Transolar Tower - A Novel Method of Generating and Transmitting Solar Energy

Overview

Student name: Deepti Nandakumar School: IB World School Sponsor: Ms Julie Baker Research Category: Engineering Research Project Title: Transolar Tower – A novel method of generating and transmitting solar energy To reduce global warming, people are turning to renewable sources of energy such as solar panels installed on roofs of homes or in solar farms. Currently 1.3% of homes in the US have solar panels and this number is expected to rise as costs come down. Solar farms require large land area and have to be placed in remote locations. The power generated by the panels has to be stepped up from low voltage DC to HVAC using large expensive transformers and send to urban areas thru long transmission lines where a lot of power is lost. Meanwhile energy requirements are increasing and more efficient solar power generation is needed. To solve these problems, a novel Transolar tower built by installing solar panels on existing high voltage (HV) transmission towers, is proposed. The panels are connected in series through HVDC transmission lines that are mounted on the same towers. Sending the power over HVDC lines lowers the transmission power losses significantly. In the vicinity of urban areas, the HVDC power is inverted to HVAC power using “Smart inverters” and sent to homes through existing AC lines without the need for large expensive transformers. Smart inverters can sense daytime demand and regulate power supply, thereby enhancing system reliability. Transolar towers can also be integrated with battery storage to supply nighttime electricity needs. The transolar tower has several advantages. It lowers pollution & global warming by generating and transmitting renewable energy using existing land and space. It benefits the homeowner because the cost of panel installation & maintenance is borne by utility providers. Using conservative values of solar energy, panel area/efficiency, it is estimated that a Transolar tower can supply renewable energy for 5-25 homes, lower carbon emissions by 40-200 tons/year and save 240-1200 sq.m of land area. A scaled model of the transolar tower is designed and built. It is demonstrated that north facing panels do not generate significant power and that panels need to be installed only on the south, east and west faces of the tower. This unique placement of panels facilitates air flow to the backside of the panels from the north side thereby cooling the panels and improving their efficiency. The scaled model produces peak power of 2000 mW from noon to 6pm on a sunny day. Future work will examine temperature & wind effects on transolar tower performance. Transolar towers will be the renewable energy solution for the future!

Competition history

• AJAS 2019 Category not listed

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