Solar Photovoltaics: Technology, System Design, Reliability and Viability

This book presents a quantitative description of the physics of solar-cell materials, transport processes, fabrication methods, and offers a scientific understanding of the technology involved. It also presents the current knowledge of the electrical characteristics of modules arrays and balance of systems (BOS) for a wide spectrum of applications. It particularly focuses on solar-powered communication systems and building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, exploring the reliability and viability aspects in detail. The book is of interest to application engineers, practitioners in private and government agencies, as well as graduate and postgraduate students.

N.D. Kaushika (Ph.D) is a specialist in renewable energy and environment, and was a professor at the Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, before becoming a director of leading engineering institutions in Delhi and the National Capital Region. He received the S.S. Bhatnagar Research Endowment Award (Hariom Ashram Prerit) for research in energy conservation in 1987. He was involved in the establishment of several research centres in engineering colleges, has authored five books, published articles in several respected journals as well as authored chapters in books that were published by international publishers such as Academic Press, USA and Elsevier.

Anuradha Mishra (Ph.D) joined the Centre for Energy Studies, IIT Delhi, and obtained her Ph.D in 2004, specialising in “Modelling and Simulation of Solar Power Systems”. She currently teaches both graduate and postgraduate courses at the National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC) where she is also an independent researcher.

Anil K. Rai (Ph.D) was awarded his Ph.D from IIT Delhi in 2008. He was a co-investigator in the Government-of-India-sponsored research projects on Solar Photovoltaics at the Department of Science of Technology. Prof. Rai currently works at the Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering at the Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College affiliated to Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow. He has published several articles in international journals. His areas of interest are modelling and simulation of renewable energy systems, system engineering and electrical power quality.