This book provides recent trends and innovation in solar energy. It covers the basic principles and applications of solar energy systems. Various topics covered in this book include introduction and overview of solar energy, solar PV generation, solar thermal generation, innovative applications of solar energy, smart energy system, smart grid and sustainability, solar energy forecasting, advances in solar battery, thermal storage of solar energy, solar energy pricing, advances in hybrid solar system, solar system tracking for maximum power generation, phase change materials and its application, sensitivity analysis in solar systems, environmental feasibility of solar hybrid systems, regulatory implications of solar energy integration with grid, impact of the photovoltaic integration on the hydrothermal dispatch on power systems and potential and financial evaluation of floating solar PV in Thailand-a case study. This book will be useful for the students, academicians, researchers, policymakers, economists and professionals working in the area of solar energy.

Prof S. N. Singh obtained his MTech and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), India, in 1989 and 1995. Presently, he is Vice-Chancellor, Madan Mohan Malviya University of Technology Gorakhpur, and on leave from Professor (HAG), Department of Electrical Engineering, IITK. Before joining IIT Kanpur as Associate Professor, Dr. Singh worked with UP State Electricity Board as Assistant Engineer from 1988 to 1996, with Roorkee University (now IIT Roorkee) as Assistant Professor from 1996 to 2000 and with Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand, as Assistant Professor from 2001 to 2002. Dr. Singh received several awards including Young Engineer Award 2000 of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Khosla Research Award of IIT Roorkee, and Young Engineer Award of CBIP New Delhi (India), 1996. Prof. Singh is the recipient of Humboldt Fellowship of Germany (2005, 2007) and Otto-Monsted Fellowship of Denmark (2009-2010). Prof. Singh became the first Asian to receive 2013 IEEE Educational Activity Board Meritorious Achievement Award in Continuing Education. He is also the recipient of INAE Outstanding Teacher Award 2016 and IEEE R10 region (Asia-Pacific) Outstanding Volunteer Award 2016. Prof. Singh is IEEE (USA) Distinguished Lecturer of Industrial Application Society and Power & Energy Society. He is the recipient of Life-Time Achievement for Significant contribution to Energy Field 2018 and Prof. GK Dubey IEEE UP Section Life-time achievement Award 2018. His research interests include power system restructuring, FACTS, power system optimization & control, security analysis, wind power, etc. Prof. Singh has published more than 450 papers in international/national journals/conferences. He has supervised 43Ph.D.s (30 completed & 13 under progress). He has also written 2 books, 11 book chapters and 4 monograms. He has completed three dozen of projects in India and abroad. Prof. Singh has been the editor of Springer book Lecture Notes on Electrical Engineering 509 and 609 of proceedings of ICAEDC 2017 & GUCON 2019, respectively. He has also been the editor isof Proceedings of ICRRM 2019 Published recently by Springer Nature Singapore in 2020. Dr. Singh was Chairman, IEEE UP Section for 2013-2014; IEEE Region 10 (Asia-Pacific) Conference and Technical Seminar Coordinator 2015-2018. Prof. Singh is currently IEEE R10 Vice-Chair Technical Activities 2019-2020 & IEEE India Council Chair 2019-2020. Dr. Prabhakar Tiwari was born on April 20, 1975, in Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, India. He got B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from MMMEC, Gorakhpur; M.Tech. in Power Systems Engineering from IIT Delhi; and Ph.D. from JMI Central University. He has been involved in teaching various subjects of Electrical Engineering since the last 20 years. Dr. Tiwari has written 2 books and more than 70 papers in the different national & international journals and conferences. He has delivered more than 25 expert lectures on power systems, technical education and IEEE Awareness in different institutions of national & international repute. He has organized more than 20 conferences/STC/FDP/workshops/seminars. He was also awarded outstanding section Volunteer Award of IEEE UP Section for the year 2015. He had been Professor and Head, EEE & EE Department for 5 years. He was Organizing Chair & Convener of the 1st UPCON 2014, which is the one and only conference initiated and sponsored technically & financially by IEEE UP Section. Dr. Tiwari has supervised 6 Ph.D.s ( 1 completed and 5 under progress). Currently, he is Associate Professor, EE Department, Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. His major field of interest includes renewable energy, restructuring, deregulation, power system pricing, power system stability, smart grid and quality in technical education. He