Enhanced utilisation of solar radiation for the generation of electric energy

In this paper, a system is proposed for converting an increased portion of the energy, obtained from solar radiation, into electric energy. The utilisation of solar energy can be made by photovoltaic (PV) cells to generate electric power directly and solar thermal (T) panels can be applied to generate heat power. In the system studied, combined photovoltaic/thermal panels are connected to a heat/electric energy conversion unit that consists of a heat conversion and a turbine-generator-converter section, connected to the utility mains or a group of loads, while the electric power obtained from the PV part of the combined panels is converted to a suitable form by a system consisting of a charge controller, a battery and a DC/AC converter. In the paper, a part of the simulation studies, carried out to determine the energy balance in the PV section of the system, is shown in detail. A block diagram developed for studying the energy balance and simulation results are presented, showing the battery charge vs. time as well as the photovoltaic cell current and the battery current