Review Of Solar Power Technologies
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011Solar polar is the conversion of electricity into sunlight. The way the energy is captured and converted depends on the scale. Large commercial electricity generators may use CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) systems, based on lenses, mirrors and tracking systems, while smaller installation will often use photovoltaic cells. Since solar power cannot be produced in the absence of sunlight, some type of energy storage is needed if electricity is to be used at night time.
CSP systems are used in the largest installations which produce electricity from sunlight. California’s Mojave Desert is home to the largest solar energy plant. It produces more than 350 mega watts. Other large CSP plants are found in Spain. As you can see, locations that get a lot of sunlight year round are ideal for this type of energy production.
CSP systems concentrate sunlight into a small beam using lenses and/or mirrors. The mirrors or lenses move throughout the day, tracking the sun. They concentrate the reflected sunlight into a small point and use it to heat up a fluid. This generates electricity in a way similar to the method used by conventional plants.
Several international organizations have studied many forms of renewable energy. They have determined that CSP has the potential to provide twenty-five percent of the world’s electricity needs by 2050. Spain is currently leading the world in CSP technologies. Desert areas, like those in Spain, Mexico, Africa and many states in the south-western U.S. make ideal locations for CSP plants.
The other type of solar power being practically used in the world today uses photovoltaic technologies. PV cells are semiconductor devices that are able to be contained in a fairly small panel. They produce a relatively small amount of DC electricity when sunlight is absorbed into the panel. Because of the manageable size of the panels, these systems are scalable. In order to produce sufficient electricity, several panels are installed together.
Most installations are small, supplying electricity to single homes, or to small off-grid applications such as traffic signs. Nevertheless photovoltaics can be used in large installations such as the 97 MW Sarnier power plant in Canada.
Systems which produce energy from the sun clearly cannot work at night time, and in common with some other green energy sources (tidal and wind power) some form of energy storage is required. For a large plants, such as the demonstration energy park in Germany, pumped storage hydroelectricity may be used. Solar energy is converted to electricity during daylight hours. It’s used to pump water into a raised reservoir. During the night that water can be used to produce hydroelectricity.
Because of the cost of the batteries to store electricity, many residential PV systems are simply connected to the grid. During daylight hours, the homes use solar energy produced by the PV cells. During night and on cloudy days, electricity is purchased from the power company. The grid can also be used as a form of energy storage, because it is possible for consumers to feed power back into the grid, provided that is permitted by local electricity companies.
In many countries tariffs and subsidies make it economically sensible for homeowners to feed power back into the grid. Residential PV installations include an inverter, which is an electronic unit that converts the DC voltage produced by the PV cells into AC which can be used by the home and fed back into the grid. Several countries, including Korea, Spain, France, the United States and Germany have seen the solar panel market grow significantly, partly due to favorable tax incentives and subsidies.
If you want to get involved in the trend toward solar energy, just run down to your local Home Depot to find solar panels for sale. Read up on solar panel maintenance to keep them operating at their peak performance. Solar Power by Coleen Regis.