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The purpose of this paper is to explore citizens’ willingness to invest in photovoltaics.

To meet the aim of the research, a questionnaire survey was conducted in the island of Evia in Greece using the method of random stratified sampling. A total of 366 responses were analyzed using both descriptive and inductive statistics methods, such as principal components analysis, K-means cluster analysis, discriminant analysis and binary logistic regression.

The research results indicate that 73per cent of the respondents would invest in renewable energy sources, whereas 55per cent of them would specifically invest in photovoltaics. Regarding their views on photovoltaics, three components were extracted; photovoltaics positive effects, facilitations for investments in photovoltaics and photovoltaics’ performance. Area of residence, annual income and the above-mentioned three components of views on photovoltaics were found to be statistically significant for the dichotomous variable of willingness to invest in photovoltaics. Among the examined variables, photovoltaics performance found to contribute the most in increasing respondents’ willingness to invest in photovoltaics.

The study filled the literature gap concerning citizens’ willingness to invest in photovoltaics in Greece. Furthermore, the research results made feasible to understand the factors that can lead in an investment decision for photovoltaics.

The purpose of this study is optimization of existing PV system and by making the optimization to reach the heights energy performance from the system.

The methodology used in this work is analytical as well as software using PV*SOL premium software. Both methods are used to achieve a more realistic analysis of the results achieved at the end of the work.

After analyzing the optimization of the PV system in terms of certain atmospheric conditions, it is clear that the optimization of the system is necessary. Through the optimization of the systems, a better performance of the system is achieved, as well as in the case in question, it affects the increase of the energy generated annually up to 500 kWh.

This work is the original work of the author, which represents a part of the topic of the doctorate.

The purpose of this paper is to minimize and prevent current overloads (including the elimination of abnormal and fire hazardous situations) in photovoltaic solar arrays by using low-cost functional electronic elements, in particular, the new PolySwitch PPTC fuses.

The modeling method has been used to investigate the circuit solution of the use of PolySwitch type fuses to prevent and minimize current overloads in photovoltaic solar arrays.

It is shown that the limitation of the short-circuit current with parallel connection of photovoltaic components (photovoltaic cells or their modules) can be implemented when the following conditions are met: the resistance of the fuse in the conducting state is much lesser than the parallel connection of the series resistances of the photovoltaic components; and the tripping current of the fuse must be greater than the maximum current of the separate photovoltaic components and lesser than the current of a parallel connection of several photovoltaic components.

The influence of the magnitude of the resistance in the conducting state and the response current of the fuses to the current–voltage and volt–watt characteristics of parallel connections of the photovoltaic components (photovoltaic cells or their modules) is analyzed. The modeling results are confirmed by experimental data on the transformation research of light current–voltage and volt–watt characteristics of parallel connections of industrial photovoltaic modules using resettable fuses of the PolySwitch type.

This paper aims to report on homebuyers’ preferences and willingness to pay for installed home photovoltaic systems. Their influence on the market position of a dwelling is relatively unknown. Considering that expected lifespan of photovoltaic systems is at least 25 years, it is likely that many dwellings with a photovoltaic system will enter the housing market.

Few houses with installed photovoltaic systems have been sold in the market to date. Lack of real market data imposes a method based on the stated preference data. Therefore, the general preferences toward photovoltaic systems are determined by a discrete choice model based on responses of 227 homebuyers in the Eindhoven region, The Netherlands. Further, the model estimates were used to assess the indirect willingness to pay for home photovoltaic systems. This initial willingness to pay is further reassessed with the direct willingness to pay collected in an open-ended questionnaire format.

Results of the model show that the homebuyers’ preferences for home photovoltaic systems are large and significant. In addition to general preferences, this article reports on the taste heterogeneity carried out by separating observations based on the respondents’ characteristics. For example, photovoltaic systems are more appealing to homebuyers in more urban or central neighbourhoods. Further, the results of the direct survey lead to the conclusion that people are probably willing to pay close to the replacement value of the system and only 22 per cent of all respondents did not want to pay anything for the installed photovoltaic system.

These findings are exploratory and they raise a number of questions for further investigations, such as those regarding the real estate value of the installed photovoltaic systems. The reported findings must be regarded as local, thus further research is necessary to understand the impact on European housing markets.

Preferences and willingness to pay for home photovoltaic systems can provide a variety of economic, social and political recommendations to different interested parties such as homeowners, buyers, realtors, retailers, energy companies and governments. For instance, a homeowner would like to know what would be the effect of a photovoltaic system on the housing market.

As per the knowledge of authors, this is the first paper to estimate the impact of an installed photovoltaic system on housing choice, measured by stated choice data in the local housing market. It expands the existing body of knowledge for increasingly important issues of valuing and measuring preferences for photovoltaic systems installed on dwellings.

The malfunction variables of power stations are related to the areas of weather, physical structure, control and load behaviour. To predict temporal power failure is difficult due to their unpredictable characteristics. As high accuracy is normally required, the estimation of failures of short-term temporal prediction is highly difficult. This study presents a method for converting stochastic behaviour into a stable pattern, which can subsequently be used in a short-term estimator. For this conversion, K-means clustering is employed, followed by Long-Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) algorithms are used to perform the Short-term estimation. The environment, the operation and the generated signal factors are all simulated using mathematical models. Weather parameters and load samples have been collected as part of a data set. Monte-Carlo simulation using MATLAB programming has been used to conduct experimental estimation of failures. The estimated failures of the experiment are then compared with the actual system temporal failures and found to be in good match. Therefore, for any future power grid, there is a testbed ready to estimate the future failures.

This paper aims to present the results of measurements of the photovoltaic structures made by electroless selective metallization technology. The developed technology provides low-cost contacts in any form, and parameters of photovoltaic cells made in this technology provide reliable results, comparable with those usually used.

In this paper, photovoltaic cells with contacts based on Nip and NiCuP alloy were performed. As a substrate, mono- and multicristaline silicon was used. After photovoltaic cells have been prepared, sheet resistance of the contact layers and electrical parameters were measured. Composition and structure of contact layers were also measured.

Obtained results of sheet resistance and contact layers are repeatable and comparable with previously published results. Electrical parameters of the photovoltaic cells made are comparable with used substrate and technologies. The authors have also noticed that the costs of the electroless metallization which is used to make contact layers is lower than metallization made by thick film or vacuum deposition technologies.

The paper presents new, unpublished results of electrical parameters of photovoltaic cells with contact layers made by electroless metallization. The original idea is the usage of metallization in an acidic solution (pH = 2). In this proposed technology, photovoltaic cells on mono- and multicrystalline silicon plates were performed.

Solar photovoltaic energy is the fastest growing renewable energy in South Africa, and deployment at public universities is critical in order to meet the high energy demand on campuses in a more sustainable manner. To promote and support deployment, it is necessary to know the factors that drive adoption of the technology. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the factors which engender deployment of photovoltaic energy in public universities in South Africa.

Through an extensive literature review, the factors which drive photovoltaic energy deployment were identified and a three round Delphi survey was conducted for panellists to rate the drivers. The data were analysed using SPSS Version 27, and the mean and inter-quartile range values were used to identify the significant drivers within the public university sector.

The findings suggested that the deployment of photovoltaic energy is engendered by the direct and indirect benefits, social influences and the relative advantage of photovoltaic energy usage. For instance, universities install photovoltaic energy because of the financial gains that are made through reduction of energy cost. The deployment is also motivated by the reduction of energy-related greenhouse gases, enhancement of university sustainability performance, and the contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals.

A significant contribution to the body of knowledge regarding the drivers of photovoltaic energy deployment has been made in the paper from the perspective of a public university. The contribution fills the knowledge gap in South Africa by contributing valuable information to enable decision-makers to gain better understanding of the key issues that call for more attention in promoting and supporting photovoltaic energy deployment in the sector.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of the experimental building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) façade to cover net energy use in the adjacent office room. Electricity generated by PV panels was intended to cover the energy demand for the mechanical ventilation and the supplementary lighting. Analyses were performed for two orientations of the façade (east and west) and two occupancy profiles considering one or two employees per one office room.

The study was conducted by carrying detailed numerical analyses of energy produced by the BIPV façade and its consumption in adjacent office room. Calculations of energy generated by PV panels were made using simulation programme ESP-r. Advanced model, used in analyses, take into account dependence of the main electrical parameters of photovoltaic cell from temperature.

The findings reveal that energy generated by photovoltaic panels during transitional and cooling seasons is sufficient for lighting and ventilation requirement. However during winter months BIPV facade can cover energy demand only for ventilation.

The paper provides an original analysis of experimental BIPV façade system as a source of on-site produced renewable energy to cover energy demand in offices building under certain climate conditions. The results reported in presented paper shows the potential of BIPV facades and display this potential in a context of building net energy balance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of the purchase power of the higher education system to catalyze the economy of scale necessary to ensure market competitiveness for solar photovoltaic electricity.

The approach used here was to first determine the demand necessary to construct “Solar City factories”, factories that possess equipment and processes sized, dedicated and optimized to produce only solar photovoltaic systems. Inexpensive solar cells from these factories could produce solar electricity at rates comparable to conventional fossil‐fuel derived electricity. Then it was determined if sufficient demand could be guaranteed by green purchasing from the international university system.

A focused effort from the university community to purchase on‐sight produced electricity would make it possible to construct truly large‐scale dedicated solar photovoltaic factories rather than follow the piecemeal production increases currently observed in the industry.

Direct economic competitiveness of an energy source having markedly lower environmental, social and health externalities would have a positive‐spiral (virtuous cycle) effect encouraging the transition of the global energy infrastructure away from polluting fossil fuels to green solar energy.

Despite significant commercial progress in the conversion efficiency of sunlight into electricity with solar photovoltaic cells, their widespread adoption is still limited by high costs relative to conventional fossil fuel‐based sources of electricity. The concept outlined and critically reviewed in this paper represents a novel and economical method of transitioning the electric supply system to renewable solar energy.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a linearized equivalent electrical circuit of a photovoltaic generator. This circuit is appropriate to confront problems such as numerical instability, increased computational time and nonlinear/non‐canonical form of system equations that arise when a photovoltaic system is modelled, either with differential equations or with equivalent resistive circuits that are generated by electromagnetic transient software packages for power systems studies.

The proposed technique is based on nonlinear and well‐tested i_pv−v_pv equations which are however used in an alternative mathematical manner. The application of the Newton‐Raphson algorithm on the i_pv−v_pv equations leads to uncoupling of the i_pv and v_pv quantities in each time step of a digital simulation. This uncoupling is represented by a linearized equivalent electrical circuit.

The application of nodal analysis equivalent resistive circuits using the proposed equivalent photovoltaic generator circuit leads to a system model based on linear algebraic equations. This is in opposition to the nonlinear models that normally result when a nonlinear i_pv−v_pv equation is used. In addition, using the proposed scheme, the regular systematic methods of circuit analysis are fully capable of deriving the differential equations of a photovoltaic system in standard form, thus avoiding the time‐consuming solution process of nonlinear models.

In this paper, a new method of using the i_pv−v_pv characteristic equations is proposed which remarkably simplifies photovoltaic systems modeling. Moreover, a very important practical application is that by using this methodology one can develop a photovoltaic generator element in electromagnetic transient programs for power systems analysis, of great value to power engineers who are involved in photovoltaic systems modeling.