Foreword

This is a literature review page on the topic of PV+LED Street lights. This page covers about the study and analysis of solar powered LED lights against the conventional incandescent bulbs used as street lights especially in the snowy regions.


Background

In geographical regions where there is abundant sunlight over a major part of the year, solar powered LED lights have proved to be an excellent alternative to the conventional lighting systems on highways and streets. But in regions which face snow fall with less sunlight for most or half of the year, installation of photovoltaic panels to yield similar advantages is greatly uncommon. It seems difficult to produce efficient benefits in terms of effort and money. So, this project deals with this impossibility to make it possible!


About the project

This project is a step-by-step strategy to firstly understand the geographical and climatic conditions of the region under study, evaluate the available technology, apprehend the commercial aspects of installation in that community, then do the technical viability and the economics, and finally draw out the best possible solution for a profitable and sustainable method for the installation of PV-LED street lights.


SEARCH LIST

Google Scholar

  • Solar Photovoltaic cells.
  • PV and Snow
  • PV LED Lighting
  • Commercial review of solar street light
  • SAM software for photovoltaics
  • cost evaluation for installation of Solar street lighting
  • solar power supply in upper peninsula
  • Smart Street Lighting


Citation List

Effects of snow on Solar and PV

1. Prediction of Energy Effects on Photovoltaic Systems due to Snowfall Events

Andrews, Rob W., and Joshua M. Pearce. “Prediction of Energy Effects on Photovoltaic Systems Due to Snowfall Events.” 2012 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2012. doi:10.1109/PVSC.2012.6318297. [1]

  • Modules of C-Si installed at different angles in an Open Source Outdoors Test Field (OSOTF) and snowfall data is collected from Kingston climate weather station for the winters of 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.
  • Data from two other solar firms SF1 and SF2 collected hourly: DC power input to each inverter, Solar irradiation and module temperature measurements.
  • Assumption: Upon performing a sensitivity analysis using the RMSE of the model, relative humidity and wind speed were considered not significant and the magnitude of energy gain or loss from snowfall is proportional to the mean solar irradiation in a given day.
  • A comparison of the derived model coefficients from the three sources used. In order to test the applicability of this approach, the snow losses for SF2 were determined using the coefficients derived from SF1 and the OSOTF.
  • Predictions can be made by integrating data from a geographically dissimilar system of a similar configuration by using this proposed method.

2. The Effects of Snowfall on Solar Photovoltaic Performance

Andrews, Rob W., Andrew Pollard, and Joshua M. Pearce. “The Effects of Snowfall on Solar Photovoltaic Performance.” Solar Energy 92 (2013): 84–97. doi:10.1016/J.SOLENER.2013.02.014. [2]

  • Snowfall accumulation is affected by ambient temperature (above and below -3◦C), wind speeds, inclination from the horizontal, and surface properties.
  • Giddings and LaChappelle and Bouger-Lambert law infers that approximately 20% of incident radiation will be available at 2cm snow depth, and 3-4% is available at 10cm depth.
  • Transmitted light from snow layer is short-wave radiation causes shedding phenomenon of snow due to its insulation properties same as a fiber glass, thus retain heat and form water later leading to snow slide.
  • Energy influx to a snow-covered module can occur in three ways:
   1. Diffusion of short wave radiation through the snow pack,
   2. Albedo reflection to the exposed rear of the module,
   3. Conduction from other parts of the PV array that are not covered with snow.
  • 70 modules of amorphous silicon and crystalline silicon at arranged at 5◦, 10◦, 15◦, 20◦, 40◦, and 60◦ are monitored for short-circuit current and back temperature.
  • change in the short circuit current will have a proportional change on the power output of a module, as it represents the level of light reaching the modules, making it an appropriate performance metric, while effectively isolating against the effects of temperature on the results.
  • Yearly snow effect is defined as the summation of the difference between the actual and synthetic output.
  • Albedo effect increases with module inclination angle,which is due to the increased view factor from the module to the snow surface
  • Lower temperature and higher relative humidity will tend to increase the time to shed.

3. Photovoltaics and snow: An update from two winters of measurements in the SIERRA

Tim Townsend, BEW Engineering, San Ramon, CA, U.S.A. and Loren Powers, BEW Engineering, San Ramon, CA, U.S.A. 19 April 2012 [3]

  • Three pairs of photovoltaic (PV) modules at fixed south-facing tilt angles of 0°, 24° and 39° were installed in Truckee, CA (near Lake Tahoe) at the beginning of the 2009–10 winter. And it receives 200 inches per year (5 m) of snow. Three are manually cleaned and heated thermostatically while other three are bordered and allowed to shed naturally.
  • Snow losses are gauged as the difference in monthly amp-hours between the clean and uncleaned modules
  • In 2009-10, wintertime energy losses of 40–60% and annual energy losses from 12–18% were noted at normal snow fall.
  • Model Development equation accounts for ground interference, air temperature, plane of array insolation and relative humidity.
  • In addition to the BEW coefficients and site latitude, the only data needed to run the model are: Monthly snowfall, Number of snow events per month, Average air temperature, Plane of array insolation, Average relative humidity. The monthly loss estimates in the table given can be used directly as inputs to popular PV simulation programs such as PVSyst.

4. Energy efficiency and renewable energy under extreme conditions: Case studies from Antarctica

TinaTin Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, BP 80358, 45163 Olivet, CEDEX 3, France, Benjamin K.Sovacool, National University of Singapore, Singapore, David Blake British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom, Peter Magill, Australian Antarctic Division, Australia, Saad, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany NaggareSvenLidstrom, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, Sweden, Kenji Ishizawag National Institute of Polar Research, Japan. Johan Berte, International Polar Foundation, Belgium. Received 20 July 2009, Accepted 14 October 2009, Available online 3 November 2009. [4]

  • Solar energy and combined systems : In most cases, solar power is combined with wind turbines and diesel generators to meet energy needs in Antarctica.
  • Field camps and instrumentation: Power systems based upon solar panels and sometimes small wind turbines allow instruments to collect data continuously and to connect to satellites for remote access and data transfer
  • Applications: Four 35 W solar panels and a 12 V battery provide the power for a weighbridge that weighs each penguin as it leaves its colony.
  • Costs and benefits of analysis for setting up renewable energy sources in Antarctica.

5. A Low Cost Method of Snow Detection on Solar Panels and Sending Alerts

Seyedali Meghdadi, Electrical Engineering Faculty, Memorial University of Newfoundland, NL,and Tariq Iqbal, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland Canada, Journal of Clean Energy Technologies, Vol. 3, No. 5, September 2015. [5]

  • Arduino Uno software for design and modelling the circuit.
  • Algorithm and system overview

Effects of dust on PV systems

6.Effect of dust, humidity and air velocity on efficiency of photovoltaic cells

Mekhilef, S., Saidur, R. and Kamalisarvestani, M., 2012. Effect of dust, humidity and air velocity on efficiency of photovoltaic cells. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 16(5), pp.2920-2925. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032112001050

  • AM1.5 is addressed as the standard test condition in solar cell design
  • PV cell efficiency
  • To maximize the output power and the efficiency of solar cells simply the Voc, Isc and FF should be boosted up.
  • Effect of dust: xcessive dust accumulation results in deterioration of solar cell's quality and fill factor. Dust promotes dust, so that the performance of PV modules declines exponentially with more dust pile up
  • Effect of humidity: Failure at cell interconnections or cracked cells happens in crystalline silicon cells and failure at scribe lines is the dominant cause of cell thin film modules degradation
  • Effect of wind velocity: As the air velocity increases the cell temperature will drop and better PV cell efficiency will be resulted.

7. Impact of dust on solar photovoltaic (PV) performance: Research status, challenges and recommendations

Mani, M. and Pillai, R., 2010. Impact of dust on solar photovoltaic (PV) performance: Research status, challenges and recommendations. Renewable and sustainable energy reviews, 14(9), pp.3124-3131. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032110002455

  • The characteristics of dust settlement on PV systems are dictated by : the property of dust and the local environment.
  • The property of dust, its accumulation/aggregation and the surface finish of the settling surface (PV) influence efficiency.
  • Dust settlement decreases with increase in tilt from the horizontal
  • Tilt angles less than 30° the dust deposition decreases.
  • The developed empirical correlation was accurate to ±6% and allowed for calculation transmittance reduction in glass transmittance for a given tilt angle and exposure (days) to the atmosphere.


Effect of tilt and orientation on Solar and PV energy systems

8. Orientation and Tilt Dependence of a Fixed PV Array Energy Yield Based on Measurements of Solar Energy and Ground Albedo – a Case Study of Slovenia

By Jože Rakovec, Klemen Zakšek, Kristijan Brecl, Damijana Kastelec and Marko Topic, Submitted: October 27th 2010Reviewed: April 6th 2011Published: August 1st 2011 DOI: 10.5772/18386 [6]

  • Considering only direct solar irradiation, the optimal tilt angle during the year can be calculated as φ - δs, where δs is the declination of the Sun.
  • Joule losses in wirings of PV modules into PV arrays and inverter losses account to losses in output power of PV system.
  • Long-term measured meteorological values should be used to obtain reliable results on PV yield
  • Measured irradiation values are the most important parameter in photovoltaics,
  • The albedo changes significant during winters only as the ground covered by snow is often even brighter than the sky.

Grid connected PV system performance 9. PV system monitoring and performance of a grid connected PV power station located in Manchester-UK

E. M. Natsheh, E. J. Blackhurs, A. Albarbar, Manchester Metropolitan University, School of Enginerring, Manchester M1 5GD, UK, ate of Conference: 6-8 Sept. 2011 Date Added to IEEE Xplore: 23 January 2012, Electronic ISBN: 978-1-84919-536-2, INSPEC Accession Number: 12328415, DOI: 10.1049/cp.2011.0121. [7]

  • The developed monitoring system enables system degradation to be identified via the calculation of the residual difference in power generation between the computer model and the actual PV power plant. and irradiance, temperature and system output power are gathered from a 28.8kW grid connected solar power system.
  • Mathematical model consists of a photo current, diode, series resistor and a parallel resistor.
  • The photocurrent is directly proportional to the light falling on the cell. During darkness, the solar cell is not active; it works as a diode. It produces either voltage or current.
  • The major inputs for the proposed PV model were solar irradiation, PV panel temperature and PV manufactures data sheet information. In this study, the Astronergy HSM6610P225 PV module is taken as example.
  • With increased solar irradiance there is an increase in maximum power output and short circuit current.
  • with an increase in the cell temperature, maximum power output decreases whilst the short circuit current increases.

10. Grid-connected versus stand-alone energy systems for decentralized power—A review of literature

Deepak Paramashivan, Kaundinya P. Balachandra, N. H. Ravindranath, Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India Received 30 September 2008, Revised 13 January 2009, Accepted 12 February 2009, Available online 6 March 2009. [8]

  • Explains the differences between Grid connected (GC) and stand alone (SA) energy systems
  • Technological feasibility of GC and SA.
  • Environmental and economic feasibility of GC and SA.
  • Designing of GC and SA system.
  • Policy measures and barriers for implementation of GC and SA energy systems


Mirrors and reflectors in PV systems

11. Performance Enhancement of PV Solar System by Mirror Reflection Rizwanur Rahman, and Md. Fayyaz Khan Department of EEE, United International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 6th International Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering ICECE 2010, 18-20 December 2010. [9]

  • Methods for improving performance of PV
  • Setup of Mirrors and their angles

12. MODELING THE SOLAR IRRADIATION ON FLAT PLATE COLLECTORS AUGMENTED WITH PLANAR REFLECTORS

JOSEPH W. BOLLENTIN and RICHARD D. WILK, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Union College, Steinmetz Hall, Schenectady, NY 12308-231 l, U.S.A. Solar Energy Vol. 55, No. 5, pp. 343 354, 1995, Copyright © 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd, Printed in the U.S.A. [10]

  • Projection of system into the north-south plane for determining width ratios to evaluate reflected irradiation or shading.
  • Projection of system into the horizontal plane for determining the area of collector receiving reflected radiation or the area of collector being shaded by the reflector
  • Sky and ground reflected diffuse.

13. Optimization of operational and design parameters of plane reflector-tilted flat plate solar collector systems

H.M.S.Hussein, G.E.Ahmad M.A. Mohamad Solar Energy Department, National Research Centre, El-Tahrir Street, Dokki, Giza, Egypt. Energy Volume 25, Issue 6, June 2000, Pages 529-542 [11]

  • The area of the tilted collector illuminated by reflected beams from the reflector depends on the reflector-collector system geometry and Sun position.
  • Various reflector-collector system and their collector at its optimum tilt angle.
  • The South facing reflector provides higher yearly solar energy collection than the North facing one.

14. The enhancement of energy gain of solar collectors and photovoltaic panels by the reflection of solar beams

M.D.JPucar and A.RDespic, Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning of Serbia, Bul. revolucije 73/II, 11 000 Beograd, Yugoslavia Institute of Technical Science of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35, 11 000 Beograd, Yugoslavia. Energy Volume 27, Issue 3, March 2002, Pages 205-223 [12]

  • different types of collectors/photovoltaic panels using reflection of sunbeams.
  • Irradiance and energy gain by PV panels.
  • Inclination of the receiving surface led per se to increased irradiance and energy gain compared to the situation where the receiving surface was horizontal.

15. Feasibility study of one axis three positions tracking solar PV with low concentration ratio reflector

B.J.Huang, F.S. Sun, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan, ROC Energy Conversion and Management Volume 48, Issue 4, April 2007, Pages 1273-1280. [13]

  • Design: The conventional one axis sun tracking system requires continuous tracking using feedback or open loop control
  • There are three touch switches mounted on the transmission gear of the frame for signal outputting to the control circuit and thus determines the stopping angle.
  • The circuit will detect the signal as well as the relative sun position and actuate the motor to move to the next position, which faces the sun more closely.
  • Analysis of total solar radiation incident upon the PV at various design parameters and PV tilt angles.

16. Solar thermal collector augmented by flat plate booster reflector: Optimum inclination of collector and reflector

HiroshiTanaka, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kurume National College of Technology, Komorino, Kurume, Fukuoka 830-8555, Japan, Applied Energy Volume 88, Issue 4, April 2011, Pages 1395-1404. [14]

  • Daily solar radiation increases with an increase in collector inclination in winter, and decreases with an increase in collector inclination in summer, since the solar altitude angle is high in summer and low in winter.


Grid connected PV

Technical and Economic viability of PV Hybrid and smart Solar PV application Simulation of PV systems ==

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