http://www.hindawi.com The latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation © 2013 , Hindawi Publishing Corporation . All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:12:45 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/750958/ This paper examines the effect of different wind turbine classes on the electricity production of wind farms in two areas of Cyprus Island, which present low and medium wind potentials: Xylofagou and Limassol. Wind turbine classes determine the suitability of installing a wind turbine in a particulate site. Wind turbine data from five different manufacturers have been used. For each manufacturer, two wind turbines with identical rated power (in the range of 1.5 MW–3 MW) and different wind turbine classes (IEC II and IEC III) are compared. The results show the superiority of wind turbines that are designed for lower wind speeds (IEC III class) in both locations, in terms of energy production. This improvement is higher for the location with the lower wind potential and starts from 7%, while it can reach more than 50%. Yiannis A. Katsigiannis, George S. Stavrakakis, and Christodoulos Pharconides Copyright © 2013 Yiannis A. Katsigiannis et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:11:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/838536/ Multicrystalline silicon solar cell and its module with 18 cells connected in series were mounted on an inclined rack tilted 12° South positioned at latitude of 12.0107° and longitude of 79.856°. Corresponding solar irradiance was measured using an optical Pyranometer. Measured irradiance, open circuit voltage (), and short circuit current () values were analyzed. values of both the cell and module were found saturated at above the critical value of illuminations which were different from each other. The integrated daily efficiency for the cell and module were ~10.25% and ~9.39%, respectively, that were less than their respective standard test condition’s value. The reasons for this drop in efficiencies were investigated and reported. Sivakumar Parthasarathy, P. Neelamegam, P. Thilakan, and N. Tamilselvan Copyright © 2013 Sivakumar Parthasarathy et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:10:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/542726/ In this work we have used pulsed RF sputtering method to deposit indium tin oxide (ITO) for the fabrication of P3HT:PCBM based bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell. We have deposited ITO at low substrate temperature (100°C) and for different pulse modes. Oxygen was used as an admixture to the sputtering gas argon, and the percentage was varied from 0 to 6%. During deposition, plasma was studied by optical emission spectroscopy (OES) method. For our present range of deposition conditions lowest resistivity of ITO is around 2 × 10−4 Ω-cm, and it is deposited in High-Low mode with 1% of oxygen added to argon. The effect of oxygen admixture on electrical and optical properties of ITO thin films has been studied for different pulse modes. ITO films have been optimised by measuring their resistivity, transparency, and X-ray diffraction. Finally we have applied the ITO film for the fabrication of P3HT:PCBM based solar cell. Somnath Middya, Animesh Layek, and Partha Pratim Ray Copyright © 2013 Somnath Middya et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:09:42 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/739532/ Highly crystalline CIS nanoink was synthesized using highly efficient microwave route. Thin films of CIS were fabricated using the developed ink by drop casting method. XRD pattern of CIS thin films indicates that a chalcopyrite phase with good crystallinity can be obtained using developed ink and that the composition of precursor ink can be transferred directly to the thin film without change in the stoichiometry. The developed ink alleviates the need of organic binders/dispersant and high temperature selenization using highly toxic H2Se gas (or Na2Se as a Se source) after deposition of thin film absorber layer. UV-VIS-NIR absorption analysis indicates that CIS thin film has a band gap of around 1.18 eV. Manoj Kumar, Raghunandan Seelaboyina, Kshitij Taneja, Alekhya Venkata Madiraju, Anup Kumar Keshri, Sarang Mahajan, and Kulvir Singh Copyright © 2013 Manoj Kumar et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:05:50 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/526320/ Photovoltaic (PV) systems generate electricity in the daytime when system demand is generally moderate to high. For Mediterranean countries, there is also seasonal coincidence of high system demand and high PV load factors. The present study quantifies the above statements by calculating the load factor of the PV system when system demand is high (above 90–99% of the maximum demand of the month). The percentage of time the PV load factor is above 90% for these periods of maximum demand is evaluated. The PV load capacity contribution is defined in this study as the minimum PV load factor during these periods of high demand. Actual generation data from a static (without tracking) mono-Si PV system, recorded every half hour for the year 2010 are compared to system demand data. The seasonality analysis indicates that PV contribution to capacity is only significant during the months May–October. For the months November–April, when daily demand peak occurs during the evening, PVs do not contribute towards capacity. The evaluated capacity contribution of PV systems depends on the threshold of maximum demand considered (90%–99%). For the threshold of 95%, the capacity contribution for May–October ranges between 27%–41% of PV installed capacity. Constantinos Varnavas and Andreas Poullikkas Copyright © 2013 Constantinos Varnavas and Andreas Poullikkas. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:03:44 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/395659/ Solar thermal power generation is based on the concept of concentrating solar radiation to provide high temperature heat for electricity generation via conventional power cycles. The high relative cost of optical subsystems necessitates a careful study of their components. The capital cost of the heliostat field in central receiver power plants is significant, reaching up to 50% of the capital investment. Therefore, it is essential to maximize the energy yield from a heliostat with a given mirror area. Solar collector fields are typically modeled by ray-tracing or convolution methods; however, no general method is available for engineering analysis. We propose the use of caustics to predict the image of the sun reflected by an arbitrary mirror of focal length and aperture on a target. The method of caustics was validated against SolTRACE, a ray-tracing code developed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Marios D. Georgiou, Aristides M. Bonanos, and John G. Georgiadis Copyright © 2013 Marios D. Georgiou et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:03:18 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/483628/ A method for deposition of cadmium sulfide (CdS) buffer layer thin films on fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass, by chemical bath deposition (CBD), has been modified. For achieving relatively uniform and pin-hole-free CdS films, substrate rotation, concentration of CdS salts, and deposition time were optimized. The deposited films were characterized by UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Band gap of ~2.4 eV was measured by UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, CdS phase was confirmed by XRD, and film uniformity and roughness (~15–20 nm) were measured by SEM and AFM, respectively. Kshitij Taneja, Alekhya Venkata Madiraju, Manoj Kumar, Raghunandan Seelaboyina, Anup Kumar Keshri, and Sarang Mahajan Copyright © 2013 Kshitij Taneja et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:01:26 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/320618/ Solar Energy is the feedstock for various applications of renewable energy sources; thus, the knowledge of the intensity of the incident solar irradiance is essential for monitoring the performance of such systems. The major unpredictable factor in defining the solar irradiance and the performance of solar systems is the presence of clouds in the sky. So far, various researchers proposed several models to correlate solar irradiance to cloud coverage and cloud type. The present work describes the development of a simple method for cloud detection and computation of short-term cloud motion. The minimum accuracy of the model was 95% for the prediction of the cloud location seven timesteps in advance with only three cloud images processed. When including the dimensions of the cloud to the accuracy calculation, the minimum accuracy was 88%. Rogiros D. Tapakis and Alexandros G. Charalambides Copyright © 2013 Rogiros D. Tapakis and Alexandros G. Charalambides. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 16:00:20 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/324562/ The continuous increase on the penetration levels of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) in power systems has led to radical changes on the design, operation, and control of the electrical network. This paper investigates the influence of these changes on the operation of a transmission network by developing a set of indices, spanning from power losses to GHG emissions reduction. These indices are attempting to quantify any impacts therefore providing a tool for assessing the RES penetration in transmission networks, mainly for isolated systems. These individual indices are assigned an analogous weight and are mingled to provide a single multiobjective index that performs a final evaluation. These indices are used to evaluate the impact of the integration of RES into the classic WSCC 3-machine, 9-bus transmission network. Alexandros I. Nikolaidis, Francisco M. Gonzalez-Longatt, and C. A. Charalambous Copyright © 2013 Alexandros I. Nikolaidis et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 15:43:50 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/162312/ There is a recent interest for the utilisation of renewable and alternative fuel, which is regulated by the European Union, that currently imposes a lower limit of 7% by volume of biodiesel fuel blend in diesel fuel. The biodiesel physical characteristics, as well as the percentage of biodiesel blend in diesel fuel, affect the injector nozzle flow, the spray characteristics, the resulting air/fuel mixture, and subsequently the combustion quality and emissions, as well as the overall engine performance. In the present study, two different types of pure biodiesel fuel, namely, methanol-based biodiesel and ethanol-based biodiesel, were produced in the laboratory of Frederick University by chemical processing of raw materials. The two biodiesel fuels were used for blending pure diesel fuel at various percentages. The blends were used for smoke emissions measurements of a diesel internal combustion engine at increasing engine speed and for increasing engine temperatures. From the experimental investigations it was found that ethanol-based biodiesel blends result in higher smoke emissions than pure diesel fuel, while methanol-based biodiesel blends smoke emissions are lower compared to pure diesel fuel. Charalambos A. Chasos, George N. Karagiorgis, and Chris N. Christodoulou Copyright © 2013 Charalambos A. Chasos et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 15:39:20 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/125628/ The objective of this research work is to design and develop a forced convection solar dryer using evacuated tube air collector and study its performance on bitter gourd in Thanjavur District, Tamilnadu, India. The designed solar dryer consists of a drying chamber, evacuated tube air collector, a blower, and a chimney. Drying parameters, moisture ratio and drying rates, are calculated and their performance is compared with natural sun drying. The results of the present study show that the proposed solar dryer has greater efficiency, and the moisture content of bitter gourd is reduced from 91% to 6.25% in 6 hours as compared to 10 hours in natural sun drying. In this solar dryer, the products are uniformly dried, and the moisture content of the sample is controlled. It is found that the quality of the dried bitter gourd using solar dryer is higher than the natural sun-dried bitter gourd. AR. Umayal Sundari, P. Neelamegam, and C. V. Subramanian Copyright © 2013 AR. Umayal Sundari et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 15:37:44 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/104047/ Pure and Mo-doped WO3 films were formed on ITO-coated glass substrate held at 473 K by RF magnetron sputtering technique. The structural, morphological, and optical properties of pure and Mo-doped WO3 thin films have been systematically studied. The structural properties revealed that the pure WO3 films exhibited a (020) reflection related to the orthorhombic phase of WO3, whereas Mo-doped films showed (200) reflection. The surface morphology revealed that pure WO3 films showed the dense surface and Mo-doped films contained agglomerated grains which were uniformly distributed on the surface of the substrate. The optical transmittance decreased from 85% to 75% for pure and Mo-doped WO3 films, respectively. The electrochromic properties of the films were measured by cyclic voltametry in 1 M Li2SO4 electrolyte solution. The optical modulation of pure WO3 films at near IR was 50%, and the calculated color efficiency was 33.8 cm2/C, while in Mo-doped WO3 the efficiency improved to 42.5 cm2/C. Vempuluri Madhavi, Paruchuri Kondaiah, Obili Mahammad Hussain, and Suda Uthanna Copyright © 2013 Vempuluri Madhavi et al. All rights reserved. Thu, 23 May 2013 09:16:06 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/cpis/energy/2013/962730/ Copper-Zinc-Tin-Sulfide (CZTS), a promising material for absorber layer application in thin film solar cells, has been synthesized in aqueous media by microwave irradiation technique. Compared to conventional synthesis methods, microwave irradiation is highly efficient, reliable, and less time consuming. The synthesized nanopowders were characterized for particle size by dynamic light scattering (DLS), phase by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and band-gap by UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy. Various atmospheric processing methods are being evaluated for the deposition of absorber layers from CZTS nanopowder based ink. Alekhya Venkata Madiraju, Kshitij Taneja, Manoj Kumar, Anup Kumar Keshri, Sarang Balkrushna Mahajan, and Raghunandan Seelaboyina Copyright © 2013 Alekhya Venkata Madiraju et al. All rights reserved.