IIT Delhi researchers develop shadow-less, portable solar PV towers for power generation

The developed ‘non-mechanical’ and ‘mechanical’ tracking solar PV towers with reflection concentration are viable for all Indian seasons of the year with high energy density (energy per footprint area, kWh/m2).

IIT Delhi researchers develop portable Solar PV towers for power generation

A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has developed high efficiency, shadow-less (solar panels at bottom are not shadowed by the top panels) and auto-rotating Solar PV towers for photovoltaic power generation in a given area throughout the day. The developed ‘non-mechanical’ and ‘mechanical’ tracking solar PV towers with reflection concentration are viable for all Indian seasons of the year with high energy density (energy per footprint area, kWh/m2).

The 'mechanical' tracking Solar PV tower is portable i.e. the entire unit can be mounted on a truck, made functional and taken anywhere to generate power.

The team of researchers was led by Physicist Professor Dalip Singh Mehta, the space-saving 'non-mechanical' and 'mechanical' tracking solar PV towers of 3kW and 5kW capacity, are scalable to higher capacity with the concept of solar tower array (green energy field).

"They are useful for Electric Vehicle charging stations, rooftop high-efficiency solar power generation for independent Houses/ Schools/ Hospitals/ Shops/ Telecom Towers/IT sector and more, vehicle-mounted solar tower with solar tracking for power generation can be utilized for agriculture purpose (Agri-photovoltaics) such as solar water pumping, charging the battery for tractors, etc," the release said.

"Both the systems are patented by IIT Delhi and licensed to Banglore and Mumbai-based EP Sunsol Private Limited for commercial installation. EP Sunsol has already deployed the developed systems at Chennai, IIT Delhi, and Navi Mumbai of 3kW, 4kW and 5kW, respectively," it said.

“After intensive research, we got success in arriving at the lightweight and cost-effective novel design on mounting Solar PV towers along with high reflectivity mirrors to follow the Sun movement. Both non-mechanical and mechanical solar towers are able to generate 20-25 per cent and 25-30 per cent more power respectively, while utilizing only 50-60 per cent rooftop space compare to conventional solutions,” Professor Dalip Singh Mehta said.

Non-Mechanical Tracking Solar Tower: The solar panels along with high reflectivity mirrors are vertically mounted in a particular way (based on location/city) that they fall in the line-of-sight of the Sun during the morning, mid-day and evening hours, hence leading to high-efficiency solar power generation. The mounting methodology helps to generate more power during non-peak hours of the Sun i.e. 9 am to 11 am and 2 pm to 5 pm in addition to peak hours 11 pm to 2 pm, according to the release.

The mirrors/reflectors deployed in this solution boost the irradiance on solar panels during the entire day i.e., 8 am – 5 pm. The percentage of increase of solar irradiance onto the solar panels is more than 50 per cent thus maintaining 1000 W/m2 from 9 am– 4 pm. Due to this increase in solar irradiance from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. the increase in the amount of power generated is 20-25 per cent compared to the conventional mounting of solar panels.

Along with Professor Dalip Singh Mehta, Dr Mayank Gupta, Virendra Kumar (Department of Physics),Masood Ali (SeNSE), and Sanjay Ambwani (Design Department) were part of the IIT Delhi research team. The EP Sunsol Team, which did the installation comprised of Mahadevan R and Dr Hitesh Mehta.

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