The Sun is the main source of power in this corner of the universe, and with little effort from our side, it could become the main source of clean energy used by our civilization for a very long period of time.
Sun’s Potential to Generate Energy
Our star has a great potential to produce free electricity for our civilization, but without having the proper infrastructure in place (large solar power plants all over the planet), to turn the sunlight into clean electricity on a planetary scale, we can only talk and hope that someday, the Sun will finally become the main source of power on this planet.
To better understand how big is the Sun’s potential to power our civilization, we can take the example of the Gujarat Solar Park in India, which is one of the biggest solar power plants in the world today, with an installed capacity of 1,100 MW or 1.1 GW.
A Massive Power Plant Working Only For Us
The Sun can be considered a huge power plant located in the space. This power plant which works independently of us, produces over a period of one year, about 1.5 Twh of energy (about 4 Gwh per day on average).
This huge amount of clean energy could be used to power a number of 120,000 households in the civilized world that have an average energy consumption of about 1 Mwh/month (1,000 Kwh).
Of course that the world’s demand for electricity in 2020 will exceed 20,000 Twh, but by building these large solar power plants using the sunniest places of the planet, we are able to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emission released into the atmosphere every year.
Solar power is not the only source of renewable energy available on the planet today, but in order to cover the huge appetite for energy of our civilization, we have to increase the generation capacity of every renewable resource we have.
Solar Energy Potential in Solar Irradiance
The radiant energy of the Sun is called solar irradiance and refers to the amount of sunlight power per unit area.
Solar irradiance is measured in W/m2 (watt per square meter).
According to NASA, the area in India, where the Gujarat Solar Park is located receives in solar irradiance up to 800 W/m2 (at midday) in May, and for the entire year receives about 2,100 kWh/M2 (which is quite high compared to other areas).
The average efficiency of the solar panels being only 15%, the energy density is only 112 W/m2 at midday, and about 315 kWh/m2/year.
However, the Gujarat Solar Park in India covers an area of about 4,900 acres, and the solar modules are installed in rows with spaces between them to avoid mutual shading.
This way, the Gujarat Solar Park achieves an energy density is only 75 kWh/m2/year.
How To Make Solar Panels More Efficient?
Today’s technology (photovoltaic solar cells made of silicon) used to turn the sunlight into clean electricity has an average efficiency between 10 and 25%.
This means that a large part of the sunlight is wasted instead of being used for energy generation.
Scientists are trying today to increase the efficiency of the solar panels and also to use materials for the solar cells that more affordable than silicon.
1. Dual-axis Solar Trackers (to follow the sun during the day)
Installing dual-axis solar trackers can double the efficiency of a solar panel because the solar cells are facing the sun directly all day long.
This way, a solar module with an efficiency of about 20%, can double its efficiency (up to 40%) by only using the solar trackers that follow the sun throughout the day.
2. Tandem Perovskite Solar Cells
This type of solar cells has been introduced only a couple of years ago and they provide an efficiency of about 28%.
3. Gallium Arsenide Cells
They are mostly used in space to power spacecrafts because they can reach an efficiency of 30%.
4. Multijunction Solar Cells
Multijunction solar cells refer to advanced solar cells that use multiple p–n junctions that are made from different semiconductor materials, and are used to harvest different wavelengths of the sunlight.
Harvesting broader bands of wavelengths, the multijunction solar cell can reach an efficiency of about 39%.
The higher the efficiency of the solar cell, the more expensive will be.
This is the reason why very large solar parks (1GW and beyond) are mostly built nowadays in Asia (India and China) and Northern Africa (Morocco).
Solar Thermal Energy
Another active way of using the sunlight to generate electricity and heat is through solar thermal technology.
A solar thermal power plant uses an impressive number of large mirrors that are concentrating the sunlight into a single point located at the top of a tower.
At that point where reaches a very high temperature (up to 700°C or 1292°F), an agent such as molten salt is heated to produce steam, which is then used to spin a turbine and generate electricity.
In contrast to the solar PV technology, the solar thermal technology can store the energy collected from the sun for several hours or even days, which means that the solar thermal energy is less dependent on the Sun’s presence.
Once the agent has reached the top temperature (this can be done in only a couple of hours in a sunny day), the molten salt or another agent can be stored for later use.
Even if the weather suddenly changes, and the day turns from a sunny one into a cloudy and maybe rainy one, the solar thermal power plant will continue to generate electricity for several hours or even days.
However, to increase the number of sun hours received per year, a solar thermal power plant is usually located in desert areas, with low amounts of precipitation over the year (precipitations such as rain, mist or fog).
Some Deserts are Ideal for Solar Power Generation
Deserts are ideal places for solar power generation because the solar irradiance is very intense in such areas, and the volume of precipitations received by the desert is extremely low.
This way, a solar PV power plant will work almost every day throughout the year to generate electricity, and a solar thermal power plant will work day and night to generate electricity because it is less dependent on the presence of the sun.
Solar thermal power plants are also more reliable (compared to solar PV power plants) in terms of power generation, which helps the grid to use their energy without being paired with energy produced from fossil fuels (natural gas).
The Solar potential on the planet remains the same year after year
The solar potential to generate energy is about the same every year, but to use this potential to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels on the planet, we have to massively invest in solar power and other renewables.
It only depends on us to make the switch from polluting sources of power to renewable energy, and this means installing a solar panel system at home, replacing traditional vehicles with hybrid or electric vehicles, keeping the environment clean, recycling waste, and many others.
The change from a polluted and partially destroyed environment in a clean world where fossil fuels are no longer used (and the oceans are no longer polluted with plastics) must start with a change in our behavior.
Final thought
If we are aware of the fact that we are the ones that have produced this mess on the planet, we will be the ones who will correct this mistake and will clean the environment for the generations that will follow.
In a nutshell, it may be stated which Michael Kors purses are extremely distinctive as well as vibrant purses. On those purses a couple of tiny solar cells are installed to generate energy that can be used to power a mobile phone.