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in subjects: "Photovoltaics"

open access

Basic photovoltaic principles and methods

This book presents a nonmathematical explanation of the theory and design of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells and systems. The basic elements of PV are introduced: the photovoltaic effect, physical aspects of solar cell efficiency, the typical single-crystal silicon solar cell, advances in single-crystal silicon solar cells. This is followed by the designs of systems constructed from individual cells, including possible constructions for putting cells together and the equipment needed for a practi… more

Date: February 1, 1982

Creator: Hersch, P. & Zweibel, K.

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Innovations in Wind and Solar PV Financing

There is growing national interest in renewable energy development based on the economic, environmental, and security benefits that these resources provide. Historically, greater development of our domestic renewable energy resources has faced a number of hurdles, primarily related to cost, regulation, and financing. With the recent sustained increase in the costs and associated volatility of fossil fuels, the economics of renewable energy technologies have become increasingly attractive to inv… more

Date: February 1, 2008

Creator: Cory, K.; Coughlin, J.; Jenkin, T.; Pater, J. & Swezey, B.

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

The impact of retail rate structures on the economics of commercial photovoltaic systems in California

This article examines the impact of retail electricity rate design on the economic value of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems, focusing on commercial customers in California. Using 15-min interval building load and PV production data from a sample of 24 actual commercial PV installations, we compare the value of the bill savings across 20 commercial-customer retail electricity rates currently offered in the state. Across all combinations of customers and rates, we find that the annual bi… more

Date: June 24, 2008

Creator: Mills, Andrew D.; Wiser, Ryan; Barbose, Galen & Golove, William

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Solar America Cities Awards: Solar America Initiative Fact Sheet

This fact sheet provides an overview of the Solar America Cities activities within the Solar America Initiative and lists the 25 cities that have received financial awards from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Date: March 1, 2008

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Solar Photovoltaic Financing: Deployment on Public Property by State and Local Governments

State and local governments have grown increasingly aware of the economic, environmental, and societal benefits of taking a lead role in U.S. implementation of renewable energy, particularly distributed photovoltaic (PV) installations. Recently, solar energy's cost premium has declined as a result of technology improvements and an increase in the cost of traditional energy generation. At the same time, a nationwide public policy focus on carbon-free, renewable energy has created a wide range of… more

Date: May 1, 2008

Creator: Cory, K.; Coughlin, J. & Coggeshall, C.

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Renewable Energy Planning: Multiparametric Cost Optimization; Preprint

This paper describes a method for determining the combination of renewable energy technologies that minimize life-cycle cost at a facility, often with a specified goal regarding percent of energy use from renewable sources. Technologies include: photovoltaics (PV); wind; solar thermal heat and electric; solar ventilation air preheating; solar water heating; biomass heat and electric (combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion); and daylighting. The method rests upon the National R… more

Date: May 1, 2008

Creator: Walker, A.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Transmission System Performance Analysis for High-Penetration Photovoltaics

This study is an assessment of the potential impact of high levels of penetration of photovoltaic (PV) generation on transmission systems. The effort used stability simulations of a transmission system with different levels of PV generation and load.

Date: February 1, 2008

Creator: Achilles, S.; Schramm, S. & Bebic, J.

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Photovoltaics Business Models

This report summarizes work to better understand the structure of future photovoltaics business models and the research, development, and demonstration required to support their deployment.

Date: February 1, 2008

Creator: Frantzis, L.; Graham, S.; Katofsky, R. & Sawyer, H.

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Rooftop Photovoltaics Market Penetration Scenarios

The goal of this study was to model the market penetration of rooftop photovoltaics (PV) in the United States under a variety of scenarios, on a state-by-state basis, from 2007 to 2015.

Date: February 1, 2008

Creator: Paidipati, J.; Frantzis, L.; Sawyer, H. & Kurrasch, A.

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Development of Damp-Heat Resistant Self-Primed EVA and Non-EVA Encapsulant Formulations at NREL

Self-primed ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and non-EVA (PMG) encapsulant formulations were developed that have greater resistance to damp heat exposure at 85 deg C and 85% relative humidity (RH) (in terms of adhesion strength to glass substrates) than a commonly used commercial EVA product. The self-primed EVA formulations were developed on the basis of high-performing glass priming formulations that have previously proven to significantly enhance the adhesion strength of unprimed and primed EVA … more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Pern, F. J. & Jorgensen, G. J.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

III-V Growth on Silicon Toward a Multijunction Cell

A III-V on Si multijunction solar cell promises high efficiency at relatively low cost. The challenges to epitaxial growth of high-quality III-Vs on Si, though, are extensive. Lattice-matched (LM) dilute-nitride GaNPAs solar cells have been grown on Si, but their performance is limited by defects related to the nitrogen. Advances in the growth of lattice-mismatched (LMM) materials make more traditional III-Vs, such as GaInP and GaAsP, very attractive for use in multijunction solar cells on sili… more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Geisz, J.; Olson, J.; McMahon, W.; Friedman, D.; Kibbler, A.; Kramer, C. et al.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Field Evaluation of a Near Zero Energy Home in Oklahoma

The authors evaluated a zero energy home built by Ideal Homes in Edmond, Oklahoma, that included an extensive package of energy-efficient technologies and a photovoltaic array for site electricity generation. The home was part of a Building America research project in partnership with the Building Science Consortium to exhibit high efficiency technologies while keeping costs within the reach of average home buyers.

Date: August 1, 2008

Creator: Hendron, R.; Hancock, E.; Barker, G. & Reeves, P.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Energize Your Photovoltaics: NREL's Process Development and Integration Laboratory (PDIL)

The Process Development and Integration Laboratory (PDIL) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is a unique collaborative facility where industry and universities can work closely with NREL scientists on integrated equipment to answer pressing questions related to photovoltaics (PV). The integrated equipment includes deposition, processing, and characterization tools. We work with a wide range of PV materials, from crystalline silicon to thin-films (amorphous, nano- and microcrysta… more

Date: April 1, 2008

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

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Solargenix Energy Advanced Parabolic Trough Development

The Solargenix Advanced Trough Development Project was initiated in the Year 2000 with the support of the DOE CSP Program and, more recently, with the added support of the Nevada Southwest Energy Partnership. Parabolic trough plants are the most mature solar power technology, but no large-scale plants have been built in over a decade. Given this lengthy lull in deployment, our first Project objective was development of improved trough technology for near-term deployment, closely patterned after… more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Gee, R. C. & Hale, M. J.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

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Rapid Thermal Annealing of HWCVD a-Si:H Films: The Effect of the Film Hydrogen Content on the Crystallization Kinetics, Surface Morphology, and Grain Growth

We report the effect of the hydrogen (H) content (CH) on the crystallization kinetics, surface morphology and grain growth for Hot Wire CVD a-Si:H films containing 12.5 and 2.7 at.% H which are crystallized by rapid thermal anneal (RTA). For the high CH film we observe explosive H evolution, with a resultant destruction of the film for RTA temperatures >750 deg C. At RTA temperatures ~600 deg C, both films remain intact with similar morphologies. At this same lower RTA, the incubation and cryst… more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Mahan, A. H.; Reedy, R. C. Jr.; Ginley, D. S.; Roy, B. & Readey, D. W.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Distribution System Voltage Performance Analysis for High-Penetration Photovoltaics

This report examines the performance of commonly used distribution voltage regulation methods under reverse power flow.

Date: February 1, 2008

Creator: Liu, E. & Bebic, J.

Item Type: Report

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Defect Clusters: Approaches for Overcoming Their Detrimental Impact on Solar Cell Performance

Our analyses show that defect clusters can lower the efficiency of multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells by 2 to 4 absolute percentage points. This large loss can be recovered if impurities precipitated at the defect cluster sites can be gettered. We describe a new technique for gettering precipitated impurities.

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Sopori, B.; Tan, T. & Carlson, D.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Fiscal Year 2005 Solar Radiometry and Metrology Task Accomplishments

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Solar Radiometry and Metrology task provides traceable optical radiometric calibrations and measurements to photovoltaic (PV) researchers and the PV industry. Traceability of NREL solar radiometer calibrations to the World Radiometric Reference (WRR) was accomplished during Pyrheliometer Comparison at NREL in October 2004. Ten spectral and more than 200 broadband radiometers for solar measurements were calibrated this year. We measured detailed sp… more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Myers, D.; Andreas, A.; Reda, I.; Gotseff, P.; Wilcox, S.; Stoffel, T. et al.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

17.5% p-Type Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells with HWCVD a-Si:H as the Emitter and Back Contact

Thin hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) layers deposited by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition (HWCVD) are used as both emitters and back contacts in silicon heterojunction solar cells. Low interface recombination velocity and high open-circuit voltage are achieved by a low substrate temperature (<150 deg C) intrinsic a-Si:H deposition which ensures immediate amorphous silicon deposition. This is followed by deposition of doped a-Si:H at a higher temperature (>200 deg C) which appears to i… more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Wang, T. H.; Page, M. R.; Iwaniczko, E.; Wang, Q.; Xu,Y.; Yan, Y. et al.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Exploratory Reliability and Performance R&D

This paper presents a brief overview of the status and accomplishments during fiscal year (FY) 2005 of the Photovoltaic (PV) Exploratory Reliability and Performance R&D Subtask, which is part of the PV Module Reliability R&D Project (a joint NREL-Sandia project).

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Osterwald, C. R.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Status of APS 1-Mwe Parabolic Trough Project

Arizona Public Service (APS) is currently installing new power facilities to generate a portion of its electricity from solar resources that will satisfy its obligation under the Arizona Environmental Portfolio Standard (EPS). During FY04, APS began construction on a 1-MWe parabolic trough concentrating solar power plant. This plant represents the first parabolic trough plant to begin construction since 1991. Site preparation and construction activities continued throughout much of FY05, and st… more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Canada, S.; Brosseau, D.; Kolb, G.; Moore, L.; Cable, R. & Price, H.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Capabilities of the High Voltage Stress Test System at the Outdoor Test Facility

We illustrate the capabilities of the High Voltage Stress Test (HVST) which operates continuously in the array field east of the Outdoor Test Facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Because we know that photovoltaic (PV) modules generating electrical power in both residential and utility-scale array installations will develop high-voltage biases approaching 600 VDC and 1,000 VDC, respectively, we expect such high voltages will result in current leakage between cells and ground, ty… more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: del Cueto, J. A.; Trudell, D. & Sekulic, W.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

Effect of a Coadsorbent on the Performance of Dye-Sensitized TiO2 Solar Cells: Shielding versus Band-Edge Movement

The objective of this research is to determine the operational characteristics key to efficient, low-cost, stable solar cells based on dye-sensitized mesoporous films (in collaboration with DOE's Office of Science Program). Toward this end, we have investigated the mechanism by which the adsorbent chenodeoxycholate, cografted with a sensitizer onto TiO2 nanocrystals, improves the open-circuit photovoltage (VOC) and short-circuit photocurrent density (JSC). We find that adding chenodeoxycholate … more

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Frank, A. J.; Neale, N. R.; Kopidakis, N.; van de Lagemaat, J. & Gratzel, M.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

open access

SIMS Study of Elemental Diffusion During Solid Phase Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon

Crystallization of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films deposited on low-cost substrates shows potential for solar cell applications. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) was used to study impurity incorporation, hydrogen evolution, and dopant diffusion during the crystallization process

Date: November 1, 2005

Creator: Reedy, R. C.; Young, D.; Branz, H. M. & Wang, Q.

Item Type: Article

Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department