RENEWABLE ENERGY SOLUTIONS
The use of renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind and hydraulic energies, is very old; they have been used since many centuries before our time and their applications continued throughout history and until the "industrial revolution", at which time, due to the low price of petroleum, they were abandoned.
During recent years, due to the increase in fossil fuel prices and the environmental problems caused by the use of conventional fuels, we are reverting back to renewable energy sources.
Renewable energies are inexhaustible, clean and they can be used in a decentralized way (they can be used in the same place as they are produced). Also, they have the additional advantage of being complimentary, the integration between them being favorable. For example, solar photovoltaic energy supplies electricity on sunny days (in general with low wind) while on cold and windy days, which are frequently cloudy, the wind generators are in position to supply more electric energy.
The applications of these systems are very wide: rural and home electrification, water pumping applications for irrigation, livestock watering and village drinking supply, navigation applications such as railroad signals, buoys or airport approach systems, telecommunications applications (radio, TV, mobile phones), outdoor lighting and billboards, etc.
Renewable Energy
Solar photovoltaic (PV): all the components of a PV system located between the PV modules, the batteries and the application. This includes the charge controllers, inverters, ballasts, controllers, sensors, remote control devices and data acquisition systems, maximum power point trackers, metallic support structures...
- From the sun: SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY
Components of an installation :
- Generator: is the fundamental component of the installation. It consists of a group of photovoltaic modules, or wind generators, or a mixture of both, that collect the energy from the sun and/or from the wind, and transforms it into direct current at a low voltage (usually 12 or 24 V). An example of the characteristics of a photovoltaic module can be seen here.
- Battery: The electrical energy produced by photovoltaic modules or by a wind generator can be used in two ways: consumed at the time of generation or stored. In order to use this energy at times other than daylight hours or on days without wind, it is necessary to install batteries whose function it is to store the energy produced by the generator and to maintain the voltage of the installation at a reasonably constant level.
- Charge controller: the regulation system has basically three functions:
* To avoid battery overcharges this can cause irreversible damage to the battery.
* To avoid the battery discharging through the PV modules when there is no incident solar radiation.
* To make the system operate at its point of maximum efficiency.
