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Highlights • Performance of PV modules under arid conditions are considered. • Environmental parameters affect the performance on PV cells. • There are significant differences of sensitivity and performance between PV technologies. • The impact of local environment can drastically vary between different arid locations. Abstract Arid and semi-arid climates are blessed with abundant sunshine, and photovoltaic (PV) modules are now widely used under these climatic conditions. The aim of this paper is to put into perspective the recent uses of solar PV installations under arid climates with the evolution of PV technologies. The novelty of this review is to present up-to-date experimental results under such climates, and to plot results of experiments running for about one year or more. The effect of environmental parameters such as weather or dust are analyzed depending on different locations and technologies. These parameters have a tremendous impact on PV modules performance and degradation, and it is critically important to consider them carefully when implementing a PV installation under such conditions. From this review, general conclusions and guidelines are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar energy has seen tremendous development in recent years towards fulfilling the energy requirements of our planet. This paper presents an extensive review of solar-energy-based technologies and research work conducted under cold climatic conditions. These conditions include mountainous, continental, cold oceanic and polar climates and in general, all climates where below Zero temperatures are common during the winter. This article describes the use of solar energy under cold conditions from various aspects: greenhouses, buildings and housing, heat pumps, heat storage, PV panels, solar thermal and PV/T, high-latitude issues, cooling, and policies. Both environmental and economic aspects are considered in this paper, and the zones covered more or less intensively are Central and Northern Europe, North America, Turkey, Iran, China, Japan, the Andes and Antarctica. This analysis shows that, for most cold climatic conditions, it is worth implementing solar energy technologies for certain uses. However, many parameters need to be carefully considered before concluding on the relevance of a given technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] A comparative cooking experiment is done between two solar cookers. [•] A solar charged heat storage with improvements is competitive regarding standard cookers. [•] The storage charged over 220°C enables frying as well as boiling water. [•] Simulations modelize the behavior of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] An experimental comparison between two absorbers for charging a heat storage is done. [•] Both absorbers are coupled with a small-scale low cost solar parabolic trough. [•] The objective is to store heat above 200°C for cooking and frying purposes. [•] A simulation model is made to complete the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the issue of boosting the ranking of a university by using self-citations. According to the 2017 Times Higher Education, Veltech University, Chennai, India is ranked 43rd in Asia World University Ranking. Citations are weighted 30% of the overall score and it appears that Veltech reaches the maximum score on this criterion.