GRID CONNECTED BATTERY SYSTEM

ABSTRACT:

In order to solve the problems which are considered to become the hindrance of
further spread of photovoltaic systems, and in order to pursue added value, we are
studying the grid-connected photovoltaic system which added the storage battery.

This time, the simulation program of the grid-connected photovoltaic system for
residences with battery was developed since it was necessary in order to propose
and optimize new systems. First, a lead-acid battery was modeled by the original
method. Next, the program which simulates the electric power flow of each part in
the system was developed.

Furthermore, as a result of an actual proof examination, since high simulation
accuracy was checked, it is reported.
INTRODUCTION
Most of the photovoltaic system for residences, which began to spread at an
increasing tempo in recent years, is a grid-connected type. Usually, since this
system has no electric storage, the difference between generated and used electric
power is processed according to the electric power flow of the distribution system.
Therefore, when this system connects to distribution system with high density, the
burden of a sudden change of irradiance or a heavy reverse power flow exceeds the
throughput of the power distribution system, and the danger that various problems
will occur is pointed out. Moreover, since it depends for generated electric power
of solar cells on irradiance, if there is no solar radiation at the time of a power
failure, residents cannot use electricity. Paying attention to these present
conditions, this research is examining the grid-connected photovoltaic system
which added the storage battery.

MODELING
In this research, the system configuration as shown in Fig.1 is assumed. Here,
simulation models are outlined for every element.

Solar cell model
A standard I-V curve is made by the fundamental equation derived from the
equivalent circuit of a solar cell, and the curve is converted into the conditions of
arbitrary irradiance and cell temperature. The model is shown in Formulas 1. They
are known well and so their explanations are omitted.

Lead-acid battery model
There is a lead-acid battery model which is widely used in the field of photovoltaic
This model bases on the equivalent circuit shown in Fig. As a result of measuring
the charge and discharge characteristic, when a charging and discharging current
changed a lot, it became clear that accuracy of estimated terminal voltage falls.
Then, in this research, it was proposed that the new model (refer to Formulas 2)
considers the dependence of internal resistance on the current, and so estimation
accuracy was improved. Here, u( ) is a unit step function to combine charge and
discharge.





System configuration

s
Equivalent circuit of lead-acid battery

Power conditioner model Electric power is lost with three converters shown in
Fig.1. These losses were expressed with the quadratic function of each output
power according to direction.
These 15 coefficients in 5 formulas were determined by the least-squares method
from measured data.

3. DETAILED METHOD OF BATTERY MODELING
Procedure for modeling of a lead-acid battery is described in this chapter. And
results of the battery simulations are also shown. As the battery, special long life
for cycle, 70 Ah VRLA battery [SLC70] made by Japan Storage Battery Co., Ltd.
was selected.


ELECTRIC utilities and end users of electric power are becoming increasingly
concerned about meeting the growing energy demand. Seventy five percent of total
global energy demand is supplied by the burning of fossil fuels. But increasing air
pollution, global warming concerns, diminishing fossil fuels and their increasing
cost have made it necessary to look towards renewable sources as a future energy
solution. Since the past decade, there has been an enormous interest in many
countries on renewable energy for power generation. The market liberalization and
governments incentives have further accelerated the renewable energy sector
growth Renewable energy source (RES) integrated at distribution level is termed
as distributed generation (DG). The utility is concerned due to the high penetration
level of intermittent RES in distribution systems as it may pose a threat to network
in terms of stability, voltage regulation and power-quality (PQ) issues. Therefore,
the DG systems are required to comply with strict technical and regulatory
frameworks to ensure safe, reliable and efficient operation of overall network.
With the advancement in power electronics and digital control technology, the DG
systems can now be actively controlled to enhance the system operation with
improved PQ at PCC.

However, the extensive use of power electronics based equipment and non-linear
loads at PCC generate harmonic currents, which may deteriorate the quality of
power [1], [2]. Generally, current controlled voltage source inverters are used to
interface the intermittent RES in distributed system. Recently, a few control
strategies for grid connected inverters incorporating PQ solution have been
proposed. In [3] an inverter operates as active inductor at a certain frequency to
absorb the harmonic current. But the exact calculation of network inductance in
real-time is difficult and may deteriorate the control performance. A similar
approach in which a shunt active filter acts as active conductance to damp out the
harmonics in distribution network is proposed. In, a control strategy for renewable
interfacing inverter based on theory is proposed. In this strategy both load and
inverter current sensing is required to compensate the load current harmonics. The
non-linear load current harmonics may result in voltage harmonics and can create a
serious PQ problem in the power system network. Active power filters (APF) are
extensively used to compensate the load current harmonics and load unbalance at
distribution level. This results in an additional hardware cost. However, in this
paper authors have incorporated the features of APF in the, conventional inverter
interfacing renewable with the grid, without any additional hardware cost.



Here, the main idea is the maximum utilization of inverter rating which is most of
the time underutilized due to intermittent nature of RES. It is shown in this paper
that the grid-interfacing inverter can effectively be utilized to perform following
important functions: 1) transfer of active power harvested from the renewable
resources (wind, solar, etc.); 2) load reactive power demand support; 3) current
harmonics compensation at PCC; and 4) current unbalance and neutral current
compensation in case of 3-phase 4-wire system. Moreover, with adequate control
of grid-interfacing inverter, all the four objectives can be accomplished either
individually or simultaneously. The PQ constraints at the PCC can therefore be
strictly maintained within the utility standards without additional hardware cost.

Power quality:
Power quality is the set of limits of electrical properties that allows electrical
systems to function in their intended manner without significant loss of
performance or life. The term is used to describe electric power that drives an
electrical load and the load's ability to function properly with that electric power.
Without the proper power, an electrical device (or load) may malfunction, fail
prematurely or not operate at all. There are many ways in which electric power can
be of poor quality and many more causes of such poor quality power.
The electric power industry comprises electricity generation (AC power), electric
power transmission and ultimately electricity distribution to an electricity meter
located at the premises of the end user of the electric power. The electricity then
moves through the wiring system of the end user until it reaches the load. The
complexity of the system to move electric energy from the point of production to
the point of consumption combined with variations in weather, generation, demand
and other factors provide many opportunities for the quality of supply to be
compromised.
While "power quality" is a convenient term for many, it is the quality of the
voltagerather than power or electric currentthat is actually described by the
term. Power is simply the flow of energy and the current demanded by a load is
largely uncontrollable.


The quality of electrical power may be described as a set of values of parameters,
such as:
Continuity of service
Variation in voltage magnitude
Transient voltages and currents
Harmonic content in the waveforms etc.
It is often useful to think of power quality as a compatibility problem: is the
equipment connected to the grid compatible with the events on the grid, and is the
power delivered by the grid, including the events, compatible with the equipment
that is connected? Compatibility problems always have at least two solutions: in
this case, either clean up the power, or make the equipment tougher.
The tolerance of data-processing equipment to voltage variations is often
characterized by the CBEMA curve, which give the duration and magnitude of
voltage variations that can be tolerated.
Ideally, voltage is supplied by a utility as sinusoidal having an amplitude and
frequency given by national standards (in the case of mains) or system
specifications (in the case of a power feed not directly attached to the mains) with
an impedance of zero ohms at all frequencies.



No real-life power source is ideal and generally can deviate in at least the
following ways:
Variations in the peak or RMS voltage are both important to different types
of equipment.
When the RMS voltage exceeds the nominal voltage by 10 to 80% for 0.5
cycle to 1 minute, the event is called a "swell".
A "dip" (in British English) or a "sag" (in American English - the two terms
are equivalent) is the opposite situation: the RMS voltage is below the
nominal voltage by 10 to 90% for 0.5 cycle to 1 minute.
Random or repetitive variations in the RMS voltage between 90 and 110%
of nominal can produce a phenomenon known as "flicker" in lighting
equipment. Flicker is rapid visible changes of light level. Definition of the
characteristics of voltage fluctuations that produce objectionable light flicker
has been the subject of ongoing research.
Abrupt, very brief increases in voltage, called "spikes", "impulses", or
"surges", generally caused by large inductive loads being turned off, or more
severely by lightning.
"Undervoltage" occurs when the nominal voltage drops below 90% for more
than 1 minute. The term "brownout" is an apt description for voltage drops
somewhere between full power (bright lights) and a blackout (no power - no
light). It comes from the noticeable to significant dimming of regular
incandescent lights, during system faults or overloading etc., when
insufficient power is available to achieve full brightness in (usually)
domestic lighting. This term is in common usage has no formal definition
but is commonly used to describe a reduction in system voltage by the utility
or system operator to decrease demand or to increase system operating
margins.
"Overvoltage" occurs when the nominal voltage rises above 110% for more
than 1 minute.
Variations in the frequency.
Variations in the wave shape - usually described as harmonics.
Nonzero low-frequency impedance (when a load draws more power, the
voltage drops).
Nonzero high-frequency impedance (when a load demands a large amount
of current, then stops demanding it suddenly, there will be a dip or spike in
the voltage due to the inductances in the power supply line).
Each of these power quality problems has a different cause. Some problems are a
result of the shared infrastructure. For example, a fault on the network may cause a
dip that will affect some customers; the higher the level of the fault, the greater the
number affected. A problem on one customers site may cause a transient that
affects all other customers on the same subsystem. Problems, such as harmonics,
arise within the customers own installation and may propagate onto the network
and affect other customers. Harmonic problems can be dealt with by a combination
of good design practice and well proven reduction equipment.
Power conditioning:
Power conditioning is modifying the power to improve its quality.
An uninterruptible power supply can be used to switch off of mains power if there
is a transient (temporary) condition on the line. However, cheaper UPS units create
poor-quality power themselves, akin to imposing a higher-frequency and lower-
amplitude square wave atop the sine wave. High-quality UPS units utilize a double
conversion topology which breaks down incoming AC power into DC, charges the
batteries, then remanufactures an AC sine wave. This remanufactured sine wave is
of higher quality than the original AC power feed.
[2]

A surge protector or simple capacitor or varistor can protect against most
overvoltage conditions, while a lightning arrestor protects against severe spikes.
Electronic filters can remove harmonics.
Smart grids and power quality:

Modern systems use sensors called phasor measurement units (PMU) distributed
throughout their network to monitor power quality and in some cases respond
automatically to them. Using such smart grids features of rapid sensing and
automated self healing of anomalies in the network promises to bring higher
quality power and less downtime while simultaneously supporting power from
intermittent power sources and distributed generation, which would if unchecked
degrade power quality.

WIND ENERGY:
A somewhat hilarious misconception that some people may have is that the
only place that wind power is utilized is in Holland, where windmills have existed
for centuries. It is almost as silly that most books about wind power do not
recognize that wind power has been arguably the most important energy form man
has ever used. When discussing wind power, it is necessary to specify what kind of
wind power is meant. As the fuel for transportation, fishers or other people using
boats have used the power of the wind. The United States could truthfully say that
without the power of the wind, Columbus and other European explorers might not
have found the Western world. A more exact presentation of the history of wind
power is discussed at another page devoted to showing the changes in utilization of
wind power over time. The power of the wind is everywhere, and is found in most
abundance in some areas of the world that are not extremely accessible to humans.
As a general rule, as the elevation is increased, the wind speed will also increase.
Suppose a person decided to climb to the of a two story building. Standing on top
of the building, he can feel the great increase of wind speed compared to being on
the ground. Wind power stations are often found in the same place as large radio
station antennae. Just as the high elevation helps the radio signals to travel farther,
the increase high above sea level increases the wind speed and helps the station to
produce more power. These tidbits of wind power geography are expanded at the
wind power geography page.
Wind Power as an electricity provider is popular in many places across the
world. One of the reasons that wind power is implemented across the world is the
simplicity of the physical science processes that make the conversion from
mechanical energy to electricity. The work of the wind moves the blades of the
turbine, and the kinetic energy of the wind is converted to kinetic energy in the
blades. By manipulating some basic physics equations, the energy transfered can
be found. Wind power physics tackles the science of wind machines.
One characteristic of most alternative energy forms (excluding nuclear
power), is the application for use in a home setting. Wind Power is often used on
farms and housing in rural areas where there are fewer visual housing restrictions,
and uses for wind powered devices. Many ancient civilizations used wind power
for grain processing or irrigation, and these routines are still in high demand today.
It is interesting to compare an industrial size wind power station and a home
implementation of wind power because of the number of similarities. Often the
new technologies of industrial strength wind power machines are passed directly
onto smaller systems. A page complete with diagrams of wind power systems, both
on the industrial level, and the home level are given. After learning about where
the best places are for a wind power station, you can go to some of the different
sites for wind power all over the world. This site offers a limited collection of links
to english web sites in different countries that utilize wind power.
Wind is simply air in motion. It is caused by the uneven heating of the Earths
surface by radiant energy from the sun. Since the Earths surface is made of very
different types of land and water, it absorbs the suns energy at different rates.
Water usually does not heat or cool as quickly as land because of its physical
properties. An ideal situation for the formation of local wind is an area where land
and water meet. During the day, the air above the land heats up more quickly than
the air above water. The warm air over the land expands, becomes less dense and
rises. The heavier, denser, cool air over the water flows in to take its place,
creating wind. In the same way, the atmospheric winds that circle the Earth are
created because the land near the equator is heated more by the sun than land near
the North and South Poles. Today, people use wind energy to make electricity.
Wind is called a renewable energy source because the wind will blow as long as
the sun shines.
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as
using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power,
windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships.
The total amount of economically extractable power available from the wind is
considerably more than present human power use from all sources.[3] At the end
of 2010, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 197
gigawatts (GW). Wind power now has the capacity to generate 430 TWh annually,
which is about 2.5% of worldwide electricity usage. Over the past five years the
average annual growth in new installations has been 27.6 percent. Wind power
market penetration is expected to reach 3.35 percent by 2013 and 8 percent by
2018Several countries have already achieved relatively high levels of wind power
penetration, such as 21% of stationary electricity production in Denmark, 18% in
Portugal16% in Spain, 14% in Ireland and 9% in Germany in 2010As of 2011, 83
countries around the world are using wind power on a commercial basis.

A large wind farm may consist of several hundred individual wind turbines which
are connected to the electric power transmission network. Offshore wind power
can harness the better wind speeds that are available offshore compared to on land,
so offshore wind powers contribution in terms of electricity supplied is higher.
Small onshore wind facilities are used to provide electricity to isolated locations
and utility companies increasingly buy back surplus electricity produced by small
domestic wind turbines. Although a variable source of power, the intermittency of
wind seldom creates problems when using wind power to supply up to 20% of total
electricity demand, but as the proportion rises, increased costs, a need to use
storage such as pumped-storage hydroelectricity, upgrade the grid, or a lowered
ability to supplant conventional production may occur. Power management
techniques such as excess capacity, storage, dispatchable backing supply (usually
natural gas), exporting and importing power to neighboring areas or reducing
demand when wind production is low, can mitigate these problems.
Wind power, as an alternative to fossil fuels, is plentiful, renewable, widely
distributed, clean, produces no greenhouse gas emissions during operation, and
uses little land. In operation, the overall cost per unit of energy produced is similar
to the cost for new coal and natural gas installations.[14] The construction of wind
farms is not universally welcomed, but any effects on the environment from wind
power are generally much less problematic than those of any other power source
Wind Power
Grid Interconnection:
Overview for the Massachusetts Wind Working Group






SOLAR ENERGY:
In today's climate of growing energy needs and increasing environmental
concern, alternatives to the use of non-renewable and polluting fossil fuels have to
be investigated. One such alternative is solar energy.
Solar energy is quite simply the energy produced directly by the sun and
collected elsewhere, normally the Earth. The sun creates its energy through a
thermonuclear process that converts about 650,000,000
1
tons of hydrogen to
helium every second. The process creates heat and electromagnetic radiation. The
heat remains in the sun and is instrumental in maintaining the thermonuclear
reaction. The electromagnetic radiation (including visible light, infra-red light, and
ultra-violet radiation) streams out into space in all directions.
Every day, the sun radiates (sends out) an enormous amount of energy
called solar energy. It radiates more energy in one second than the world has used
since time began. This energy comes from within the sun itself. Like most stars,
the sun is a big gas ball made up mostly of hydrogen and helium gas. The sun
makes energy in its inner core in a process called nuclear fusion.It takes the suns
energy just a little over eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles to Earth. Solar
energy travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light. Only a
small part of the radiant energy that the sun emits into space ever reaches the
Earth, but that is more than enough to supply all our energy needs. Every day
enough solar energy reaches the Earth to supply our nations energy needs for a
year! Solar energy is considered a renewable energy source.Today, people use
solar energy to heat buildings and water and to generate electricity
Only a very small fraction of the total radiation produced reaches the Earth.
The radiation that does reach the Earth is the indirect source of nearly every type of
energy used today. The exceptions are geothermal energy, and nuclear fission and
fusion. Even fossil fuels owe their origins to the sun; they were once living plants
and animals whose life was dependent upon the sun.
Much of the world's required energy can be supplied directly by solar power.
More still can be provided indirectly. The practicality of doing so will be
examined, as well as the benefits and drawbacks. In addition, the uses solar energy
is currently applied to will be noted.
Due to the nature of solar energy, two components are required to have a
functional solar energy generator. These two components are a collector and a
storage unit. The collector simply collects the radiation that falls on it and converts
a fraction of it to other forms of energy (either electricity and heat or heat alone).
The storage unit is required because of the non-constant nature of solar energy; at
certain times only a very small amount of radiation will be received. At night or
during heavy cloud cover, for example, the amount of energy produced by the
collector will be quite small. The storage unit can hold the excess energy produced
during the periods of maximum productivity, and release it when the productivity
drops. In practice, a backup power supply is usually added, too, for the situations
when the amount of energy required is greater than both what is being produced
and what is stored in the container.
Methods of collecting and storing solar energy vary depending on the uses
planned for the solar generator. In general, there are three types of collectors and
many forms of storage units.
The three types of collectors are flat-plate collectors, focusing collectors,
and passive collectors.
Flat-plate collectors are the more commonly used type of collector today.
They are arrays of solar panels arranged in a simple plane. They can be of nearly
any size, and have an output that is directly related to a few variables including
size, facing, and cleanliness. These variables all affect the amount of radiation that
falls on the collector. Often these collector panels have automated machinery that
keeps them facing the sun. The additional energy they take in due to the correction
of facing more than compensates for the energy needed to drive the extra
machinery.
Focusing collectors are essentially flat-plane collectors with optical devices
arranged to maximize the radiation falling on the focus of the collector. These are
currently used only in a few scattered areas. Solar furnaces are examples of this
type of collector. Although they can produce far greater amounts of energy at a
single point than the flat-plane collectors can, they lose some of the radiation that
the flat-plane panels do not. Radiation reflected off the ground will be used by flat-
plane panels but usually will be ignored by focusing collectors (in snow covered
regions, this reflected radiation can be significant). One other problem with
focusing collectors in general is due to temperature. The fragile silicon components
that absorb the incoming radiation lose efficiency at high temperatures, and if they
get too hot they can even be permanently damaged. The focusing collectors by
their very nature can create much higher temperatures and need more safeguards to
protect their silicon components.
Passive collectors are completely different from the other two types of
collectors. The passive collectors absorb radiation and convert it to heat naturally,
without being designed and built to do so. All objects have this property to some
extent, but only some objects (like walls) will be able to produce enough heat to
make it worthwhile. Often their natural ability to convert radiation to heat is
enhanced in some way or another (by being painted black, for example) and a
system for transferring the heat to a different location is generally added.
People use energy for many things, but a few general tasks consume most of the
energy. These tasks include transportation, heating, cooling, and the generation of
electricity. Solar energy can be applied to all four of these tasks with different
levels of success.
Heating is the business for which solar energy is best suited. Solar heating
requires almost no energy transformation, so it has a very high efficiency. Heat
energy can be stored in a liquid, such as water, or in a packed bed. A packed bed is
a container filled with small objects that can hold heat (such as stones) with air
space between them. Heat energy is also often stored in phase-changer or heat-of-
fusion units. These devices will utilize a chemical that changes phase from solid to
liquid at a temperature that can be produced by the solar collector. The energy of
the collector is used to change the chemical to its liquid phase, and is as a result
stored in the chemical itself. It can be tapped later by allowing the chemical to
revert to its solid form. Solar energy is frequently used in residential homes to heat
water. This is an easy application, as the desired end result (hot water) is the
storage facility. A hot water tank is filled with hot water during the day, and
drained as needed. This application is a very simple adjustment from the normal
fossil fuel water heaters.
Swimming pools are often heated by solar power. Sometimes the pool itself
functions as the storage unit, and sometimes a packed bed is added to store the
heat. Whether or not a packed bed is used, some method of keeping the pool's heat
for longer than normal periods (like a cover) is generally employed to help keep
the water at a warm temperature when it is not in use.
Solar energy is often used to directly heat a house or building. Heating a
building requires much more energy than heating a building's water, so much
larger panels are necessary. Generally a building that is heated by solar power will
have its water heated by solar power as well. The type of storage facility most
often used for such large solar heaters is the heat-of-fusion storage unit, but other
kinds (such as the packed bed or hot water tank) can be used as well. This
application of solar power is less common than the two mentioned above, because
of the cost of the large panels and storage system required to make it work. Often if
an entire building is heated by solar power, passive collectors are used in addition
to one of the other two types. Passive collectors will generally be an integral part
of the building itself, so buildings taking advantage of passive collectors must be
created with solar heating in mind.
These passive collectors can take a few different forms. The most basic type
is the incidental heat trap. The idea behind the heat trap is fairly simple. Allow the
maximum amount of light possible inside through a window (The window should
be facing towards the equator for this to be achieved) and allow it to fall on a floor
made of stone or another heat holding material. During the day, the area will stay
cool as the floor absorbs most of the heat, and at night, the area will stay warm as
the stone re-emits the heat it absorbed during the day.
Another major form of passive collector is thermos phoning walls and/or
roof. With this passive collector, the heat normally absorbed and wasted in the
walls and roof is re-routed into the area that needs to be heated.
The last major form of passive collector is the solar pond. This is very
similar to the solar heated pool described above, but the emphasis is different. With
swimming pools, the desired result is a warm pool. With the solar pond, the whole
purpose of the pond is to serve as an energy regulator for a building. The pond is
placed either adjacent to or on the building, and it will absorb solar energy and
convert it to heat during the day. This heat can be taken into the building, or if the
building has more than enough heat already, heat can be dumped from the building
into the pond.
Solar energy can be used for other things besides heating. It may seem
strange, but one of the most common uses of solar energy today is cooling. Solar
cooling is far more expensive than solar heating, so it is almost never seen in
private homes. Solar energy is used to cool things by phase changing a liquid to
gas through heat, and then forcing the gas into a lower pressure chamber. The
temperature of a gas is related to the pressure containing it, and all other things
being held equal, the same gas under a lower pressure will have a lower
temperature. This cool gas will be used to absorb heat from the area of interest and
then be forced into a region of higher pressure where the excess heat will be lost to
the outside world. The net effect is that of a pump moving heat from one area into
another, and the first is accordingly cooled.
Besides being used for heating and cooling, solar energy can be directly
converted to electricity. Most of our tools are designed to be driven by electricity,
so if you can create electricity through solar power, you can run almost anything
with solar power. The solar collectors that convert radiation into electricity can be
either flat-plane collectors or focusing collectors, and the silicon components of
these collectors are photovoltaic cells.
Photovoltaic cells, by their very nature, convert radiation to electricity. This
phenomenon has been known for well over half a century, but until recently the
amounts of electricity generated were good for little more than measuring radiation
intensity. Most of the photovoltaic cells on the market today operate at an
efficiency of less than 15%
2
; that is, of all the radiation that falls upon them, less
than 15% of it is converted to electricity. The maximum theoretical efficiency for a
photovoltaic cell is only 32.3%
3
, but at this efficiency, solar electricity is very
economical. Most of our other forms of electricity generation are at a lower
efficiency than this. Unfortunately, reality still lags behind theory and a 15%
efficiency is not usually considered economical by most power companies, even if
it is fine for toys and pocket calculators. Hope for bulk solar electricity should not
be abandoned, however, for recent scientific advances have created a solar cell
with an efficiency of 28.2%
4
efficiency in the laboratory. This type of cell has yet
to be field tested. If it maintains its efficiency in the uncontrolled environment of
the outside world, and if it does not have a tendency to break down, it will be
economical for power companies to build solar power facilities after all.
Of the main types of energy usage, the least suited to solar power is transportation.
While large, relatively slow vehicles like ships could power themselves with large
onboard solar panels, small constantly turning vehicles like cars could not. The
only possible way a car could be completely solar powered would be through the
use of battery that was charged by solar power at some stationary point and then
later loaded into the car. Electric cars that are partially powered by solar energy are
available now, but it is unlikely that solar power will provide the world's
transportation costs in the near future.
Solar power has two big advantages over fossil fuels. The first is in the fact
that it is renewable; it is never going to run out. The second is its effect on the
environment.
While the burning of fossil fuels introduces many harmful pollutants into the
atmosphere and contributes to environmental problems like global warming and
acid rain, solar energy is completely non-polluting. While many acres of land must
be destroyed to feed a fossil fuel energy plant its required fuel, the only land that
must be destroyed for a solar energy plant is the land that it stands on. Indeed, if a
solar energy system were incorporated into every business and dwelling, no land
would have to be destroyed in the name of energy. This ability to decentralize solar
energy is something that fossil fuel burning cannot match.
As the primary element of construction of solar panels, silicon, is the second
most common element on the planet, there is very little environmental disturbance
caused by the creation of solar panels. In fact, solar energy only causes
environmental disruption if it is centralized and produced on a gigantic scale. Solar
power certainly can be produced on a gigantic scale, too.
Among the renewable resources, only in solar power do we find the potential
for an energy source capable of supplying more energy than is used.
5

Suppose that of the 4.5x10
17
kWh per annum that is used by the earth to evaporate
water from the oceans we were to acquire just 0.1% or 4.5x10
14
kWh per annum.
Dividing by the hours in the year gives a continuous yield of 2.90x10
10
kW. This
would supply 2.4 kW to 12.1 billion people.
6
This translates to roughly the amount
of energy used today by the average American available to over twelve billion
people. Since this is greater than the estimated carrying capacity of the Earth, this
would be enough energy to supply the entire planet regardless of the population.
Unfortunately, at this scale, the production of solar energy would have some
unpredictable negative environmental effects. If all the solar collectors were placed
in one or just a few areas, they would probably have large effects on the local
environment, and possibly have large effects on the world environment.
Everything from changes in local rain conditions to another Ice Age has been
predicted as a result of producing solar energy on this scale. The problem lies in
the change of temperature and humidity near a solar panel; if the energy producing
panels are kept non-centralized, they should not create the same local, mass
temperature change that could have such bad effects on the environment.
Of all the energy sources available, solar has perhaps the most promise.
Numerically, it is capable of producing the raw power required to satisfy the entire
planet's energy needs. Environmentally, it is one of the least destructive of all the
sources of energy. Practically, it can be adjusted to power nearly everything except
transportation with very little adjustment, and even transportation with some
modest modifications to the current general system of travel. Clearly, solar energy
is a resource of the future.
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans
since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar energy
technologies include solar heating, solar photo voltaics, solar thermal electricity
and solar architecture, which can make considerable contributions to solving some
of the most urgent problems the world now faces.
Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive solar or active solar
depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute solar energy. Active
solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors
to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the
Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties,
and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.
In 2011, the International Energy Agency said that "the development of affordable,
inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term
benefits. It will increase countries energy security through reliance on an
indigenous, inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource, enhance
sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating climate change, and
keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence
the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered
learning investments; they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared".

The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at
the upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest
is absorbed by clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of solar light at the
Earth's surface is mostly spread across the visible and near-infrared ranges with a
small part in the near-ultraviolet.
Earth's land surface, oceans and atmosphere absorb solar radiation, and this raises
their temperature. Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises,
causing atmospheric circulation or convection. When the air reaches a high
altitude, where the temperature is low, water vapor condenses into clouds, which
rain onto the Earth's surface, completing the water cycle. The latent heat of water
condensation amplifies convection, producing atmospheric phenomena such as
wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones. Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land
masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14 C. By photosynthesis
green plants convert solar energy into chemical energy, which produces food,
wood and the biomass from which fossil fuels are derived.

The total solar energy absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is
approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year. In 2002, this was more energy in
one hour than the world used in one year. Photosynthesis captures approximately
3,000 EJ per year in biomass. The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of
the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be
obtained from all of the Earth's non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas,
and mined uranium combined.

Applications of solar technology :

Solar energy can be harnessed in different levels around the world. Depending on a
geographical location the closer to the equator the more "potential" solar energy is
available.
Solar energy refers primarily to the use of solar radiation for practical ends.
However, all renewable energies, other than geothermal and tidal, derive their
energy from the sun.
Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive or active depending
on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques
use photovoltaic panels, pumps, and fans to convert sunlight into useful outputs.
Passive solar techniques include selecting materials with favorable thermal
properties, designing spaces that naturally circulate air, and referencing the
position of a building to the Sun. Active solar technologies increase the supply of
energy and are considered supply side technologies, while passive solar
technologies reduce the need for alternate resources and are generally considered
demand side technologies.
Solar power:
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using
photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP
systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight
into a small beam. PV converts light into electric current using the photoelectric
effect.
Commercial CSP plants were first developed in the 1980s, and the 354 MW SEGS
CSP installation is the largest solar power plant in the world and is located in the
Mojave Desert of California. Other large CSP plants include the Solnova Solar
Power Station (150 MW) and the Andasol solar power station (100 MW), both in
Spain. The 97 MW Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant in Canada, is the worlds
largest photovoltaic plan
Photovoltaics:
A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell (PV), is a device that converts light into electric
current using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was constructed by
Charles Fritts in the 1880s. In 1931 a German engineer, Dr Bruno Lange,
developed a photo cell using silver selenide in place of copper oxide. Although the
prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light into electricity,
both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the
importance of this discovery. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s,
researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin created the silicon
solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and reached
efficiencies of 4.56%

Energy storage methods:
Solar energy is not available at night, and energy storage is an important issue
because modern energy systems usually assume continuous availability of energy.
Thermal mass systems can store solar energy in the form of heat at domestically
useful temperatures for daily or seasonal durations. Thermal storage systems
generally use readily available materials with high specific heat capacities such as
water, earth and stone. Well-designed systems can lower peak demand, shift time-
of-use to off-peak hours and reduce overall heating and cooling requirements.
Phase change materials such as paraffin wax and Glauber's salt are another thermal
storage media. These materials are inexpensive, readily available, and can deliver
domestically useful temperatures (approximately 64 C). The "Dover House" (in
Dover, Massachusetts) was the first to use a Glauber's salt heating system, in 1948.
Solar energy can be stored at high temperatures using molten salts. Salts are an
effective storage medium because they are low-cost, have a high specific heat
capacity and can deliver heat at temperatures compatible with conventional power
systems. The Solar Two used this method of energy storage, allowing it to store
1.44 TJ in its 68 m
3
storage tank with an annual storage efficiency of about 99%.
Off-grid PV systems have traditionally used rechargeable batteries to store excess
electricity. With grid-tied systems, excess electricity can be sent to the
transmission grid, while standard grid electricity can be used to meet shortfalls.
Net metering programs give household systems a credit for any electricity they
deliver to the grid. This is often legally handled by 'rolling back' the meter
whenever the home produces more electricity than it consumes. If the net
electricity use is below zero, the utility is required to pay for the extra at the same
rate as they charge consumers. Other legal approaches involve the use of two
meters, to measure electricity consumed vs. electricity produced. This is less
common due to the increased installation cost of the second meter.
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity stores energy in the form of water pumped when
energy is available from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation one. The
energy is recovered when demand is high by releasing the water to run through a
hydroelectric power generator
Point of common coupling:




Definition
A point of metering, or any point as long as both the utility and the
consumer can either access the point for direct measurement of the harmonic
indices meaningful to both or can estimate the harmonic indices at point of
interference (POI) through mutually agreeable methods. Within an industrial
plant, the PCC is the point between the nonlinear load and other loads.
The point in the electrical system where the ownership changes from the
electric utility to the customer.
The location on the system where another customer can be served.

Lets now compare old with new for a few applications:
Missing metering point
Low-side vs. high-side
Inside industrial plant
Transmission VAR source



Missing Metering Point:


PCC on the high side:



PCC on low side:


Industrial Plant:

Within an industrial plant, the PCC is the point between the nonlinear load
and other loads.
SVC with MSCs and TSCs (or TCRs):
Specifying voltage limits is fine.
Specifying current limits doesnt work.
Depending on the location, your voltage harmonic limits might be
different (more restrictive) than IEEE 519.
Need to study in more detail.
A simple tool for harmonic screening:
Electrical Pollution screening tool
Developed for industry by Auburn University with funding from
PacifiCorp.
Does motor starts, flicker, and harmonics
Can handle multiple PCCs
Inexpensive
Standards based

LOAD CURRENT HORMOICS:
Harmonics are electric voltages and currents that appear on the electric
power system as a result of certain kinds of electric loads. Harmonic frequencies in
the power grid are a frequent cause of power quality problems.
In a normal alternating current power system, the voltage varies sinusoidally at a
specific frequency, usually 50 or 60 hertz. When a linear electrical load is
connected to the system, it draws a sinusoidal current at the same frequency as the
voltage (though usually not in phase with the voltage).
When a non-linear load, such as a rectifier, is connected to the system, it draws a
current that is not necessarily sinusoidal. The current waveform can become quite
complex, depending on the type of load and its interaction with other components
of the system. Regardless of how complex the current waveform becomes, as
described through Fourier series analysis, it is possible to decompose it into a
series of simple sinusoids, which start at the power system fundamental frequency
and occur at integer multiples of the fundamental frequency.
Further examples of non-linear loads include common office equipment such as
computers and printers, and also adjustable speed drives.
One of the major effects of power system harmonics is to increase the current in
the system. This is particularly the case for the third harmonic, which causes a
sharp increase in the zero sequence current, and therefore increases the current in
the neutral conductor. This effect can require special consideration in the design of
an electric system to serve non-linear loads.
[1]

In addition to the increased line current, different pieces of electrical equipment
can suffer effects from harmonics on the power system.