Analysis of Solar Energy Utilization and Innovations

This assignment provides a comprehensive overview of solar energy utilization and innovations. It includes various research papers and articles on topics such as high-efficiency solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, and nanomaterials for energy conversion. The assignment also explores the environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy and presents new technologies like the Solar Power Tree that can light 5 homes in just 4 sq ft of land. It's a valuable resource for students and researchers interested in renewable energy and sustainability.

Consulting Project

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Solar tree...................................................................................................................3
Illustration 2: Solar Power Tree Artifact........................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
In present era, as population is growing at a faster rate, there is greater need of energy.
Today, scarcity of the non-conventional energy sources cannot be denied. It is required at every
point of view from charging mobile phones, to powering their home. Broadly classified, it is of
two types conventional and non-conventional sources. As non-conventional sources will
eventually deplete, the importance of these sources cannot be denied. Moreover, utilization of the
non-renewable energy resources has increased adverse impact on the environment. Large
amounts of minerals are used to generate the energy, but are unable to fulfil the demands of
citizens. The report briefly presents the importance of non-conventional sources of energy owing
to the backdrop of conventional sources (Bahadori and Nwaoha, 2013). Greater emphasis is
taken from the recent case of nuclear power incident involving radiation fallout that has occurred
in the northern hemisphere. Along with this, Australia's politicians have indicated that their
rising energy needs will not be met by using nuclear power so they want an effective
conventional solution that is photovoltaic technology or solar energy.
There are greater changes that can be seen across Australia regarding the energy crises.
Major factors that have concern scientist, people and others are the cleanliness, cost, efficiency,
environmental effects and stability. All these energy factors can be achieved through the
supplying power either from the non-conventional and limited conventional sources.
Conventional sources of energy or non-renewable energy sources are those that are minerals or
resources that are extracted from the nature and then used for the energy generation. For
example, coal, natural gases, petroleum, nuclear and hydro. These resources are limited in nature
and are getting extent due to excessive consumption. However, energy from the Nuclear are not
limited as small amount of uranium (main product) can generate energy for large period of time.
Practically the energy provided by nuclear sources are inexpensive, clean and does not pollute
environment as carbon-di-oxide as emitted by the coal-fired generation (Hua, Oliphant, and Hu,
2016). However, there are other potential risks that can arise while harnessing the energy from
the such sources. Fukushima leak and the Chernobyl meltdown disasters are examples of such
failures of the containment systems of nuclear reactors which has tremendously harmed humans,
animals and environment. Radioactive materials leakage from those areas and has created
problems to the people. In Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, there were 37 with non-fatal
physical injuries and 2-workers were carried to hospital due to radiation burning. Other than this,
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there were other diseases that has occurred at that place such as miscarriages, stillbirths and
mental-disorders in babies born after the accident. Due to such accidents, more than 100,000
people were evacuated. The major reason is the radiation that affects the water, air and nearby
environment where the nuclear plant is situated.
In Australia, the coal-fired generators are 10-years nearer to closure and the country
needs some of the reliable power sources to critically replace them. If focus on energy generated
through the nuclear sources is made then issues like temperature rise, its waste disposal and other
environmental impacts will increase. Along with this, small mistakes can cause huge amount of
loss to life and money as the raw-products required for the plant are way too expensive. It is also
difficult to control such devices, which requires specific training (Green and et. al., 2015). Even
politicians are concerned about the challenges of energy-security and a climate-change response.
Using the Nuclear sources for energy generation is little expensive and riskier for the country.
Moreover, there are cases that nuclear projects have financially affected Britain and US. The
failure case of Fukushima, has made Japan and Germany to quit these technologies and focus on
the renewable resources. Along with this, there are greater issues while disposing off the waste
material and it is also expensive if the country supplies that waste in other country to dispose due
to environmental impact.
There are other non-conventional sources that can help the country in preventing such
losses and can help to even provide energy back to grid. Along with this, they are plentiful in
supply and are infinite in nature. Besides this, they are hygienic sources of energy and helps to
protect the environment. There are various people that are aware about conserving the nature and
have started focusing on such areas. Its cleanable and sustainable existence has compelled people
and politicians to think seriously about it. In order to make clean energy, Scientists and
Engineers are continuously working in this domain. Non-conventional sources of energy are
generated or achieved from the sun, ocean, earth and wind. The best among them is sun as it has
supplied continuous energy from past millions of years. There are many ways by which energy
can be harvested directly and indirectly from the sun. Photovoltaic, solar thermal systems and
power-stations can convert solar irradiation-directly into usable energy. There are enormous
advantages that people have by utilizing this technology. It is environmental friendly, clean,
cheaper and many more benefits that makes it more favourable. From mobile phones to home
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appliances, everything can be charged from the solar technology (Pospischil, Furchi and Mueller,
2014).
As per the case study, there are various techniques that can be used to solve the issues
related to efficient energy supply like photovoltaics (PV) and concentrated-solar-power (CSP).
Through the devices like PV the sunlight is captured to generate electric power and CSP are used
to harness the heat that is provided at the morning and day time to power the heaters. Other than
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Illustration 1: Solar tree
(Sources: Ray and et. al., 2014)

this, there are technologies such as Solar-skin design that has been made in US and will be
launched in this year. Solar-powered roads, wearable-solar, solar-batteries, solar-tracking mounts
and solar-panel efficiency that can supply the power to mobile, electronics devices, cars and
homes.
Photovoltaic is the best way every people can use and install at their homes. At many
places in the world, solar farming is done that provides the energy to large number of people at
the time of on-grid and off-grid (Ray and et. al., 2014). Other than this, concentrated solar-power
can be used to heat water and room temperature of home. Both the methods help to save lot of
energy. They are best way to generate electricity, and make immediate savings. Though initial
investment is large but working and technology will provide the financial incentives and rebates
back in few years. In India, US, Germany and many other countries there are many solar plants
that are providing them energy at the high and low peak periods (Azad and et. al., 2014). Along
with this, as the energy is continuous so there is no way blackout or any other failure. It is clean,
durable, effective, efficient and everlasting. Once installed they have capacity to provide the
electricity/power for more than 25 years (Helmisaari, Kaarakka and Olsson, 2014). They are
hardly affected by the climatic conditions and if properly installed few cells can generate enough
energy to power the laptop battery. It has another advantage that is once installed there is very
less or practically its maintenance-free, except in extreme circumstances. Almost at every
location, these can be installed to produce sufficient electricity to power the devices.
As for the homes, power supply are provided from the grid, however, if houses has
produced more than the required generated electricity then they can provided credit for those
other things. The cost of the solar panel can be regained within 12-months of period. People of
Australia can use the home integration technologies where solar trees are installed at the top of
house and energy is extracted using the natural way (Lewis, 2016). The technology is
dependable, copious, potentially cheap, higher technology and has enhanced infrastructure. In
such structure, there is single pillar, like a tree trunk is there that acts as a functional power
generator. They use less landscape, architecture and can be used for public context. They are the
advanced form of the rooftop solar systems. They also provide shade and can be used as
decorative things. There are various example of solar tree such as Solar Tree Artworks,
Spiralling Phyllataxy, Ross Lovegrove's, Spotlight Solar structures, Central Mechanical
Engineering Research Institute (CSIR's), Solar Power Tree Artefact (Liu and et. al., 2015). The
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models can be placed at top of house, parks, gardens, market places etc. A single tree can have
more than 5-10 solar panels depending on the energy requirement and design (Roh and et. al.,
2014).
Moreover, using the power banks this energy can be saved for the future use and other
purposes. In the year 2017, Indian researchers have developed and designed the Solar Power
Tree Artefact which provided the power of 2.5kW from a single tree. It is enough to power 4
houses with normal household loads (DiStasio, 2016). Installing the Solar power tree along with
CSP can help a person to save more than light and conserve money. The conventional solar array
requires 400 square feet of areas as compared to four square feet of land for this technology.
Other than this, it is 10-15% more efficient than other solar-power trees. The estimated cost of
the project was $7500 USD (DiStasio, 2016). The device has rotating mechanism that enables it
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Illustration 2: Solar Power Tree Artifact
(Sources: DiStasio, 2016)

to trace most of the power from sun. It is the collective efforts made by them to save
environment and save more clean energy. Using such technologies in the parks, station, public
areas, cafes and other building can help to save lot of energy in Australia.
Most of the electrical generating companies are focusing on these areas to generate
electricity using the solar technology (Hernandez and et. al., 2014). The technology TREE stands
for the Tree generating renewable energy and electricity. There are mainly 5 parts to design the
technology and if the person is aware about the technology then they can manually make by
themselves. A simple structure comprises of solar panels, long tower, LED's, battery and stems
in order to connect the panels. The ideas of the tree structures were gained from the trees. Using
photosynthesis, they can collect more amounts of heat and energy to convert their food material.
Similarly, solar-plates are used for producing the energy. Working principles of the solar tree is
very simple, and is based on the photovoltaic cells. The cells use the light from sun and convert it
into electric energy. The photons of light are emitted when sun raise touches the surface and
changes into electrons. The energy that is generated from this system is DC which is converted
into AC by using the inverter or power electronics devices. The need of solar trees in Australia is
because nuclear power has harmful impact on the environment and person working near to it.
Along with this, it will be expensive for the country and will affect the political stability. Other
than this, they can use wind, tidal and ocean energy but they are not reliable as solar trees and
generates less energy then it (de Souza and et. al., 2018). Certainly, they too have disadvantages
as in wind energy there is sound noise and large construction wings are required, tidal depends
on the tides and is unreliable and non-continuous sources of energy. When compared to
advantages related to renewable and non-renewable sources, solar trees require less land
requirement than traditional or any other plants. Maximum energy can generate using the
minimum resources and land. In comparison to the traditional system it is more efficient and
effective. Their collective combinations at parks and roads can provide enough to provide the
energy at the time of peak loads and at night. Other than this, there are other advantages of solar
panel, such as ecological friendly, decreased electrical bill, low maintenance and efficiency. It
has various application areas such as can be used in house supply, industrial supply, street light
and many other places. Australia is the developed country, due to high standards and increase in
the energy demands there is requirement of more power plant that can generate maximum energy
using the limited resources and land areas (Yadav and Chandel, 2015). In order to fulfil the per
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capita land and energy demands the technology can be implemented at any place. Moreover, it is
helpful for the cities as more energy is consumed at that areas due to urbanization. Using the
photovoltaic technology everything from charging phones, to powering their home can be
possible.
Once installed, these trees will not produce air pollutions, supply the electricity for more
than 25 years, will require less maintenance, energy can be supplied to back to grid, save money
and requires less money. However, there are certain disadvantages in the system, starting
installing and set-up price is high. It may also cause hazards to the birds and insects as their
eyesight can get affected through the reflectors. In order to fulfil the energy demands the
resources that is available in abundant manner is the sun light. Moreover, it is continuous and in
recent period it is much more viable (Kagan, Viner, Trail and Espinoza, 2014). The energy
generated can be easily controlled by using the electronics devices such as power converters in
more effective manner. Improving the doping character, can also help to access more energy
from the limited areas which increases the efficiency and power.
The plant is mostly used in the India, US, Germany and many other areas as they are
receiving more advantages are contributing to preserve environment. Australia can use to fill the
demands of people at the full load period. The country lacks in the use of the renewable
resources. Integrating the technology with the home, power can be supplied to the cars and parks
areas can also be used to power the car charging station. It is the best way as in future there will
be scarcity of the petrol and other resources.
In future, it is sure that energy demands will increase so there will be requirement of
more energy to fulfil those demands. Further, more technological advancement can make the
supply in more effective ways (DiStasio, 2016). The technology is the perfect solution for future
energy need of the Australian people. It is safer than the nuclear generation as there are more ill
impact of the technology. Sun is sending enormous energy constantly to us but we do not have
proper resources and technology to harness this energy. In future, there are changes that can help
to collect more sun energy to use. Though, sunlight is not available all the time but it is available
everywhere besides this it would not contribute to global warming.
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CONCLUSION
The company and the shareholder can provide more employment, education and training
in this field which is not possible in the nuclear technology. The technology and use of the
photovoltaic technology energy efficient technology can make greater and effective future for the
nation. It will help to develop and evolve the country in positive ways as they are contributing in
sustainable development. Progress in such ways can make the country to save more conventional
resources and environment. The technology used would be for more than 25 years without much
of other investment and will help to develop in cost effective manner.
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REFERENCES
Bahadori, A. and Nwaoha, C., 2013. A review on solar energy utilisation in Australia. Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 18. pp.1-5.
Hua, Y., Oliphant, M. and Hu, E.J., 2016. Development of renewable energy in Australia and
China: A comparison of policies and status. Renewable Energy. 85. pp.1044-1051.
Green, M. A. and et. al., 2015. Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 45). Progress in
photovoltaics: research and applications. 23(1). pp.1-9.
Pospischil, A., Furchi, M. M. and Mueller, T., 2014. Solar-energy conversion and light emission
in an atomic monolayer pn diode. Nature nanotechnology. 9(4). pp.257-261.
Azad, A. K. and et. al., 2014. Energy scenario: production, consumption and prospect of
renewable energy in Australia. Journal of Power and Energy Engineering. 2(04). p.19.
Lewis, N.S., 2016. Research opportunities to advance solar energy utilization. Science.
351(6271). p. aad1920.
Liu, S. and et. al., 2015. One-dimension-based spatially ordered architectures for solar energy
conversion. Chemical Society Reviews. 44(15). pp.5053-5075.
Roh, D. K. and et. al., 2014. High efficiency solid‐state dye‐sensitized solar cells assembled with
hierarchical anatase pine tree‐like TiO2 nanotubes. Advanced Functional Materials.
24(3). pp.379-386.
Hernandez, R. R. and et. al., 2014. Environmental impacts of utility-scale solar energy.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 29. pp.766-779.de Souza, J. D. S., de
Andrade, L. O. M. and Polo, A. S., 2013. Nanomaterials for Solar Energy Conversion:
Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Based on Ruthenium (II) Tris-Heteroleptic Compounds or
Natural Dyes. In Nanoenergy (pp. 49-80). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Yadav, A. K. and Chandel, S. S., 2015. Solar energy potential assessment of western Himalayan
Indian state of Himachal Pradesh using J48 algorithm of WEKA in ANN based
prediction model. Renewable Energy. 75. pp.675-693.\
Kagan, R. A., Viner, T. C., Trail, P. W. and Espinoza, E. O., 2014. Avian mortality at solar
energy facilities in southern California: a preliminary analysis. National Fish and Wildlife
Forensics Laboratory.19.
Ray, P. K. and et. al., 2014. Optimal feature and decision tree-based classification of power
quality disturbances in distributed generation systems. IEEE Transactions on Sustainable
Energy. 5(1). pp.200-208.
Helmisaari, H. S., Kaarakka, L. and Olsson, B. A., 2014. Increased utilization of different tree
parts for energy purposes in the Nordic countries. Scandinavian journal of forest
research. 29(4). pp.312-322.
Online
DiStasio, C., 2016. India’s new Solar Power Tree can light 5 homes in just 4 sq ft of land.
[Online]. Available from<https://inhabitat.com/indias-new-solar-power-tree-can-light-5-
homes-in-just-4-sq-ft-of-land/>. [Accessed on 9th October, 2017]
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