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<jats:p>Off-grid solar photovoltaic systems in Malawi are deployed increasingly as the primary option for rural public infrastructure such as primary schools and health centres. Overall, grid-connected electricity access has remained stagnant at around 9% with only 1% of rural population connected. To improve the technical sustainability of such systems, a novel remote monitoring technology utilising Wireless Sensor Networks was installed and the systems were monitored over roughly one year. This paper has described the technical design, performance, and benefits received from deployment of the technology. Furthermore, it has evaluated the cost implications for a larger scale rollout and potential benefits.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Recently, perovskite solar cells have attracted tremendous attention due to their excellent power conversion efficiency, low cost, simple fabrications, and high photovoltaic performance. Furthermore, the perovskite solar cells are lightweight and possess thin film and semitransparency. However, the nonuniformity in perovskite layer constitutes a major setback to the operation mechanism, performance, reproducibility, and degradation of perovskite solar cells. Therefore, one of the main challenges in planar perovskite devices is the fabrication of high quality films with controlled morphology and least amount of pin-holes for high performance thin film perovskite devices. The poor reproducibility in perovskite solar cells hinders the accurate fabrication of practical devices for use in real world applications, and this is primarily as a result of the inability to control the morphology of perovskites, leading to large variability in the characteristics of perovskite solar cells. Hence, the focus of research in perovskites has been mostly geared towards improving the morphology and crystallization of perovskite absorber by selecting the optimal annealing condition considering the effect of humidity. Here we report a controlled ambient condition that is necessary to grow uniform perovskite crystals. A best PCE of 7.5% was achieved along with a short-circuit current density of 15.2 mA/cm<jats:sup>2</jats:sup>, an open-circuit voltage of 0.81 V, and a fill factor of 0.612 from the perovskite solar cell prepared under 60% relative humidity.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Sputter epitaxy of p<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> layer for fabrication of Si solar cells (SCs) was demonstrated. Hall carrier concentration of p<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> layer was 2.6 × 10<jats:sup>20</jats:sup> cm<jats:sup>−3</jats:sup> owing to cosputtering of B with Si at low temperature, which had enabled heavy and shallow p<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> dope layer. p<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>nn<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> SCs were fabricated and influence of p<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> and n<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> layers was investigated. Internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of p<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>nn<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> SCs was 95% at visible light and was larger than 60% at ultraviolet (UV) light when the p<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> layer was thinner than 30 nm. At near infrared (NIR), extra increment on IQE was achieved by rear n<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> back surface field (BSF) layer with a thickness thinner than 100 nm.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Sensitization of heavy metal free organic dyes onto TiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> thin films has gained much attention in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A series of new kojic acid based organic dyes<jats:bold> KA1–4</jats:bold> were synthesized<jats:italic> via</jats:italic> nucleophilic substitution of azobenzene bearing different vinyl chains<jats:bold> A1–4</jats:bold> with kojyl chloride<jats:bold> 4</jats:bold>. Azo dyes<jats:bold> KA1–4 </jats:bold>were characterized for photophysical properties employing absorption spectrometry and photovoltaic characteristic in TiO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> thin film. The presence of vinyl chain in<jats:bold> A1–4</jats:bold> improved the photovoltaic performance from 0.20 to 0.60%. The introduction of kojic acid obtained from sago waste further increases the efficiency to 0.82–1.54%. Based on photovoltaic performance,<jats:bold> KA4</jats:bold> achieved the highest solar to electrical energy conversion efficiency (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>η</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:math> = 1.54%) in the series.</jats:p>

<jats:p>A natural convection solar tunnel dryer comprising three major units, a solar collector unit, a drying unit, and a vertical bare flat-plate chimney, was constructed. No-load tests with a horizontal configuration of air entry into the collector resulted in a bidirectional air flow in the dryer. To correct this undesirable situation, an air guide at the collector was incorporated to ensure that air entered in a vertical direction. To investigate its performance, drying experiments with mango were carried out at the University of Zambia, Department of Agricultural Engineering. Uncertainties in the parameters measured in the experiment were analysed and quantified. The results showed that, under solar radiation between 568.4 and 999.5 W/m<jats:sup>2</jats:sup>, air temperature of up to 65.8°C was attained at the collector unit. The average relative humidity values were 30.8%, 6.4%, and 8.4% for the ambient, collector, and drying unit, respectively. Under these conditions, mango with an initial moisture content of 85.5% (wet basis) was dried to 13.0% (wet basis) in 9.5 hours. The collector, drying, and pick-up efficiencies were found to be 24.7%, 12.8%, and 35.0%, respectively. The average temperature difference between the chimney air and ambient air was 12.1°C, and this was sufficient in driving the flow of air through the dryer.</jats:p>

<jats:p>This paper addresses the problem of controlling the single-phase grid connected to the photovoltaic system through a full bridge inverter with LCL-filter. The control aims are threefold: (i) imposing the voltage in the output of PV panel to track a reference provided by the MPPT block; (ii) regulating the DC-link voltage to guarantee the power exchange between the source and AC grid; (iii) ensuring a satisfactory power factor correction (PFC). The problem is dealt with using a cascade nonlinear adaptive controller that is developed making use of sliding-mode technique and observers in order to estimate the state variables and grid parameters, by measuring only the grid current, PV voltage, and the DC bus voltage. The control problem addressed by this work involves several difficulties, including the uncertainty of some parameters of the system and the numerous state variables are inaccessible to measurements. The results are confirmed by simulation under MATLAB∖Simulink∖SimPowerSystems, which show that the proposed regulator is robust with respect to climate changes.</jats:p>

<jats:p>Renewable energy is the path for a sustainable future. The development in this field is progressing rapidly and solar energy is at the heart of this development. The performance and efficiency limitations are the main obstacles preventing solar energy from fulfilling its potential. This research intends to improve the performance of solar panels by identifying and optimizing the affecting factors. For this purpose, a mechanical system was developed to hold and control the tilt and orientation of the photovoltaic panel. A data acquisition system and electrical system were built to measure and store performance data of the photovoltaic panels. A design of experiments and Response Surface Methodology were used to investigate the impact of these factors on the yield response as well as the output optimization. The findings of the experiment showed an optimum result with a tilt of 60° from the horizon, an azimuth angel of 45° from the south, and a clean panel condition. The wind factor showed insignificant impact within the specified range.</jats:p>

<jats:p>This paper describes the dynamic modelling of a system used for extraction of groundwater for irrigation using an alternative source of energy. The system is designed based on data of an existing project in Lalmonirhat, Bangladesh. The system comprises a 38.4 kWp solar photovoltaic array, inverter, AC motor, and pump set, which can discharge a maximum of 1,930 m<jats:sup>3</jats:sup> of water per day. MATLAB simulation is performed with two types of energy storage system: (i) electric energy using a battery bank and (ii) stored water in a large water tank. A large battery bank and a transformer are needed in the former one, which turns out as a costly solution. The latter one requires a boost converter and a large water tank to store around 2,000 m<jats:sup>3</jats:sup> of water, which is also a costly solution. A combination of both systems yields an efficient and economical solution. The effectiveness of these three systems is compared with conventional diesel engine system.</jats:p>

<jats:p>SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems are currently employed in many applications, such as home automation, greenhouse automation, and hybrid power systems. Commercial SCADA systems are costly to set up and maintain; therefore those are not used for small renewable energy systems. This paper demonstrates applying Reliance SCADA and Arduino Uno on a small photovoltaic (PV) power system to monitor the PV current, voltage, and battery, as well as efficiency. The designed system uses low-cost sensors, an Arduino Uno microcontroller, and free Reliance SCADA software. The Arduino Uno microcontroller collects data from sensors and communicates with a computer through a USB cable. Uno has been programmed to transmit data to Reliance SCADA on PC. In addition, Modbus library has been uploaded on Arduino to allow communication between the Arduino and our SCADA system by using MODBUS RTU protocol. The results of the experiments demonstrate that SCADA works in real time and can be effectively used in monitoring a solar energy system.</jats:p>

<jats:p>In some rural areas in the northwest of China, people are suffering from not only the voltage drop due to long distance transmission but also the power outages due to remoteness and poorly maintained grid. In recent few years, the price of solar energy has been reduced drastically every year in China due to the government policy on renewable energy. In the near future, isolated hybrid power systems for home use could be affordable and used by residences in these rural areas. Thus, it is necessary to design a hybrid power system based on local load and weather condition to check system feasibility and expected performance. It includes load simulation, system sizing, and dynamic system modeling and simulation. This paper firstly introduces current development of renewable energy in China and then goes through the sizing, modeling, and simulation of the system design for a typical remote home in China and finally discusses the system’s availability based on the simulation results. In this paper, the NASA website is the source for weather data, and BEopt is used to generate load data. During system modeling, the MPPT algorithm is much simpler designed than the complex incremental method. A soft starter is adopted with the diesel generator for stability. The charge controller of the battery storage provides external command to the MPPT and diesel PID controller to prevent the battery storage from overcharging. The rms value of the fundamental load voltage is used in the voltage control loop of the inverter.</jats:p>