Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
First Advisor
Ilke Celik
Term of Graduation
Fall 2024
Date of Publication
12-5-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Civil & Environmental Engineering
Department
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Language
English
Subjects
Agrivoltaics, Life Cycle Assessment, Perovskite Solar Cells, Solar PV, Techno-economic Analysis, Water-splitting
Physical Description
1 online resource (xii, 124 pages)
Abstract
Achieving the G7 countries' net-zero emissions target by 2050 requires integrating photovoltaic (PV) systems into diverse cross-functional applications that support sustainable energy transitions across multiple sectors. This dissertation explores the economic and environmental sustainability of three such applications: agrivoltaics, lower-dimensional materials in perovskite solar cells, and PV-electrochemical water-splitting technologies for hydrogen production. Employing life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA), we address the knowledge gap in comprehensive evaluations of PV-integrated solutions.
The first chapter assesses agrivoltaic systems (AVS), which combine PV systems with agriculture to mitigate land-use conflicts while enhancing food and energy production. Findings indicate that AVS designs, particularly 2-axis tracking, outperform conventional PV-only systems in economic viability and environmental impacts, though additional incentives may be required for competitive market integration. In the second chapter, we evaluate lower-dimensional (LD) materials for improving perovskite solar cell stability and efficiency. Results show that LD-PSC configurations using environmentally favorable LD materials, like reduced graphene oxide and molybdenum disulfide, offer significantly lower impacts and faster energy payback periods than traditional PV technologies. The final chapter examines the potential of anion exchange membrane (AEM)-based PV-electrochemical (PV-EC) systems for green hydrogen production, achieving competitive levelized costs of hydrogen and favorable environmental profiles, particularly with optimizations in AEM cell life and solar-to-hydrogen efficiency.
This dissertation's findings contribute to advancing PV technology integration, providing insights into the economic and environmental viability of agrivoltaics, LD materials in PSCs, and AEM-based PV-EC systems as scalable solutions for a sustainable energy future.
Rights
© 2024 Achyuth Ravilla
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/42915
Recommended Citation
Ravilla, Achyuth, "Sustainability Assessment of Photovoltaic Cells in Cross-Functional Applications" (2024). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6740.
Comments
This work is partially funded by the US National Science Foundation’s Grants # 2350521 and #235022.