What is Solar PV?

Photovoltaics (often shortened as PV) gets its name from the process of converting light (photons) to electricity (voltage), which is called the photovoltaic effect.

Types of Solar PV

• Silicon Solar Cells  –    The vast majority of today’s solar cells are made from silicon and offer both reasonable prices and good efficiency.
• Thin-Film Solar Cells  – Another commonly used photovoltaic technology is known as thin-film solar cells because they are made from very thin layers of semiconductor material, such as cadmium telluride or copper indium gallium diselenid.

Primary objective of the technology is to generate energy from natural resources such as Sun and convert it to electricity and power immediately. By 2050, the IEA foresees solar PV to reach 4.7 terawatts (4,674 GW) in its high-renewable scenario, of which more than half will be deployed in China and India, making solar power the world’s largest source of electricity.

All concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies use a mirror configuration to concentrate the sun’s light energy onto a receiver and convert it into heat. The heat can then be used to create steam to drive a turbine to produce electrical power or used as industrial process heat. Concentrating solar power plants can integrate thermal energy storage systems to use to generate electricity during cloudy periods or for hours after sunset or before sunrise. This ability to store solar energy makes concentrating solar power a flexible and dispatchable source of renewable energy.

• CSP systems can be also combined with combined cycle power plants resulting in hybrid power plants which provide high-value, dispatchable power. They can also be integrated into existing thermal-fired power plants that use a power block like CSP; such as coal, natural gas, biofuel or geothermal plants.
• CSP plants can also use fossil fuel to supplement the solar output during periods of low solar radiation. In that case, a natural gas-fired heat or a gas steam boiler/reheater is used.
• Primary objective of the technology is to store energy from natural resources such as Sun, and generate energy (e.g. electricity) when necessary.

Saudi Arabia is going to build the 400-megawatt Dumat Al Jandal facility, which is to begin producing electricity in the first quarter of 2022. The project will be the biggest wind-power plant in the Middle East when it begins producing, Masdar Said. The wind farm will comprise 99 units of Vestas V150-4.2MW wind turbines.The Vestas turbine has a rated power of 4,000/4,200kW and a cut-in speed of 3m/s. They can also be operated either in a power optimized mode up to 4.2MW or a load optimized mode down to 3.6MW. The turbines have a low noise level of 104.9dB(A). The wind turbines are equipped with technologies such as a condition monitoring system, Vestas ice detection, fire suppression, fire detection and shadow detection, and Vestas InteliLight.

• Primary objective of the technology is to generate electricity from wind. Example: 400-megawatt Dumat Al Jandal facility in Saudi Arabia, the wind farm will comprise 99 units of Vestas V150-4.2MW wind turbines. More details mentioned on the previous page.