Date

2022-1-18

Author

Demirezen, Emre

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Today, solar energy conversion technologies, which are among the methods of obtaining renewable, sustainable, and clean energy, show rapid development. One of the most common technologies is Photovoltaic Solar Power Plant (PVPP), which provides electricity by direct conversion of the energy carried by the sunlight (or daylight). These power plants are socially accepted in environmentally-friendly and economical energy production. However, there are some debates about the environmental impacts of these power plants. One of the issues at the focus of these debates is whether dark-colored photovoltaic solar module (panel) arrays in large numbers used to build these power plants alter the natural ground reflectivity (albedo) of the land where they are installed. For this reason, they may also affect the local air temperature cycles of the region where they are located. This environmental problem, referred to as the Photovoltaic Heat Island Effect (PVHIE) in the literature, arises from the optical and thermal properties of photovoltaic modules interacting with their close environment. A three-year field project and study was carried out to observe this effect in a PVPP constructed in the Sekbandemirli rural area in the Tavşanlı district of the Kütahya province in Turkey. The relevant weather data collected by the meteorological stations installed on specific locations inside and outside Sekbandemirli PVPP were analyzed using statistical (ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD), correlational (Pearson and Spearman), graphical (percentage column distribution, daily and monthly line charts, and representative illustrations) and simulation-based (the microclimate simulation software ENVI-met) methods. Accordingly, the heat island formations, which can be expressed as "transient", whose frequency of occurrence changes daily and seasonally, have been found at the Sekbandemirli PVPP field center. The air temperatures recorded at the field center show the differences between “(-3) – 6°C” compared to those recorded at the reference location outside the field. The higher daytime ambient air temperatures up to 6°C difference at the field center significantly indicate the evident (and positive) PVHI formations, although a less effective (up to -3°C) cooling effect (negative PVHIE) prevails mostly at nighttimes. This thesis is the first study on PVHIE in Turkey and the world, in line with the methods used within its content.

Subject Keywords

Heat island effect, Air temperature, Weather station, Solar power plant, Photovoltaic module

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/95452

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis