Solar power

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A photovoltaic cell produces electricity directly from solar energy
Solar power descries a numer of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the Sun. !t has
een present in many traditional uilding methods for centuries, ut has ecome of increasing interest
in developed countries as the environmental costs and limited supply of other power sources such as
fossil fuels are reali"ed. !t is already in widespread use where other supplies of power are asent such
as in remote locations and in space.
As the #arth orits the Sun, it receives appro$imately %,&'' W ( m) of energy, as measured upon a
surface kept normal (at a right angle) to the Sun (this numer is referred to as the solar constant). *f
the energy received, roughly %+, is asored y the atmosphere, while clouds on average reflect a
further -., of the total energy. /he generally accepted standard is %'0' watts per s1uare meter at sea
level.
After passing through the #arth2s atmosphere, most of the sun2s energy is in the form of visile and
ultraviolet light. 3lants use solar energy to create chemical energy through photosynthesis. We use
this energy when we urn wood or fossil fuels or when we consume the plants as a source of food.
4ontents
% 4lassifications of solar power %.% 3assive or active
%.0 Focus type
0 /ypes of solar power technologies 0.% Solar design in architecture
0.0 Solar heating systems 0.0.% 4ompact systems
0.0.0 3umped systems
0.0.- Solar heating thermal collectors
0.0.& Solar thermal cooling
0.- 3hotovoltaic cells
0.& Solar thermal electric power plants 0.&.% 4oncentrating solar power (4S3) plants
0.&.0 Solar chimney
0.. Solar chemical
0.5 Solar cooking
0.6 Solar lighting
- #nergy storage
& 7eployment of solar power &.% 8orth America
&.0 #urope and 9apan
Classifications of solar power
Solar power can e classified as direct or indirect. 7irect solar power involves only one
transformation into a usale form. For e$ample:
Sunlight hits a photovoltaic cell (also called a photoelectric cell) creating electricity.
Sunlight hits the dark asorer surface of a solar thermal collector and the surface warms. /he heat
energy is carried away y a fluid circuit.
Sunlight strikes a solar sail on a space craft and is converted directly into a force on the sail which
causes motion of the craft.
Sunlight strikes a light mill and causes the vanes to rotate, although little practical application has yet
een found for this effect.
Sunlight is focused on an e$ternally mounted fire optic cale which conducts sunlight into uilding
interiors to supplement lighting. ;%<
!ndirect solar power involves more than one transformation to reach a usale form. For e$ample:
Systems which close insulating shutters or move shades. =any other types of power generation are
indirectly solar>powered. Some of these are so indirect that they are often e$cluded from discussion
of solar power:
?egetation use photosynthesis to convert solar energy to chemical energy, which can later e urned
as fuel to generate electricity, see iofuel.
#nergy otained from oil, coal and peat originated as solar energy captured y vegetation in the
remote geological past and fossilised. @ence the term Fossil fuel. /hough strictly solar power, the
great time delay etween the input of the solar energy and its recovery means these are not normally
classified as such.
@ydroelectric dams and wind turines are indirectly powered y solar energy through its interaction
with the #arth2s atmosphere and the resulting weather phenomena.
#nergy otained from methane (natural gas) may e derived from solar energy either as a iofuel or
fossil fuel , ut some methane derives from the primeval gas cloud which formed the Solar system
and is therefore not solar in origin.
*cean thermal energy production uses the thermal gradients that are present across ocean depths to
generate power. /hese temperature differences are ultimately due to the energy of the sun.
3assive or active
Solar power can also e classified as passive or active:
3assive solar systems are systems that do not involve the input of any other forms of energy apart
from the incoming sunlight, although (in the case of solar heat through windows) there may e
draperies or panels used to reduce nighttime heat losses and thermostatically or manually operated
vents (ut not fans) to prevent overheating. Some passive solar water heating systems use a
thermosiphon to reduce nighttime heat loss and have no pumps. *ther space heating systems use a
thermal diode to similar effect.
Active solar /his usually refers to system which use additional mechanisms such as circulation
pumps, air lowers or automatic systems which aim collectors at the sun.
Focus type
#ffective use of solar radiation often re1uires the radiation (light) to e focussed to give a higher
intensity eam. 4onse1uently, another scheme for classifying solar power systems is
3oint focus. A paraolic dish or a series of heliostats are used to concentrate light at a point (the
focus). At the focus you might place high>concentration photovoltaic cells (solar cells) or a thermal
energy 2receiver2. Solar *ne was an e$ample of the latter.
Aine focus. A paraolic trough or a series of long narrow mirrors are used to concentrate light along a
line. /he S#BS systems in 4alifornia are an e$ample of this type of system.
8on>focussing systems include solar domestic hot water systems and most photovoltaic cells. /hese
systems have the advantage that they can make use of diffuse solar radiation (which can not e
focussed). @owever, if high temperatures are re1uired, this type of system is usually not suitale,
ecause of the lower radiation intensity.

Types of solar power technologies
=ost solar energy used today is harnessed as heat or electricity.

Solar design in architecture
Solar design is the use of architectural features to replace the use of grid electricity and fossil fuels
with the use of solar energy and decrease the energy needed in a home or uilding with insulation and
efficient lighting and appliances.
Architectural features used in solar design:
South>facing (for the 8orthern @emisphere) or north>facing (for the Southern @emisphere) windows
with insulated gla"ing that has high ultraviolet transmittance.
/hermal masses >> any masses such as walls or roofs that asor and hold the sun2s heat. =aterials
with high specific heat like stone, concrete, adoe or water work est. See /rome walls.
!nsulating shutters for windows to e closed at night and on overcast days. /hese trap solar heat in
the uilding.
Fi$ed awnings positioned to create shade in the summer and e$posure to the sun in the winter.
=ovale awnings to e repositioned seasonally.
A well insulated and sealed uilding envelope.
#$haust fans in high humidity areas.
3assive or active warm air solar panels. 3ass air over lack surfaces fi$ed ehind a glass pane. /he
air is heated y the sun and flows into the uilding.
Active thermal solar panels using a heat transfer fluid (water or antifree"e solution). /hese are heated
y the sun and the heat is carried away y circulation of the fluid for domestic hot water or uilding
heating or other uses.
3assive thermal solar panels for preheating domestic hot water.
3hotovoltaic systems to provide electricity.
Solar chimneys for cooling.
3lanting deciduous trees near the windows. /he leaves will give shade in summer ut fall in winter to
let the sunlight enter the uilding.
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Solar heating systems
Solar heating systems are generally composed of solar thermal collectors, a fluid system to move the
heat from the collector to its point of usage, and usually a reservoir to stock the heat for suse1uent
use. /he systems may e used to heat domestic hot water, to heat a swimming pool, to provide heat
for a heating circuit (usually radiators or floor heating coils). /he heat can also e used for industrial
applications or as an energy input to other uses (such as cooling e1uipment).
!n many climates, a solar heating system can provide a very high percentage of domestic hot water
energy. !n many northern #uropean countries, comined systems (hot water and space heating) are
used to provide %. to 0., of home heating energy.
Residential solar thermal installations can e sudivided in two kind of systems: compact and
pumped systems. Coth include typically an au$iliary energy source (electric heating element or
connection to a gas or fuel oil central heating system) that is activated when the water in the tank falls
elow a minimum temperature setting(i. e. .' D4), so hot water is availale always, even in rainy
days.
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4ompact systems
4onsist of a tank for the heated water, a few panels and pipes. Cased on the thermo siphon principle,
the water flows upwards when heated in the panel. When this water enters the tank (placed in the
upper part) it e$pels some cold water from inside, so there is no need for pumps. A typical system for
a & memers home in a sunny region consists of a -'' liters tank and 0 panels (0 s1uare meters each).
E7irectE compact systems are not suitale for cold climates, ecause at nighttime the remaining water
in the panels can free"e and damage them. Cesides, the tank is placed together with the panels,
generally outside the house (even if the can e hidden eneath the tiles). Some compact systems have
a Fprimary circuitG. /his primary circuit includes the collectors and the e$ternal part of the tank. A
graphical e$planation of the thermosyphon principle can e found at this site !nstead of water, some
non>to$ic antifree"ing li1uid is used. When this li1uid is heated up, it flows to the e$ternal part of the
tank, transferring the heat to the water placed inside. @owever, direct systems are slightly cheaper
and more efficient.
A compact system can save up to &.. tonnes per annum of gas emissions. So, in order to achieve the
aims of the Hyoto 3rotocol, several countries are offering susidies to the end user. Some systems
can work for up to 0. years with minimum maintenance. /hese kinds of systems can e redeemed in
5 years, and they achieve a positive alance of energy (energy used to uild them minus energy they
save) of %.. years. =ost part of the year, when the electric heating element is not working, these
systems don2t use any e$ternal source for power (as water flows due to thermosyphon principle).
Isually flat solar thermal collectors are used, ut a few compact systems with vacuum tues can e
found.
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3umped systems
/hey are commonly used in igger installations (hotels, gyms, and so forth) and the main difference
is that the storage tank is placed inside the uilding, and thus re1uire a controller that measures when
the water is hotter in the panels than in the tank, and a pump for transferring water etween the two.
=ost controllers also activate the pump when the outside temperature gets close to 'D 4, in order to
prevent the water from free"ing and thus damaging the panels.
/hese systems can e controlled remotely, y means of the data logger and a modem>connection.
/he most commonly used panel is the flat panel, ut sometimes cheaper ones, like polypropylene
panels (for swimming pools), or higher>performing ones like vacuum tues are used.
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Solar heating thermal collectors
/here are three main kind of solar thermal collectors in common use:
Formed 3lastic 4ollectors (such as polypropelene, #37= or 3#/ plastics). /hese consist of tues or
formed panels through which water is circulated and heated y the sun2s radiation. Ised for
e$tending the swiming season in swiming pools. !n some countries heating a open>air swiming pool
with non>renewale energy sources is not allowed, and then these cheap systems offer a good
solution. /his panel is not suitale for year round uses like providing hot water for home use, mainly
due to its lack of insulation which reduces its effectiveness greatly when the amient air temperature
is lower than than temperature of the fluid eing heated.
Flat 4ollector. !t consists of a thin asorer sheet (usually copper, to which a selective coating is
applied) acked y a grid or coil of fluid tuing and placed in an insulated casing with (usually) a
glass cover. Fluid is circulated through the tuing to remove the heat from the asorer and transport
it to an insulated water tank, to a heat e$changer, or to some other device for using the heated fluid.
Flat>plate collectors for solar water heating had a popularity in Florida and Southern 4alifornia in the
%+0's. /here was a resurgence of interest in them in 8orth America in the %+6's. With various
improvements, the collectors of this asic design have fre1uently een used in Eoff>gridE home
situations (or in other sorts of uildings), ut now they present in all most every city in the world.
8aturally, like a lot of solar>heating strategies that have een availale until recently, conventional
flat>plate solar collectors were originally developed for use in sunny, warm climates. Cenefits from
this kind of collector are consideraly diminished when colder or cloudy days present unfavorale
conditions.
#vacuated (or vacuum) tues panel
#vacuated tue collectors are made of a series of modular tues, mounted parallel, whose numer can
e added to or reduced as hot>water>delivery needs change. /his type of collector consists of rows of
parallel transparent glass tues, each of which contains an asorer tue (in place of the asorer
plate to which metal tues are attached in a flat>plate collector). /he tues are covered with a special
light>modulating coating. !n an evacuated>tue collector, sunlight passing through an outer glass tue
heats the asorer tue contained within it, and in doing so the heat is transferred to a li1uid flowing
through the tue. /he heated li1uid circulates through a heat e$changer and gives off its heat to water
that is stored in a storage tank (which itself may e kept warm partially y sunlight). #vacuated>tue
collectors heat to higher temperatures. #ven in some northern climates, this sort of system may
capture e$cess heat which can also e used to supply room heat in winter. @owever they are more
e$pensive and fragile than flat panels.
Solar thermal cooling
/here are some new applications of thermal hot water, like air cooling, currently under development.
/he asorer machine works asically as a fridgeJ it uses hot water to compress a gas that once
e$panded will produce an endothermic reaction, cooling the air. /he main prolem right now is that
the asorer machine works with li1uid at +'D4, a pretty high temperature to e reached with pumped
solar pannels with no au$iliary power supply. Some commercial systems are e$pected to e relased
soon.
/he same pumped solar thermal installation can e used for producing hot water the whole year,
cooling in summertime and partially heating the uilding in wintertime.
#S/!F #uropean Solar /hermal !ndustry organi"ation. Statistics, market situation...
Solar keymark is a #uropean 1uality certificate
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3hotovoltaic cells
/he solar panels (photovoltaic arrays) on this small yacht at sea can charge the %0 ? atteries at up to
+ Amps in full, direct sunlight
Solar cells (also referred to as photovoltaic cells) are devices or anks of devices that use the
photovoltaic effect of semiconductors to generate electricity directly from the sunlight. Cecause of
high manufacturing costs, their use has een limited until recently. *ne cost>effective use has een in
very low>power devices such as calculators with A47s. Another has een remote applications such as
roadside emergency telephones, remote sensing, cathodic protection of pipe lines, and limited Eoff
gridE home power applications. A third has een to power oriting satellites and other spacecraft.
@owever, the continual decline of manufacturing costs (dropping at -, to ., a year in recent years)
is e$panding the range of cost>effective uses. /he average retail cost of a large solar panel declined
from K6..' to K& per watt etween %++' and 0''.. With many Lurisdictions now giving ta$ and reate
incentives, solar electric power can now pay for itself in five to ten years in many places. EBrid>
connectedE systems > that is, systems with no attery that connect to the utility grid through a special
inverter > now make up the largest part of the market. !n 0''& the worldwide production of solar cells
increased y 5',. 0''. is e$pected to see large growth again, ut shortages of refined silicon have
een hampering production worldwide since late 0''&.
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Solar thermal electric power plants
/he two main types of solar thermal power plants are Solar 4himneys and 4oncentrating Solar
3ower (4S3) plants.
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4oncentrating solar power (4S3) plants

Solar /wo, a concentrating solar power plant
Solar thermal power plants generally use reflectors to concentrate sunlight into a heat asorer. Such
powerplants are known as 4oncentrating Solar 3ower (4S3) plants.
@eliostat mirror power plants (power towers) use an array of flat, moveale mirrors to focus the sun2s
rays upon a collector tower (the target). /he high energy at this point of concentrated sunlight is
transferred to a sustance that can store the heat for later use. /he more recent heat transfer material
that has een successfully demonstrated is li1uid sodium. Sodium is a metal with a high heat
capacity, allowing that energy to e stored and drawn off throughout the evening. /hat energy can, in
turn, e used to oil water for use in steam turines. Water had originally een used as a heat transfer
medium in earlier power tower versions (where the resultant steam was used to power a turine).
/his system did not allow for power generation during the evening. #$amples of heliostat ased
power plants are the %' =We Solar *ne, Solar /wo and the %. =W Solar /res plants. !n South
Africa a solar power plant is planned with &''' to .''' heliostat mirrors, each having an area of %&'
m).
A paraolic trough power plant is another type of solar thermal collector. !t consists of a series of
troughs rather like rainwater guttering with a hollow tue running its length. Sunlight is reflected y
the mirror and concentrated on the tue. @eat transfer fluid, oil in the Au" systems, runs through the
tue to asor heat from the concentrated sunlight and is used to power a steam turine.
A 3araolic Reflector power plant is rather like a large satellite dish ut with the inside surface made
of mirror material. !t focuses all the sun2s energy to a single point and can achieve very high
temperatures. /ypically the dish is coupled with a Stirling engine in a 7ish>Stirling System, ut also
sometimes a steam engine is used. /hese create rotational kinetic energy that can e converted to
electricity using an electric generator. 3lanned M.' megawatt Solar Stirling 4ondenser array ;0< ;-<.
A linear Fresnel reflector power plant uses a series of carefully angled plane mirrors to focus light
onto a linear asorer. Recent prototypes of these types of systems have een uilt in Australia
(4AFR) and Celgium (Solar=undo).
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Solar chimney
A solar chimney is a solar thermal power plant where air passes under a very large agricultural glass
house (etween 0 and -' kilometres in diameter), is heated y the sun and channeled upwards
towards a convection tower. !t then rises naturally and is used to drive turines, which generate
electricity.
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Solar chemical
/here have een e$periments;&< to harness energy y asoring sunlight in a chemical reaction in a
way similar to photosynthesis without using living organisms ut no practical process has yet
emerged.
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Solar cooking
A solar o$ cooker traps the Sun2s power in an insulated o$J these have een successfully used for
cooking, pasteuri"ation and fruit canning. Solar cooking is helping many developing countries, oth
reducing the demands for local firewood and maintaining a cleaner environment for the cooks. /he
first known western solar oven is attriuted to @orace de Saussure.
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Solar lighting
/he interior of a uilding can e lit during daylight hours using fire optic light pipes connected to a
paraolic collector mounted on the roof. /he manufacturer claim this gives a more natural interior
light and can e used to reduce the energy demands of electric lighting. ;.<
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#nergy storage
See main article at Brid energy storage
For a stand>alone system, some means must e employed to store the collected energy for use during
hours of darkness or cloud cover. /he following list includes oth mature and immature techni1ues: >
#lectrochemically in atteries,
@ydrogen produced y electrolysis of water and then availale for pollution free comustion (see
direct solar thermal water splitting),
4ompressed air in a cylinder,
3umped>storage hydroelectricity
Flywheel energy storage,
=olten salt
Superconducting magnetic energy storages.
4ryogenic li1uid air or nitrogen
Storage always has an e$tra stage of energy conversion, with conse1uent energy losses, greatly
increasing capital costs. *ne way around this is to e$port e$cess power to the power grid, drawing it
ack when needed. /his appears to use the power grid as a attery ut in fact is relying on
conventional energy production through the grid during the night.
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7eployment of solar power
7eployment of solar power depends largely upon local conditions and re1uirements. Cut as all
industrialised nations share a need for electricity, it is clear that solar power will increasingly e used
to supply a cheap, reliale electricity supply.
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8orth America

A laundromat in 4alifornia powered y solar panels on the roof.
!n some areas of the I.S., solar electric systems are already competitive with utility systems. As of
0''0, there is a list of technical conditions for economic feasiility: /here must e many sunny days.
/he systems must sell power to the grid, avoiding attery costs. /he solar systems must e
ine$pensively mass>purchased, which usually means they must e installed at the time of uilding
construction. Finally, the region must have high power prices. For e$ample, Southern 4alifornia has
aout 05' sunny days a year, making it the est possile venue. #ven there, it only yields aout
&,(yr returns on investment when systems are installed at K+(watt (not cheap, ut feasile), utility
prices are at K'.'+. per kilowatt>hour (the current ase rate), and neglecting all maintenance costs.
*n>grid solar power can e especially feasile when comined with time>of>use net metering, since
the time of ma$imum production is largely coincident with the time of highest pricing.
*n August %%, 0''., Southern 4alifornia #dison announced an agreement to purchase solar powered
Stirling engines from Stirling #nergy Systems;5< over a twenty year period and in 1uantity (0','''
units) sufficient to generate .'' megawatts of electricity. /hese systems > to e installed on a &,.''
acre solar farm > will use mirrors to direct and concentrate sunlight onto the engines which will in
turn drive generators.
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#urope and 9apan
Several e$perimental photovoltaic (3?) power plants of -'' > 5'' kW capacity are connected to
electricity grids in #urope and the I.S. As of 0''&, 9apan had %0'' =We installed. A large solar 3?
plant is planned for the island of 4rete. Research continues into ways to make the actual solar
collecting cells less e$pensive and more efficient. *ther maLor research is investigating economic
ways to store the energy which is collected from the sun2s rays during the day.
A large paraolic reflector solar furnace is located in the 3yrenees at *deillo, France. !t is used for
various research purposes. ;6<. Another site is the Aoser in Austria.