Computational Intelligence for Modeling, Control, Optimization, Forecasting and Diagnostics in Photovoltaic Applications

This book is a Special Issue Reprint edited by Prof. Massimo Vitelli and Dr. Luigi Costanzo. It contains original research articles covering, but not limited to, the following topics: maximum power point tracking techniques; forecasting techniques; sizing and optimization of PV components and systems; PV modeling; reconfiguration algorithms; fault diagnosis; mismatching detection; decision processes for grid operators

A Review on Artificial Intelligence Applications for Grid-Connected Solar Photovoltaic Systems

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing in various sectors of photovoltaic (PV) systems, due to the increasing computational power, tools and data generation. The currently employed methods for various functions of the solar PV industry related to design, forecasting, control, and maintenance have been found to deliver relatively inaccurate results. Further, the use of AI to perform these tasks achieved a higher degree of accuracy and precision and is now a highly interesting topic. In this context, this paper aims to investigate how AI techniques impact the PV value chain. The investigation consists of mapping the currently available AI technologies, identifying possible future uses of AI, and also quantifying their advantages and disadvantages in regard to the conventional mechanisms

Microgrid Modeling and Grid Interconnection Studies

The demand for renewable energies and their integration to the grid has become more pressing than ever before due to the various reasons including increasing population energy demand, depleting fossil fuels, increasing atmospheric population, etc. Thus the vision of a sustainable future requires easy and reliable integration of renewable distributed generators to the grid. This master’s thesis studies the dynamics of distributed generators when they are connected with the main grid. Simulink MATLAB is used for the design and simulations of this system. Three distributed generators are used in this system: Photo-voltaic converter, Fuel cell and diesel generator. The control and design of the power electronics converters is done to function properly in both grid-connected and islanding mode. The turbine governors in diesel generators control the proper functioning of diesel generator in both modes. The converters in both battery and PV make sure that they work properly in both grid-connected and islanding mode. The control of battery converter is designed in a way to function for load-shaving during unplanned load changes in the microgrid. This fully functioning microgrid is then connected with the main grid using Kundur’s two-area system and simulated for various faults and load changes. A collection of data at the point of common coupling which is the point of connection of microgrid and main grid is gathered for various cases in the grid-connected mode. The cases for faults in the external grid are simulated and then WEKA software is used to develop decision trees. The development of the decision trees can help in predicting the decision of islanding of microgrid. By increasing this database for more scenarios; the response of the generators in grid and distributed generators in microgrid can be studied with decision trees giving more accurate results

Tools for the high penetration of PV Systems in the EU electrical networks: results of PVCROPS Project

The Solar Energy Industrial Initiative established the objective of integrating PV into the grid to provide up to 12% of the EU electricity demand. The FP7 project PVCROPS has developed solutions to allow the high penetration of PV systems in EU electrical networks and to reduce its Levelized Cost (LCoE) increasing PV system performance. The solutions consist of documents like technical specifications and toolboxes for design, prediction, integration of batteries and automatic detection of performance failures. Six of them are on-line free tools and thirteen are marketable products. These tools allow reducing the LCoE up to 30%, increasing the Performance Ratio up to 9% and PV penetration of 30%. The tools developed by PVCROPS are detailed in www.pvcrops.e

Industrial Applications: New Solutions for the New Era

This book reprints articles from the Special Issue "Industrial Applications: New Solutions for the New Age" published online in the open-access journal Machines (ISSN 2075-1702). This book consists of twelve published articles. This special edition belongs to the "Mechatronic and Intelligent Machines" section

Use, Operation and Maintenance of Renewable Energy Systems:Experiences and Future Approaches

The aim of this book is to put the reader in contact with real experiences, current and future trends in the context of the use, exploitation and maintenance of renewable energy systems around the world. Today the constant increase of production plants of renewable energy is guided by important social, economical, environmental and technical considerations. The substitution of traditional methods of energy production is a challenge in the current context. New strategies of exploitation, new uses of energy and new maintenance procedures are emerging naturally as isolated actions for solving the integration of these new aspects in the current systems of energy production. This book puts together different experiences in order to be a valuable instrument of reference to take into account when a system of renewable energy production is in operation

Failure prediction of ultra capacitor stack using fuzzy inference system

The failure of the ultracapacitor was significantly accelerated by elevated temperature or increased voltage. Because of the capacitance difference between the capacitor cells, after a number of deep charging/discharging cycles, the voltage difference between cells will be enlarged. This will accelerate the aging of the weak ultracapacitors and affect the output power. So, to improve stack reliability, a correct and timely failure prediction is essential. Based on diverse faults, a fuzzy rule-based inference system, which could approximate human reasoning, was considered. With this method we can reduce uncertainty, inconvenience and inefficiency resulting from the inherent factors. The simulate results under industrial application conditions are given to verify the method

Modeling and Optimal Operation of Hydraulic, Wind and Photovoltaic Power Generation Systems

The transition to 100% renewable energy in the future is one of the most important ways of achieving "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" and of reducing the adverse effects of climate change. In this process, the safe, stable and economical operation of renewable energy generation systems, represented by hydro-, wind and solar power, is particularly important, and has naturally become a key concern for researchers and engineers. Therefore, this book focuses on the fundamental and applied research on the modeling, control, monitoring and diagnosis of renewable energy generation systems, especially hydropower energy systems, and aims to provide some theoretical reference for researchers, power generation departments or government agencies