A photovoltaic (PV) module’s electrical efficiency depends on the operating temperature of the cell. Electrical efficiency reduces with increasing PV module temperature which is one of the drawbacks of this technology. This is due to the negative temperature coefficient of a PV module which decreases its voltage significantly while the current increases slightly. This study combines both active and passive cooling mechanisms to improve the electrical output of a PV module. A heat sink made up of aluminum fins and an ultrasonic humidifier were used to cool the panel. The ultrasonic humidifier was used to generate a humid environment at the rear side of the PV module. The cooling process in the study was able to reduce the temperature of the panel averagely by 14.61 °C. This reduction led to a 6.8% improvement in the electrical efficiency of the module. The average power of 12.23 W was recorded for the cooled panel against 10.87 W for the referenced module. In terms of water consumption, a total of 1.5 L was approximately consumed during the whole experimental process due to evaporation. In effect, the proposed cooling approach was demonstrated as effective.

As is already known, solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is a widely accepted technology for power generation worldwide. However, it is scientifically proven that its power output decreases with an increase in the temperature of the PV module. Such an important issue is controlled by adopting a number of cooling mechanisms for the PV module. The present experimental study assesses the effect of a fanless CPU heat pipe on the performance of a PV module. The experiment was conducted in June in real weather conditions in Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation. The comparative analysis of two PV panels (i.e., cooled, and uncooled) based on the electrical energy, exergy performance, economic, embodied energy and energy payback (5E) for the two systems is presented and discussed. The key results from the study are that the average temperature reduction from the cooling process is 6.72 °C. The average power for the cooled panel is 11.39 W against 9.73 W for the uncooled PV panel; this represents an increase of 1.66 W for the cooled module. Moreover, the average improvements in the electrical efficiency, and embodied energy recorded for a cooled PV panel 2.98%, and 438.52 kWh, respectively. Furthermore, the calculations of the levelized cost of energy (LCE) for the cooled PV panel indicate that it can range from 0.277–0.964 USD/kWh, while that for the uncooled PV panel also ranges from 0.205–0.698 USD/kWh based on the number of days of operation of the plant.

The electrical performance of a photovoltaic (PV) module is hugely affected by its temperature. This study proposed a passive cooling mechanism for the cooling of a PV panel. The proposed cooling system is made up of a combination of aluminum fins and paraffin wax integrated at the PV panel’s rear side. The average temperature for the cooled panel for the entire period of the experiment is 36.62 °C against 48.75 °C for the referenced PV module. This represents an average reduction of 12.13 °C for the cooled panel. The average power for the cooled panel is 12.19 W against 10.95 W for the referenced module which is 11.33% improvement. The electrical efficiencies for the cooled panel and the referenced modules are 14.30% and 13.60%, respectively, representing an improvement of 5.15% in the electrical efficiency. The cooled solar PV module had an average exergy efficiency of 7.99% compared to 5.61% for the referenced module. In terms of the economics, the results from the computations show that LCOE of the cooled panel can range between 0.198 and 0.603 $/kWh, while that of the referenced module ranges from 0.221–0.671 $/kWh depending on the number of days it operates.

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are devices that convert heat into electricity. This paper is about the design of a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique for a TEG module. The module is built using 204 TEGs connected in series. It is connected to the load through a DC/DC boost converter. The MPPT technique used in this work is the Interval Type 2 Fuzzy Logic Controller (IT2FLC). To verify its performance, the IT2FLC is compared with a traditional Perturb and Observe (P&O) MPPT algorithm in the case of power and voltage response at steady state, load switching, and through various ranges of temperature differences (ΔT). The TEG module is modeled and the whole system is simulated successfully using MATLAB SIMULINK R2017a.

India is endowed with a lot of solar radiation as a result of its location. The Indian government therefore intends to maximize the usage of its solar energy resources through the development of solar power plants across the country. The concentrated solar power plant (CSP) is one of the technologies that rely on solar energy for its electricity generation. The type of condenser model in the CSP technology has the potential to affect its techno-economic viability. In this paper, a 100 MW solar tower power plant (STPP) with two different condenser models, i.e., the dry-cooled STPP and wet-cooled STPP models, are studied using the System Advisor Model (SAM) at six different geographical areas in India. The study employed the optimization of the thermal energy storage and the solar field size to identify the minimum levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for all six locations. Results from the simulation show that the LCOE will range between 13 and 17 cents/kWh under the optimization conditions for the STPP dry-cooled condenser model, while that of the wet-cooled condenser model will range between 12.40 and 12.96 USD cents/kWh for the study locations. It was also observed that the optimized solar multiple (SM) for the dry-cooled STPP model ranges between 1.4 and 1.8, whereas that of the wet-cooled model ranges between 1 and 1.8. The study identified Bhopal as the best location for installing the STPP plant for both condenser models. In addition, this paper also discusses major potential barriers and government policies that are needed to develop CSP technologies in India. The outcome of the study is expected to help both government and other stakeholders in decision making and policy formulation for the sector.

This paper proposed a test bench device to emulate or simulate the electrical impulses of a wave energy converter (WEC). The objective of the study is to reconstruct under laboratory conditions the dynamics of a WEC in the form of an emulator to assess the performance, which, in this case, is the output power. The designed emulator device is programmable, which makes it possible to create under laboratory conditions the operating mode of the wave generator, identical to how the wave generator would work under real sea conditions. Any control algorithm can be executed in the designed emulator. In order to test the performance of the constructed WEC emulator, an experiment was conducted to test its power output against that of a real point-absorber WEC. The results indicate that, although the power output for that of the real WEC was higher than the WEC emulator, the emulator performed perfectly well. The relatively low power output of the emulator was because of the type of algorithm that was written for the emulator, therefore increasing the speed of the motor in the algorithm (code) would result in higher output for the proposed WEC emulator.