A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems: With Special Focus on Photovoltaic Systems

by Trevor Letcher, Vasilis M. Fthenakis

Overview

A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems: With Special Focus on Photovoltaic Systems, the most advanced and research focused text on all aspects of solar energy engineering, is a must have edition on the present state of solar technology, integration and worldwide distribution. In addition, the book provides a high-level assessment of the growth trends in photovoltaics and how investment, planning and economic infrastructure can support those innovations. Each chapter includes a research overview with a detailed analysis and new case studies that look at how recent research developments can be applied. Written by some of the most forward-thinking professionals, this book is an invaluable reference for engineers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780128114797
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	05/19/2018
Pages:	540
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Professor Trevor Letcher is an Emeritus Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and living in the United Kingdom. He was previously Professor of Chemistry, and Head of Department, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Rhodes University, and Natal, in South Africa (1969-2004). He has published over 300 papers on areas such as chemical thermodynamic and waste from landfill in peer reviewed journals, and 100 papers in popular science and education journals. Prof. Letcher has edited and/or written 32 major books, of which 22 were published by Elsevier, on topics ranging from future energy, climate change, storing energy, waste, tyre waste and recycling, wind energy, solar energy, managing global warming, plastic waste, renewable energy, and environmental disasters. He has been awarded gold medals by the South African Institute of Chemistry and the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics honoured him with a Festschrift in 2018. He is a life member of both the Royal Society of Chemistry (London) and the South African Institute of Chemistry. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, and is a Director of the Board of the International Association of Chemical Thermodynamics since 2002.

Vasilis Fthenakis is the Founding Director of the Center for Life Cycle Analysis (CLCA), Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering at Columbia University and Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Fthenakis is internationally recognized for his leading work in the energy-environment nexus and renewable energy grid integration. With a focus on developing methodologies, models, and tools to analyze cleaner energy alternatives, he has been a pioneer in studying the environmental impact, resource availability and recycling of photovoltaics (PVs), accelerating their commercial adoption around the world. More recently, he broadened the CLCA’s research to explore solar-enabled water desalination and “green” hydrogen production. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and a recipient of several honors and awards including the 2022 Karl Boer Solar Energy Medal of Merit for “distinguished contributions to quest for sustainable energy”.

Table of Contents

1. An Introduction

B. SOLAR ENERGY RESOURCE
2. Solar Energy Fundamentals: energy flux; collectors; types of solar energy: space heating, water heating, electricity generation, PVs
3. Estimation of Solar Energy Potential Worldwide
4. History of Harnessing Solar Energy
C. SOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
5. Solar Water Heaters
6. Concentrated Solar Power (Solar Towers)
7. Solar Ponds
8. Space Heating and Industrial Applications
9. Photovoltaics (silicon polycrystaline and thin films)
10. Photovoltaics (Cadmium/Telluride; Copper/ Indium/ Galium/ Selenium etc.)
11. Operation and Maintenance of PVs
12. PV Solar Energy Technology (e.g. batteries, inverters, etc.)
13. Engineering Problems with PVs
D. GENERATION OF ELECTRICITY
14. Integration of PV Generated Electricity into National Grids
15. Small scale PVs
16. Storing energy from PVs
17. Reliability of PV Solar Power
E. PLANNING, EXECUTION OF SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS AND REGULATIONS
18. Development, Commissioning and Installing PVs
19. A Comparison of Solar Energy Systems (water heating, PVs, CSPs, etc.) including Relative Efficiencies
F. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF PV SOLAR ENERGY
20. Life cycle of PV energy input and output
21. Environmental issues (including the landscape) related to PV Solar Energy
22. Elements (e.g. silicon) used in PV Solar Energy (shortages, source?)
G. SOLAR ENERGY WORLD WIDE
23. Solar Power Worldwide (all types)
24. The Solar Power in China, with a Focus on PV Generated Electricity
25. Solar Power in Germany with a Focus on PV Generated Electricity
26. Solar Power in the United States with a Focus on PV Generated Electricity
H. FINANCIALS /ECONOMICS OF PV SOLAR POWER
27. Economics of PV Solar Power, Net energy gain, Energy return on investment (EROI), Incentives
I. INVESTMENT, GROWTH TRENDS AND THE FUTURE OF PV SOLAR POWER
28. Countries investing in PV Solar Power, Countries Developing and Producing Solar Power PVs, Growth Trends, developing technologies and the Future of PV Solar Power

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From the Publisher

A core reference on developments in the expanding solar energy technology field and its current and future applications