Solar Energy Technology and Applications

Principles of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, applications, and systems. Calculate the influence of solar irradiance, temperature and seasonal/daily/hourly variation on solar module output. Critical issues in research and manufacturing. Compare cost and performance of today's silicon wafer and thin film technologies. Off-grid (< 1kW), grid-connected, building integrated and centralized (>1 MW) systems. Unique issues applying PV in developing countries. Briefly covers large scale concentrating solar thermal power plants for comparison to PV. For junior, senior, graduate engineer/physics students, and graduate energy policy students. Does not qualify as ECE technical elective. Typically taught once per week such as Monday 3-6 pm.

Schedule and syllabus for ELEG 628 “Solar Energy Tech and Appls”