Photovoltaic modules during sunny days can reach temperatures 35 °C above the ambient temperature, which strongly influences their performance and electrical efficiency as power losses can be up to −0.65%/°C. To minimize and control the PV panel temperature, the scientific community has proposed different strategies and innovative approaches, one of them through passive cooling with phase change materials (PCM). However, further investigation, including the effects of geometric shape, insulation, phase change temperature, ambient temperature, and solar radiation on the PV module power output and efficiency, needs further optimization and research. Therefore, the current work aims to investigate several system configurations and different PCMs (RT42, RT31, and RT25) and compare the system with and without insulation through computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools. The final goal is to optimise and control the temperature of PV modules and evaluate their system efficiency and energy generation. The results showed that compared with a rectangular shape of the PCM container, the trapezoid-one exhibits a considerably better cooling performance with a negligible variation of the PV temperature, even when the melting temperature of the PCM was lower than the average ambient temperature. Moreover, the study showed that having insulation in the PCM container increases the amount of PCM needed, compared with no insulation case, and the increased amount depends on the PCM type. The newly proposed PV/PCM system configuration shows an efficiency and power generation enhancement of 17% and 14.6%, respectively, at peak times.

Apart from being a clean source of energy, photovoltaic (PV) power plants are also a source of income generation for its investors and lenders. Therefore, mitigation of system losses is crucial for economic operation of PV plants. Combined losses due to soiling, shading and temperature in PV plants go as high as 50%. Much of these losses are unaccounted initially, which can jeopardize the economic viability of PV projects. This paper aims to provide a model to determine losses due to soiling, shading and temperature using quantities like irradiance, cell temperature, DC power and current, which are readily available in PV yield data captured by the remote monitoring system, without involving any additional sensors or equipment. In this study, soiling, shading and thermal losses were calculated using PV yield data obtained from a 30-kWp PV plant located in Kharagpur, India. The results showed soiling and shading losses as high as 25.7% and 9.7%, respectively, in the month of December. Soiling loss was verified by measuring transmittance loss of coupon glasses installed in the vicinity of the plant. Shading loss was verified by shadow simulation using an architectural tool (SketchUp). Array thermal loss obtained using the proposed methodology was found to be in line with the estimated value obtained from PVsyst simulation. Additionally, using time-series data, the energy losses corresponding to soiling, shading and temperature effects were calculated by a numerical-integration technique. The monetary loss due to these energy losses thus obtained provides criteria for deciding when to mitigate the sources of these losses.

The efficiency of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels is greatly reduced by panel soiling and high temperatures. A mechanism for eliminating both of these sources of inefficiencies is presented by integrating solar PV generation with a compressed air system. High-pressure air can be stored and used to blow over the surface of PV panels, removing present dust and cooling the panels, increasing output power. A full-system mathematical model of the proposed system is presented, comprised of compressed air generation and storage, panel temperature, panel cleaning, and PV power generation. Simulation results indicate the benefit of employing compressed air for cleaning and cooling solar PV panels. For a fixed volume of compressed air, it is advantageous to blow air over the panels early in the day if the panel is soiled or when solar radiation is most abundant with the highest achievable flow rate if the panel is clean. These strategies have been shown to achieve the greatest energy captures for a single PV panel. When comparing the energy for air compression to the energy gain from cleaning a single PV over a two-week period, an energy ROI of 23.8 is determined. The system has the potential to eliminate the requirement for additional manual cleaning of solar PV panels.

India is highly dependent on solar photovoltaics (PV) to harness its vast solar resource potential and combat climate change. However, $\sim$90% of the installed PV capacity in India is concentrated in the top nine states, with the remaining states lagging behind. The research reveals that during monsoons, heavy cloud cover and rain lead to high solar resource variability, intermittency and the risk of very low PV generation, which can result in reliability issues in future PV-dominated electricity grids. Although energy storage can help in overcoming high intermittency, there are multiple challenges associated with it. The novelty of this study lies in demonstrating the benefits of combining multiple PV sites in various regions to mitigate the risks of low PV generation and high variability. The variability of individual sites was found to be up to $\sim$3.5 times higher than the variability of combined generation. During noon, prominent solar park sites like Bhadla and NP Kunta experience a decrease in power generation to values as low as $\sim$10% of the rated PV capacity. However, the minimum generation of the large-scale dispersed PV generation is $>$30%. Furthermore, the research identifies other benefits of dispersing PV generation across the country, viz., reduction of seasonal variability by adding PV capacity in the southern region, widening of the PV generation span, more room for PV capacity addition, reduction in storage and ramping needs, utilization of hydroelectric potential of the north-east and PV potential of Ladakh, and creating opportunities for sustainable development in rural agrarian regions through agrivoltaics.

In rural India and similar countries, the distribution grid is radial in nature where the power generation stations are located far away from the consumption points which makes the grid weak in nature at the site of consumption. Significant penetration of solar photovoltaic within the weak distribution network can cause voltage issues such as voltage rise and dip. A comprehensive simulation method as well as a simple mathematical modelling are developed. The study reveals that the voltage quality issue occurs not only due to the considerable penetration of photovoltaic (PV) but also due to the connected load and X/R ratio of the feeder. The proposed model describes a method to estimate the permissible PV penetration ratio for the distribution feeder. This helps in the (i) selection of overhead conductors to improve the X/R ratio, (ii) utilisation of the on load tap changing facility within the distribution transformer and (iii) connecting/disconnecting flexiloads for improving PV penetration.

In India, most of the microgrids consist of wind energy sources which are located in rural areas to mitigate the energy deficiency and where the grid is weak in nature. The grid architecture of urban India is ring type where in rural side it is mostly radial is nature. In radial topology, power source is located in one point of the distribution line and the loads are connected to the other ends. The power normally distributed from point of common coupling (PCC) to the receiving end bus. Due to this kind of architecture of the rural grid, the short circuit capacity (SCC) of the line becomes very low and grid impedance becomes very high. Due to these inherent features, the rural grid is weak in nature and it is called weak distribution grid. The main difficulty to connect wind turbines to a weak grid is the voltage and frequency instability. The X/R ratio of the distribution network plays an important role to determine the health of the grid i.e. whether it is weak or strong. A limiting value of the bus voltage can also be investigated by which the injection of active and reactive power from wind turbine can be restricted to the grid for maintaining the voltage stability at PCC. In this paper a wind generator connected with low voltage distribution system has been simulated in PSCAD/EMTDC software to observe the different grid parameters such as voltage, active and reactive power against line X/R ratio to find out the limiting condition of voltage for strong and weak grid.