. The parameters of the proposed controller are calculated using the weighted particle swarm optimization technique, ensuring low percentage of overshoot and short setting time. The use of this optimization technique allows one to ensure the stability of the controller. A linear lead-leg controller is considered in order to compare the performance of the proposed controller. Finally, experimental results using a solar kit are presented to verify the performance of the proposed controller. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue PV Systems: from Small- to Large-Scale)

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