Automation and modernization of the grid with the availability of micro-grids including non-conventional sources of energy are the main constituent of smart grid technology. Most energy demand is fulfilled by fossil fuel-based power plants. Inadequacy of fuel resources, higher operating costs, and ever-increasing carbon emissions are the primary constraints of fossil fuels-operated power plants. Sustainable energy resource utilization in meeting energy demand is thought to be a preferred solution for reducing carbon emissions and is also a sustainable economic solution. This research effort discusses an accurate mathematical modeling and simulation implementation of a sustainable energy resource model powered by solar, grid, and proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack and focuses on the energy management of the model. In the proposed model, despite energy resources being sustainable, consumer side sustainability is achieved by using electrical charging vehicles (ECVs) to be integrated with sustainable resources. The proposed energy resource management (ERM) strategy is evaluated by simulating different operating conditions with and without distributed energy resources exhibiting the effectiveness of the proposed model. PEMFC is incorporated in the model to control fluctuations that have been synchronized with other energy resources for the distribution feeder line. In this proposed model, PEMFC is synchronized with grid and solar energy sources for both DC and AC load with ERM of all sources, making the system effective and reliable for consumer-based load and ECVs utilization.

The new millennium has witnessed a pervasive shift of trend from AC to DC in the residential load sector. The shift is predominantly due to independent residential solar PV systems at rooftops and escalating electronic loads with better energy saving potential integrated with diminishing prices as well as commercial availability of DC-based appliances. Comprehensive sensitivity analysis considering the real load profile is missing in the present body of knowledge. In order to fill that gap, this paper is an attempt to include a comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the DC distribution system and its simulation-based comparison with its AC counterpart, considering the real load profile. The paper uses the Monte Carlo technique and probabilistic approach to add diversity in residential loads consumption to obtain an instantaneous load profile. Various possible scenarios such as variation of standard deviation from 5% to 20% of mean load value, PV capacity variation from 1000 W to 9000 W, and variation in power electronic converter (PEC) efficiencies are incorporated to make the system realistic as much as possible maintaining a fair comparison between both systems. The paper concludes with the baseline efficiency advantage of 2% to 3% during the day for the case of the DC distribution system as compared to the AC distribution system.

The new millennium has witnessed a pervasive shift of trend from AC to DC in residential sector. The shift of trend is predominantly due to independent residential solar PV systems at rooftops and escalating electronic loads with better energy saving potential integrated with diminishing prices as well as commercial availability of DC based appliances. DC has ousted AC in generation, transmission, and utilization sectors with the advent of DC based generating systems (e-g solar PV), high voltage DC (HVDC) transmission and the utilization of DC based loads respectively. However, the war of currents (AC vs DC) is still ON as regards to distribution sector. Efficiency is the parameter that once wiped DC out of the power systems scenario as compared to AC-at the time of Tesla and Edison. Therefore, the same parameter is utilized to determine which is better for distribution sector under current conditions; AC or DC? A comprehensive sensitivity analysis considering real load profile is missing in the present body of knowledge. In order to fill that gap, this paper is an attempt to include comprehensive sensitivity analysis of DC distribution system and its simulation-based comparison with AC counterpart considering real load profile. The paper uses Monte Carlo technique and probabilistic approach to add diversity in residential loads consumption and in turn to obtain instantaneous load profile. The paper also presents a futuristic perspective of power electronic converter (PEC) efficiency variation on the efficiency comparison of both AC and DC distribution systems. Since the present body of knowledge generally compares AC and DC distribution based upon assumptions and limited scenarios which results in conflicting outcomes; in contrast, the discoveries of the current examination are useful to reduce the confusions and conflictions regarding which is better at distribution scale; AC or DC?

Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) is an inexpensive material that has the potential to dominate the next-generation photovoltaic (PV) industry. Here we detail computational investigation of CIGS solar cell with encouragement of adopting cuprous dioxide (Cu₂O) as a Hole Transport Layer (HTL) for efficient fabricated CIGS solar cells. Although Cu₂O as a HTL has been studied earlier for perovskite and other organic/inorganic solar cell yet no study has been detailed on potential application of Cu₂O for CIGS solar cells. With the proposed architecture, recombination losses are fairly reduced at the back contact and contribute to enhanced photo-current generation. With the introduction of Cu₂O, the overall cell efficiency is increased to 26.63%. The wide-band of Cu₂O pulls holes from the CIGS absorber which allows smoother extraction of holes with experiencing lesser resistance. Further, it was also inferred that, HTL also improves the quantum efficiency (QE) for photons with large wavelengths thus increases the cell operating spectrum.

Partial shading on solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays is a prevalent problem in photovoltaic systems that impair the performance of PV modules and is responsible for reduced power output as compared to that in standard irradiance conditions thereby resulting in the appearance of multiple maximas on panel output power characteristics. These maxims contribute to mismatch power losses among PV modules. The mismatch losses depend on shading characteristics together with different interconnected configuration schemes of PV modules. The research presents a comparative analysis of partial shading effects on a 4 x4 PV array system connected in series(S), parallel (P), serries-parallel (SP),total-cross-tied (TCT),central-cross-tied(CCT),bridge-linked(BL),bridge-linked total cross-tied (BLTCT) ,honey-comb(HC), honey-comb total-cross-tied (HCTCT) and ladder (LD) configurations using MATLAB/Simulink. The PV module SPR-X20-250-BLK was used for modeling and simulation analysis. Each module is comprised of 72 number of PV cells and a combination of 16 PV modules was employed for the contextual analysis. Accurate mathematical modeling for the HCTCT configuration under partial shading conditions (PSCs) is provided for the first time and is verified from the simulation. The different configuration schemes were investigated under short-narrow,short-wide,long-narrow,long-wide, diagonal, entire row distribution, and entire column distribution partial shading condition patterns with mathematical implementation and simulation of passing clouds. The performance of array configurations is compared in terms of maximum power generated ), mismatch power loss (∆), relative power loss ) and the fill factor (FF). It was inferred that on average, TCT configuration yielded maximum power generation under all shading patterns among all PV modules interconnection configurations with minimum mismatch power losses followed by hybrid and conventional PV array configurations respectively.

COVID-19 outbreak started in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread around the globe in months due to its high contagious level. Hence, this disease posed a great challenge to researchers and mathematicians. Numerous mathematical models have been suggested to visualize the spreading speed and trends of this pandemic. In this paper, a comparison of a widely established and accepted method, the Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Quarantined-Recovered-Death-Insusceptible (SEIQRDP) model with a newly-proposed fractional-order SEIQRDP is studied. Densely populated Countries of Asia (Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh) have been chosen as data sets and both algorithms have been applied to their data. The same comparison technique has also been used on the data of two polar countries, New Zealand and Russia, that validated our findings. Error comparison of both algorithms has been recorded in a tabulated form which shows multi-fold erroneous trends over WHO data of selected countries.