TACKLING GLOBAL WARMING THROUGH SOLAR ENERGY

TACKLING GLOBAL WARMING THROUGH SOLAR ENERGY

The World Economic forum has identified global warming to be one of the most pressing risks in a recent report. There is a scientific consensus that global warming is driven by greenhouse gas emissions – and buildings make up nearly 40% of the total primary energy usage in the US and the EU, making them a major contributor.

Dr Firdaus Muhammad-Sukki and Dr Nazmi Sellami from RGU’s School of Engineering are working to create photovoltaic solar devices to improve the energy efficiency in buildings to reduce these emissions. They have been researching how to minimise energy consumption in buildings through harvesting renewable sources such as solar energy.

Firdaus explained: “Solar photovoltaic technology – a technology that transforms sunlight into electricity - has been used for more than 50 years. However, the cost of the PV panel is still considered as expensive, especially in developing countries. This is due to the use of expensive PV material – which contributes to approximately 50% of the cost. If we can reduce the use of expensive PV panel, whilst maintaining the same electrical output, we can create a cheaper alternative for consumers.

“One way of achieving this is by introducing an optical concentrator in the panel design. The concentrator is a type of lens that can concentrate the sunlight into a smaller area, where a PV cell is attached. By doing this, you only utilise a fraction of the PV cell, but in theory, will generate a similar electrical output.”

To date, Firdaus and Nazmi have worked on several concentrator designs and two of them have been patented (UK and US patents). A number of working prototypes (in the form of a small solar window) have been produced and the results of this research has been published in journals and presented at international conferences.

Nazmi added: “We are working on the design of a novel hybrid concentrating photovoltaic/thermal system. The novelty lies in the dual function of the optical element of the concentrator, it is used to harvest heat from the sun in addition to its main and only known function of concentrating the sun rays to the solar cell.

“...the cost of the PV panel is still considered as expensive, especially in developing countries”

“This 1st generation solar energy system is the result of 10 years’ experience working in the UK and abroad on different multidisciplinary research projects focused on solar energy. In my previous work on photovoltaic building integration (BIPV), transparent solar concentrator was designed to integrate into fenestrations and transparent façades. The patented technology not only generates electricity, but it can produce additional benefits - particularly for building integration application. The co-generated heat from the photovoltaic effect can be extracted for space heating and hot water application, the light can penetrate the solar window and be used for illumination which will further reduce the lighting requirement in the building.”

The duo is currently working with a PhD student to investigate the use of a concentrator that can generate electricity, as well as hot water for building application. The School of Engineering have funded the PhD studentship and Firdaus and Nazmi are supervising Abdullah Alamoudi as they take the research further.

Firdaus and Nazmi have also received Pump Priming from RGU, led by their colleague Dr Nadimul Faisal, to investigate the potential of thermal spray for energy harvesting application. Nazmi said that they hope to continue their research and are currently working on an EPSRC grant.