EEE 488 Renewable and Alternate

Energy Systems
Solar Energy Technologies: Solar tracking

Dr. Muhammad Iqbal

 Solar tracking mechanisms
• The amount of output mainly depends on the cosine
angle of incidence
• The minimum incidence angle gives the maximum
power output.
• In case of fixed panel except noon time the angle is
maximum due to the movement of the sun.
• The efficient solar tracker is which can correct this
problem.
– The results showed the efficiency of the single axis
tracking system over that of the static panel is calculated
to be 32.17% and dual axis tracking system over that of
the static panel is calculated to be 81.68%.
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 The amount of electrical energy
generated from PV panels
• depends on incident angles/projected areas

Projected Area

Collector Area

PV panels
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Solar tracking mechanisms

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 Solar tracking mechanisms
• The main mechanism of the solar tracking system consists
of
– Tracking algorithm,
 There are two types of algorithms, astronomical and real-time light
intensity
– Control unit,
 Performs the tracking algorithm and manages the positioning system and
driving mechanism
– Positioning system,
 Operates the tracking device to face the sun at the calculated angles
– Driving mechanism: responsible for moving the tracking device
– Sensing devices.
 Use to sense ambient conditions eg. Light intensity
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Types of tracking systems: depending upon the motion

• Passive tracking systems

• Active tracking systems

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Types of Trackers: Passive
• Powered by a balancing material, usually Freon,
shaded from and heated by sun
• Panels turn as vapor shifts from side to side

Morning wakeup

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 Types of Trackers: Passive

Advantages/Disadvantages

• No electrical parts • Morning wake up

• Reliable • Slow to react
• Simple • Sluggish in cold
• Cost competitive to weather
stationary mounts • More expensive to ship
• Prone to wind gusts
 Types of Trackers: Active
• Active Solar Trackers make use of motors and gear
mechanisms to maintain control over the tracker.
• These motors are usually fed by a control signal
which provides the magnitude and direction of the
tracking to be performed.
• Active trackers are more accurate and more
frequently used but they need to be powered and
consume energy.

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 Types of Trackers: Active
• Active trackers with single-
axis system
– A single axis system provides
for only one degree of freedom
which acts as the axis of
rotation.
– As a result, they usually
consume lesser energy and have
lesser complexity than a multi-
axes system.

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 Types of Trackers: Active
• Active trackers with single-axis system

Light dependent
resistor

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 Types of Trackers: Active
• Active trackers with dual-axis system
– In a dual axis system, there are two degrees of freedom
which act as axes of rotation and are usually
perpendicular to each other.

They tend to be more accurate

than a single axis system, and
require a more complex control
system 12
 Types of Trackers: Active
• Active trackers with dual-axis system

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Comparison table on cost and payback
for different tracking systems.

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Classification of tracking mechanism

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Classification of tracking mechanism
• Closed-loop Types of Sun Tracking Systems
– Closed-loop types of sun tracking systems are based on
feedback control principles.

– In these systems, a number of inputs are transferred to a

controller from sensors which detect relevant parameters
induced by the sun, manipulated in the controller and
then yield outputs

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 Classification of tracking mechanism
• Open-loop Types of Sun Tracking Systems
– An open-loop type of controller computes its input into a system
using only the current state and the algorithm of the system and
without using feedback to determine if its input has achieved the
desired goal (i.e. algorithm-based).
– The system is simpler and cheaper than the closed-loop type of
sun tracking systems.
– It does not observe the output of the processes that it is
controlling.
– Consequently, an open-loop system can not correct any errors so
that it could make and may not compensate for disturbances in
the system.
– Open-loop control algorithms of sun tracking systems utilize
some form of solar irradiation geometry model 17
Solar energy storage and application
• Electricity generated from renewable sources, can
rarely provide immediate response to demand as
these sources do not deliver a regular supply easily
adjustable to consumption needs.
• Stability issues due to the growth of decentralized
production (using renewable resources)
– Leading to greater network load stability problems and
requires energy storage, generally using lead batteries, as
a potential solution.
– This has led to the emergence of storage as a crucial
element in the management of energy from renewable
sources, allowing energy to be released into the grid
during peak hours when it is more valuable. 18
Solar energy storage and application

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Compare the systems having generation
profile with and without storage

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 Energy Storage Applications
• Load leveling (275-400 kV transmission network)
• Spining reserves
• Frequency regulation
• Power factor and voltage support (275-400 kV)
• Peak shaving
• Integration of renewables
• Voltage support (132 kV)
• Load leveling 33 kV distribution network
• Emergency backup supply
• Micro-generation feed-in (11 kV)
• Off-Grid Renewable (at 240 V and domestic level)

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 Some applications of energy storage
• Generation
– Commodity storage:
 Storing bulk energy generated at night for use during peak demand
periods during the day allows for a more uniform load factor for the
generation, transmission, and distribution systems.
– Contingency service:
 Contingency reserve refers to the power capacity capable of providing
power to serve customer demand should a power facility fall off-line.
 Spinning reserves are ready instantaneously, with non-spinning and long-
term reserves ready in 10 min.
– Frequency regulation:
 This would enable maintaining a state of frequency equilibrium during
regular and irregular grid conditions.
– Black Start: This refers to units with a capability to start-up on
their own in order to energise the transmission system.
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 Some applications of energy storage
• Transmission and distribution
– System stability:
 The ability to maintain all system components on a transmission line in
synchronous operation with each other to prevent collapse of a system.

– Voltage regulation:
 Stable voltage between each end of all power lines can be maintained
through voltage regulation.

– Asset deferral:
 This refers to deferring of the need for additional transmission facilities
by supplementing the existing transmission facilities to save capital that
otherwise goes underutilised for years.

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 Some applications of energy storage
• Energy service
– Energy Management allows customers to peak shave by shifting
energy demand from one time of the day to another thus
reducing their time-of-use (demand) charges.
– Power quality provides electrical service to customers without
any secondary oscillations or disruptions to the electricity
‘‘waveform” such as swells/sags, spikes, or harmonics.
– Power Reliability provides bridging power (UPS) for consumers
to ‘ride-through’ a power disruption.
– Coupled with energy management storage, this allows remote
power operation.

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 Electricity storage systems
• Energy storage classification with respect to function

PHS
Capacitor CAES
Super capacitor Large-scale battery
SMES Fuel cell
Power Energy
Fly wheel TES
quality and Management
Battery reliability

A Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) system is a device for

storing and instantaneously discharging large quantities of power. These
systems have been in use for several years to solve voltage stability and power
quality problems for large industrial customers. 28
Electricity storage systems
• Pumped hydroelectric storage

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Electricity storage systems
• Pumped hydroelectric storage
– Components: such a system normally consists of
 Two reservoirs located at different elevations,
 A unit to pump water to the high elevation (to store electricity in the
form of hydraulic potential energy during off peak hours)
 A turbine to generate electricity with the water returning to the low
elevation (converting the potential energy to electricity during peak
hours).
– Clearly, the amount of stored energy is proportional to the
height difference between the two reservoirs and the volume
of water stored.

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Electricity storage systems
• Pumped hydroelectric storage
– Typical characteristics
 PHS is a mature technology with large volume, long storage period,
high efficiency
 Owing to the small evaporation and penetration, the storage period of
PHS can be varied from typically hours to days and even years.
 Taking into account the evaporation and conversion losses, 71% to
85% of the electrical energy used to pump the water into the elevated
reservoir can be regained.
 The typical rating of PHS is about 1000 MW (100 MW–3000 MW)
and facilities continue to be installed worldwide at a rate of up to 5
GW per year.
 The rating of PHS is the highest all over the available EESs, hence it is
generally applied for energy management, frequency control and
provision of reserve.
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Electricity storage systems
• Pumped hydroelectric storage
– Major drawback
 Scarcity of available sites for two large reservoirs and the associated
infrastructure

 Long construction time

 High capital investment

 Environmental concerns

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Electricity storage systems
• Compressed air energy storage
– CAES is the only other commercially available technology
(besides the PHS): large energy storage deliverability (above 100
MW with single unit).
– Components
A motor/generator that employs clutches to provide alternate engagement
to the compressor or turbine trains.
 An air compressor of two or more stages with intercoolers and after-
coolers, to achieve economy of compression and reduce the moisture
content of the compressed air.
 A turbine train, containing both high- and low pressure turbines.
 A cavity/container for storing compressed air, which can be underground
rock caverns, salt caverns, and porous media reservoirs made by water-
bearing aquifers or depleted gas or oil fields.

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Electricity storage systems
• Compressed air energy storage

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Electricity storage systems
• Compressed air energy storage
– CAES systems are designed to cycle on a daily basis and to
operate efficiently during partial load conditions.
– This design approach allows CAES units to swing quickly from
generation to compression modes.
– It is suitable when load varying significantly during the daily
cycle and with costs varying significantly with the generation
level or time of day.
– CAES plants can respond to load changes to provide load
following
– The typical rating for a CAES system is in the range of 50–300
MW.

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Electricity storage systems
• Compressed air energy storage
– Typical characteristics
 The storage period can be over a year, longer than other storage methods
except for the PHS due to very small losses.

 The storage efficiency of the CAES is in the range of 70–89%.

 Similar to the PHS, the major barrier to the implementation of the CAES
is also the reliance on favorable geography.

 Itis only economically feasible for power plants that have nearby rock
mines, salt caverns, aquifers or depleted gas fields.

 the requirement of combusting fossil fuels and the contaminating

emission render the CAES less attractive
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Electricity storage systems
• Battery
– Rechargeable/secondary battery is the oldest form of electricity
storage which stores electricity in the form of chemical energy.
– A battery comprised of one or more electrochemical cells and
each cell consists of a liquid, paste, or solid electrolyte together
with a positive electrode (anode) and a negative electrode
(cathode).
– During discharge, electrochemical reactions occur at the two
electrodes generating a flow of electrons through an external
circuit.
– The reactions are reversible, allowing the battery to be recharged
by applying an external voltage across the electrodes.

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Electricity storage systems
• Battery
– Lead acid batteries
 Lead acid batteries, invented in 1859, are the oldest and most widely used
rechargeable electrochemical devices.

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 New invention
• A team of engineers led by 94-year-old John
Goodenough, professor in the Cockrell School of
Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin
and co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, has
developed the first all-solid-state battery cells that
could lead to safer, faster-charging, longer-lasting
rechargeable batteries for handheld mobile devices,
electric cars and stationary energy storage.

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 Electricity storage systems
• Flywheel energy storage (FES)
– Flywheel energy accumulators are comprised of a massive
or composite flywheel coupled with a motorgenerator.

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 Electricity storage systems
• Flywheel energy storage (FES)
– A flywheel, in essence is a mechanical battery - simply a
mass rotating about an axis.
– Flywheels store energy mechanically in the form of kinetic
energy.
– They take an electrical input to accelerate the rotor up to
speed by using the built-in motor, and return the electrical
energy by using this same motor as a generator.
– Advantages
 High power density, High energy density, Short recharge time.
 The lifetime of the flywheel is almost independent of the depth of
the charge and discharge cycle.
 Flywheel systems are not sensitive to temperature since they are
operating in a vacuum containment 41
 Electricity storage systems
• Supercapacitors
 The supercapacitors store energy by means of an electrolyte solution
between two solid conductors rather than the more common arrangement
of a solid dielectric between the electrodes.
 The electrodes are often made from porous carbon
 The energy storage capabilities of supercapacitors are substantially
greater than that of conventional capacitors

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 Electricity storage systems
• Thermal energy storage (TES)
– TES already exists in a wide spectrum of applications. It uses
materials that can be kept at high/low temperatures in insulated
containments.
– Heat/cold recovered can then be applied for electricity
generation using heat engine cycles
– The overall round trip efficiency of TES is low (30–60%)
– TES systems can be classified into
 Low-temperature TES
 High-temperature TES

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 Electricity storage systems
• Thermal energy storage (TES)
– There are two types of TES systems, depending on whether they
use sensible or latent heat.
– Latent heat TES makes use of the liquid–solid transition of a
material at constant temperature.
– During accumulation, the bulk material will shift from the solid
state to liquid and, during retrieval, will transfer back to solid.
– The heat transfers between the thermal accumulator and the
exterior environment are made through a heat-transfer fluid.
– The phase change materials (PCMs) undergo solid–solid, liquid–
gas, and solid–liquid phase transformations.

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 Electricity storage systems
• Thermal energy storage (TES)
– Sensible heat storage
 Sensible heat storage is effected by raising the temperature of the storage
medium.
 Thus, it is desirable for the storage medium to have high specific heat
capacity, long term stability under thermal cycling, compatibility with its
containment and, most importantly, low cost.
 Liquid media storage
 Solid media storage

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 Ice Thermal Energy Storage

• Air conditioning systems have a high afternoon load to

offset the sun heating of the building and the higher
outside temperature
• Freezing ice during the night provides a latent heat
absorber at lower energy prices, assuming demand
charges or time-of-use rates are imposed
• During the day, the ice is melted as the refrigerant is
condensed as it passes through pipes in the ice
• The overall process thus provides air conditioning at a
lower cost

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 Financial Storage
• Storage of energy as a credit from the utility company can be the
most efficient method
• No batteries are required with grid intertie, but might be used to
provide backup power
• In net metering states, a single electrical energy meter is used
– Energy flow moves the meter higher for purchased energy and
lower for energy sold from the local site
– The utility company can avoid meter-reading costs by reading
the meter once a year
• Since the values are only in accounting books, there is no energy
loss (likely used by the neighbors)

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 Assignment
• Illustrate the requirements of energy storage with
reference to the following power system segments
– Power Generation
– Power transmission
– Power distribution

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