SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC This chapter covers solar photovoltaic’s generally but focuses particularly on. Technology Status Overview PV has been commercialized in specialised applications such as remote area telecommunications since the mid-1970 s. Low-efficiency amorphous silicon cells have expanded into the consumer market in applications such as solar-powered calculators, solar-powered lights, solar-powered battery chargers for vehicles, outdoor lights and electric fences. Large photovoltaic generating systems with capacities of one megawatt or greater were installed in the United States in the 1980 s by private companies and utilities taking advantage of the generous financial incentives including taxation benefits and high buyback rates offered. One utility in the US, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (S MUD) installed 2 MW of PV modules next to the closed Rancho Seco nuclear power plant to provide power to 500 homes.
Other megawatt scale power plants are located in Japan and Norway. There are also a few experimental plants in Saudi Arabia, West Germany and Italy which has the world’s largest PV power station at 3. 3 MW. However, the focus is now on widespread application of small distributed at individual household or commercial building scale. For example in 1998 a demonstration system of 26 solar skylights covering 25, 000 square metre’s was installed at a car plant in the UK capable of generating sufficient electricity to meet all the plants lighting needs.
Research Paper On Solar Power – Includes Work Cited
For millions of years the sun has wrapped the world in it’s warmth and light, providing the necessities for life. Even now we are still finding many uses for the massive amount of energy the sun produces. Light travels to the earth in about eight seconds and is filled with little packets of energy called photons, which make utalizing this solar power possible. There are three main ways to ...
Similarly the world’s largest rooftop system with a capacity of 1 MW was installed in Germany. Since the early 1990’s the government and utility companies have subsidized over 10, 000 grid-connected roof-top systems. Japan has initiated a more ambitious program to install 70, 000 systems over 10 years with the ultimate aim of having 4600 MW of PV in place by 2010. The US has announced a one million rooftop initiative which translates to 3000 MW at an average of 3 kW per rooftop. Total installed capacity worldwide is about 600-700 MWp. The managing director of the PV company, Siemens Showa Solar, recently made the point that if worldwide electricity consumption continues at its existing long-term growth rate of 2.
5%, and the PV industry were to maintain an annual growth rate of 25%, PV would contribute 1% of the world’s electricity supply by 2023. Description of Technology and Recent Developments Photovoltaic materials are usually solid-state semiconductors which generate an electrical potential when exposed to light. The voltage generated is a function of the band gap structure of the semiconductor used and the physical form of the material.
