1. Solar energy & its applications
Prepared by,
Patel Mitesh ( )
Patel Ankur( )
Patel Maulik( )
Shah Archesh( )
Patel Keyur( )

2. Introduction Solar energy is in the form of the light and heat.
About 30% of total energy received by the earth is reflected back towards the space. Remaining energy is absorbed by the clouds, oceans and land masses.
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.
Solar energy is the primary energy source among all of the renewable source like wave energy, hydro-electricity, wind energy, biomass etc.

3. Classification of solar energy
Passive solar energy
It include orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally circulate air.
Active solar energy
Itinclude the use of photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors to harness the energy.

4. Solar thermal

5. Solar water heater
Solar water heater uses solar collector panel to transfer the heat energy of sun light to the water.
The unit uses convection (movement of hot water upward) to move the water from collector to tank. Neither pumps nor electricity are used to enforce circulation.
Material uses into the fabrication of tank is insulator for heat so heat of the hot water can not transfer to the surrounding enviornment and hence water can be keep hot for long time.

6. Solar water disinfection
SODIS is a free and effective method for decentralized water treatment, usually applied at the household level and is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a viable method for it.
Solar water disinfection, also known as SODIS is a method of disinfecting water using only sunlight and plastic PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) bottles.
UV-A rays from the sun destroys cell structures of bacteria.
UV-A reacts with oxygen dissolved in the water and produces highly reactive forms of oxygen that are believed to also damage pathogens.

7. Solar cooker
Principle : Sunlight is converted to heat energy that is use for cooking purpose. This is done as follows:
Concentrating sunlight.
Converting light to heat.
Trapping heat
Plastic Sheet
1. Box cooker
2. Panel cooker
3. Parabolic dish

8. Solar power

9. Fig : 11 MW Serpa solar power plant in Portugal
Photovoltaic
Principle : Some materials release electrons when hit with rays of light, which produces an electrical current.
This effect was discovered by Alexander-Edmond Becquerel. The first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880.
There are at least fourteen types of photovoltaic cells, such as thin film, mono crystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, and amorphous cells, as well as multiple types of concentrating solar power.
Efficiency is about 4.5% - 6% for silicon type of photovoltaic cells.
Fig : Unit solar cell
Fig : 11 MW Serpa solar power plant in Portugal

10. Concentrated solar power systems
Concentrated solar power systems are divided into :
concentrated solar thermal (CST)
concentrated photovoltaic (CPV)
concentrating photovoltaic and thermal (CPT)
Principle : Concentrate the sunlight at particular point to convert that energy into another form of energy.

11. Concentrated solar thermal (CST)
Concentrated solar thermal (CST) is used to produce renewable heat.
CST systems use parabolic lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight onto a small area.
Each concentration method is capable of producing high temperatures and correspondingly high thermodynamic efficiencies
They vary in the way that they track the Sun and focus light.
Solar thermal is more efficient method to produce heat.

12. Concentrated solar thermal (CST)
Fig : Using Flat mirror reflector. (Courtesy of

13. Concentrated solar thermal (CST)
Fig : Using parabolic reflector. (Courtesy of

14. Concentrated solar thermal (CST)
Fig : Combination of previous both method (Courtesy of

15. Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV)
Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems employ sunlight concentrated onto photovoltaic surfaces for the purpose of electrical power production.
Concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems classified as follows:
Low concentration CPV (concentration of suns)
Medium concentration CPV (concentration of suns)
High concentration (concentration of 300 or more suns)
Concentration method using solar collector is cheaper then solar cell as solar cell is costlier than solar collector.
Electricity cost for solar collector is about $3/watt.
Electricity cost for solar cell is about $3-5/watt.

16. Solar chimney power plant
Principle : It uses the principle of solar energy & wind energy both. It also use the principle of green house effect.
It has a high chimney. (Height arround 1000 mtr.)
This is surrounded by a large collector roof made from glass or resistive plastic supported on a framework.(Diameter in order of 130 mtr.)
In the center of the chimney there is a wind turbine, which generate electricity using wind velocity which is due to the solar Energy

17. Vent Chimney

18. Green house & Agriculture
Agriculture seek to optimize the capture of solar energy in order to optimize the productivity of plants.
Greenhouses convert solar light to heat, enabling year-round production and the growth (in enclosed environments) of specialty crops and other plants not naturally suited to the local climate.
Fig : courtesy of

19. References www.daviddarling.info/images/solar_chimney_po