Renewable Energy Systems

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS.
Name of the student.
Institution:
Renewable Energy Assignment.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS.
Task 1
Solar Energy Harnessing and Transformation into Energy.
The sun`s energy can be harnessed using various ways that include the use of photovoltaic cells
to convert the sunlight to electricity, the conversion of the sunlight to thermal energy for heating
and lastly, passive solar heating (Ashokverghese,1998 ). Photovoltaic cells take in the light
energy from the sun and convert it to electricity with the use of semi-conductors in the cells. For
solar thermal conductors, the sun`s rays are concentrated by reflectors to heat a special kind of
volatile liquid usually water to convert it into steam. The generated steam thereafter is used to
spin a turbine that is connected to a generator to create the electricity. During this process, the
steam is cooled and it condenses back to liquid water after which it is recycled back to the
thermal conductor where it undergoes the same process again.

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS.
Wind Energy Harnessing and Transformation into Energy.
According to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 2019, for the wind energy,
the turbines convert the kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical power which is thereafter
used to perform various tasks such as grinding grains or pumping water. A generator can be
fixed to the equipment in order for it to convert the mechanical energy to electricity. The process

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS.
involved in converting the wind energy to electricity is by using aerodynamic forces that are
created by the rotor blades. When the wind flows across the blade, the air pressure on one side of
the blade decreases and this difference ion air pressure across the two blades results into a lift
and drag phenomenon on the blades. The lifting forces outweigh the dragging forces and this
makes the rotor to spin. The rotor when connected to generator either directly or through a shaft
or a series of gears, speeds up the rotation of the generator that creates electricity. There are two
types of wind turbines: horizontal-axis turbines and vertical-axis turbines.