Volume 8, Issue 1
January-March 2019
CONTENTS
Chair's Foreword
International School Awards 2018
Enhancing PV Cell Output Using Mirrors/Reflectors
Earth Science Events
References and selected reading
Chair’s Foreword*
Welcome
to the 30th issue of Society of African Earth Scientists Newsletter.
Firstly,
we draw attention to the success of a number of African Schools from across our continent in the International
School Awards, in particular, we look at the work of Corona School in Agbara, Nigeria who won an award
in the Business Plan category and executed a successful Water Sanitation and
Hygiene project. On behalf of SAES we would like to congratulate Corona School
on their successes.
We
also take an enthusiastic look at some research into photovoltaics from around
the world that suggests solar panel power outputs can be significantly
increased simply using reflectors. This promises to be an effective way to
reduce the costs of solar panels in terms of output per £1 or $1 spent.
Last
but not least: In 2013 SAES set a challenge to use Google Earth to measure the
land area and coastline of Africa as part of Day of Earth Sciences in Africa
(DESA), 20-21st March each year. Six years later it will be
interesting to revisit this activity and note if there have been any
significant changes in result. The challenge to revisit this activity has
therefore been set. The activity guide is to be found by searching "geodata collection activity" on the blog and we look forward to reviewing the results
in a future newsletter issue.
Corona School, Agbara State, Nigeria - International School Awards 2018
Corona School, Agbara State, Nigeria - International School Awards 2018
Chukwunyere
Kamalu with Adewale Akinwunmi (Headteacher, Corona School)
Corona
School is to be commended and is featured here; not only for its success in the 2018 International School
Awards in the Business Plan category, but furthermore, because the school has made a significant achievement in successfully executing a
Water Sanitation and Hygiene development project conceived and planned through
an exceptional community effort involving the pupils and staff of Corona
School with the help of the local community’s skilled artisans and professionals.
This is particularly notable as their community in Agbara, Nigeria, suffered two past cholera outbreaks in a ten year period which led to the
tragic loss of life of five members of the community with many residents taken
ill.
The School was able to spearhead a community
drive to take action to improve community public health and hygiene and protect
against a future repeat of the cholera outbreaks of the past, by collaborating
with local project stakeholders made up predominantly of the members of the
local Transformer Club and Gavel Club. These clubs helped to organise fundraising for
the project for materials and labour to execute the agreed plan.
The
stakeholders together cooperated to construct: 1) A four-room public toilet and
washroom facility and 2) A borehole with water storage tank and water taps that now make water for drinking and sanitation available to
the local population.
Most
importantly, the project stakeholders have been able to devise a system that
will make this a sustainable provision and will enable this facility to be
available for community long term benefit. The stakeholders have secured a guarantee from the
local Community Development Association that it will ensure the continued
maintenance of the facility; with a Committee appointed by the
Community Council ensuring the continued maintenance and effective running of
the facility into the foreseeable future.
Enhancing PV Cell Output Using
Mirrors/Reflectors
A
fair number of studies are now to be found on the internet, which demonstrate that
the solar power output of solar panels
can be significantly increased by placing mirrors or reflectors in suitable
close proximity.
Arshad et al in 2014 in Pakistan [1] were able to show that the use
of mirrors improved output by 32%. However, it was also the case that the use
of mirrors/reflectors increased irradiance and also the temperature of the
solar panels. Unfortunately, raising temperature also decreases the efficiency
of the panels. This was ameliorated by applying a cooling mechanism and led to a 52% improvement in panel power output.
Naseer K Kasim et al in Iraq [2] report a gain
in output power of over 48% when reflectors are applied to their solar panels.
Since their trough shaped solar reflectors caused a rise in incident radiation
levels which increased and thus increased the PV module short circuit current.
The reflectors do cause a rise in temperature which leads to a fall in voltage.
However, the percentage drop in voltage
(V) is far less than the .percentage drop in current (I), so there remained a net increase in
power P = V x I.
Andrews, Pollard and Pearce [3] showed that a 45% increase in solar panel output was made by employing reflectors,
in this case made of a sophisticated form of Aluminium.
 |
| Trough shaped mirrors attached to solar panels. From Kasim et al , 2018 |
There
is a surfeit of further studies supporting the examples discussed above [4, 5, 6]. The results of these studies raise
the possibility of designing suitable furniture (to accompany solar panels) that is covered in reflective
material that is cheap and easy to access such as aluminium foil. Such furniture with suitable fixings and proximity would enhance irradiance and increase the PV module current and thereby the power output of the panels for relatively little cost.
Earth
Science Events
June 6-7, 2019
Zimbabwe Mineral Resources Conference
VISION: Pro- and preceded by geological field
trips. Will be subdivided into two morning and afternoon sessions.
VENUE: Harare, Zimbabwe
July 11-13, 2019
World Congress on Geology and Earth Science
VISION: Providing innovative research
methodologies for Earth Sciences.
VENUE: London, UK
August 4-9, 2019
70th Annual Meeting of International Society of
Electrochemistry
VISION: Linking resources to sustainable
development
VENUE: Durban, South Africa
October 6-9, 2019
16th SAGA Biennial Conference and Exhibition
"Current Informing the Future"
VISION:The conference, a staple of the
geophysical community in Africa, provides a forum for engagement, idea
generation and sharing.
VENUE: Durban, South Africa
October 6-10, 2019
17th African Regional Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering "Innovation and Sustainability in
Geotechnics for Developing Arica"
VISION: Innovative and sustainable infrastructure
is crucial for Africa's economic integration. As such, the vision of improved
geotechnics is a positive notion directed at the development of the continent.
VENUE: Cape Town, South Africa
.
References,
Selected Reading, etc
References on photovoltaic research
1. Arshad,
R., Tariq. S., Niaz, M., M. Jamil, “Improvement in Solar Panel Efficieny Using
Solar Concentration by Simple Mirrors and Cooling”, 2014 International
Conference on Robotics and Emerging Allied Technologies in Engineering
(iCREATE), Islamabad, Pakistan.
2. Kasim,
N.K., Atwan, A.F., Eliewi, F.M., “Improve the performance of solar modules by reflectors”, The Sixth
Scientific Conference “Renewable Energy and its Applications”, IOP Conference
Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1032 (2018) 012031.
3. Andrews,
R., Pollard, A., Pearce, M.J., “Photovoltaic System Performance Enhamcement
With Non-Tracking Planar Concentrators: Experimental Results and Bi-Directional
Reflectance Function (BDRF) Based Modelling. Link: https://www.academia.edu/16836963/Photovoltaics_Systems_Performance_Enhancement_With_Non_Tracking_Planar_Concentrators__Experiment
4. Srisailam,
Ch., Srihari, T., Chinna Babu, T., “Improvement of Solar Energy By Mirror
Reflection Technique”, International Journal of Engineering Research and
General Science Volume 3, Issue 3,
May-June, 2015.
5.
Rizk, J., and Nagrial, M.H. (2009), “Impact
of reflectors on solar energy systems”, International Journal of Electrical,
Computer, Energetic, Electronic and Communication Engineering Vol 2, No.5,
2008.
6. Ahmed, S., Mia, M.M.A, Acherjee, S. and M.A.A. Ansary, "More Efficient Use of Photovoltaic Solar Panel Using Multiple Fix Directed Mirrors or Aluminium Foils Instead of Solar Trackers in Rural Perspective of Bangladesh", International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research Vol. 3, Issue 4, April 2014.
6. Ahmed, S., Mia, M.M.A, Acherjee, S. and M.A.A. Ansary, "More Efficient Use of Photovoltaic Solar Panel Using Multiple Fix Directed Mirrors or Aluminium Foils Instead of Solar Trackers in Rural Perspective of Bangladesh", International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research Vol. 3, Issue 4, April 2014.
