Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 663-683: A Survey of CNN-Based Approaches for Crack Detection in Solar PV Modules: Current Trends and Future Directions Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3040036 Authors: Sharmarke Hassan Mahmoud Dhimish Detection of cracks in solar photovoltaic (PV) modules is crucial for optimal performance and long-term reliability. The development of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) has significantly improved crack detection, offering improved accuracy and efficiency over traditional methods. This paper presents a comprehensive review and comparative analysis of CNN-based approaches for crac ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 638-649: Overview of Energy Systems in Africa: A Comprehensive Review Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3040034 Authors: Michael M. Santos Ana Teresa Vaz Ferreira João C. G. Lanzinha Africa has abundant solar resources but only 2% of its current capacity is generated from renewable sources. Photovoltaics (PV) offer sustainable, decentralized electricity access to meet development needs. This review synthesizes the recent literature on PV in Africa, with a focus on Mozambique. The 10 most cited studies highlight the optimization of technical components, such as storage and bifacial m ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 618-637: The Impact of Roof Material Profile and Pigmentation on the Performance of Photovoltaic Modules Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3040033 Authors: Nosakhare Aigbedion Francis Njoka Mathew Munji This study combines simulations and experiments to study the heat interactions between various types of roofs and the photovoltaic (PV) modules installed on them. Specifically, the performance of PV modules on a clay roof was compared with their performance on two types of metal roofs, a Box-profile metal roof and an Orientile metal roof, which differ in shape and geometry. Additiona ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 596-617: Automating Quality Control of Irradiance Data with a Comprehensive Analysis for Southern Africa Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3040032 Authors: Francisca Muriel Daniel-Durandt Arnold Johan Rix A review of quality control for large irradiance datasets is applied as a case study for the Southern African Universities Radiometric Network (SAURAN) database. The quality control procedure is automated and applied to 24 stations from the database with a total of 848,189 hourly datapoints. From this, the individual station’s data quality is also analysed. The assess ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 544-565: Numerical Modeling and Experimental Validation of Heat Transfer Characteristics in Small PTCs with Nonevacuated Receivers Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3040030 Authors: Amedeo Ebolese Domenico Marano Carlo Copeta Agatino Bruno Vincenzo Sabatelli The development of small-sized parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) for processing heat production at medium temperatures (100–250 °C) represents an interesting approach to increase the utilization of solar thermal technologies in industrial applications. Thus, the development of simplified models to anal ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 566-595: Advances on Sb2Se3 Solar Cells Fabricated by Physical Vapor Deposition Techniques Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3040031 Authors: Roberto Jakomin Stefano Rampino Giulia Spaggiari Francesco Pattini Sb2Se3, as an earth-abundant and low-toxic material, has emerged as one of the most interesting absorbers for clean renewable power generation technologies. Due to its optical properties, especially bandgap and absorption coefficient, the number of papers on Sb2Se3-based solar cells has been constantly increasing in the last ten years, and its power conversion efficiency has ra ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 522-543: Optimal Sizing and Assessment of Standalone Photovoltaic Systems for Community Health Centers in Mali Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3030029 Authors: Abid Ali Maïté Volatier Maxime Darnon Despite abundant solar resources, Mali has remained one of the least electrified countries in the world. Besides daily life activities and the economy, the shortage of electricity has severely affected the quality of healthcare services in the country. In the absence of electrical grids, standalone photovoltaic (PV) systems could be an alternative option in Mali for the electrification ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 504-521: Design and Development of a Conceptual Solar Energy Laboratory for District Heating Applications Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3030028 Authors: Jaewook Chung Sreenath Sukumaran Aleksandr Hlebnikov Anna Volkova The decarbonization of the district heating (DH) sector is receiving attention worldwide. Solar energy and heat pump technologies are widely considered in existing and new DH networks. There is a need to understand the influence of solar energy on district heating experimentally. However, only a few university laboratories are focused on district heating aspects ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 473-486: Harmonic Stability Assessment of Commercially Available Single-Phase Photovoltaic Inverters Considering Operating-Point Dependencies Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3030026 Authors: Elias Kaufhold Jan Meyer Johanna Myrzik Peter Schegner The growth of renewables in the energy sector, e.g., in public low-voltage networks, leads to an increasing share of installed power electronic devices, e.g., inverters for photovoltaic applications. To rely on these devices, suitable analyses have to be performed. This includes studies of the device stability in the harmonic frequency ran ..read more

Solar, Vol. 3, Pages 434-457: Towards 30% Efficiency by 2030 of Eco-Designed Building Integrated Photovoltaics Solar doi: 10.3390/solar3030024 Authors: Nikolaos Skandalos Vasileios Kapsalis Tao Ma Dimitris Karamanis The necessity of affordable and durable building-integrated photovoltaics has gained widespread importance for the renewable energy transition involving electrification and decarbonization in climate-neutral cities that possess many public health co-benefits. Although the PV market is dominated by polycrystalline and monocrystalline silicon solar cells of the first generation, ther ..read more