Minggu, 27 November 2011

What is Solar Power?

By Neil McCarry


Solar powered energy is the conversion of light from the sun into electricity, either directly by the use of photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly by making use of concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP systems use a mirror or lense system and tracking systems to focus a large area of light into a small beam. PV transforms light into electric current using the photoelectric effect.

Larger scale CSP plants were first developed around 30 years ago, and the 354 MW SEGS CSP installation is the largest solar power plant known to man and can be found in the Mojave Desert of California, in America. Other huge CSP plants would also include the Solnova Solar Power Station (150 MW) and also the Andasol solar power station (100 MW), both of which are in Spain, Europe.. The 97 MW Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant in Canada, is the world's greatest PV (photovoltaic) plant.

Despite Scotland's relatively low level of sunshine hours, solar thermal panels can work effectively as they are capable of producing hot water even in cloudy weather.

Solar panel technology was originally created around 40 years ago and is now well-established ,with several installers set up up and down Scotland, although AES Solar based in Forres (who provided the panels for the Scottish Parliament building) are Scotland's only manufacturer.

Since the introduction of government grants for solar panels and Feed-in tariffs there has been a growth in the volume of installed photovoltaic (PV) panels, which generate electricity. Not too long ago in 2004, the largest PV set up in Scotland was a 21 kWp system at the Sir E. Scott secondary school in Tarbert, on the Isle of Harris although larger scale systems have been built since then. The UK's practicable resource is estimated at 7.2 TWh per annum, which in the Scottish context is the approximate equivalent of 70 MW or less of installed capacity.

This "road energy system" uses water pipes sunk beneath a layer of tarmac. During the summer months, the dark coloured tarmac gets warmed up by the sun which then heats the water in the pipes. This water can be kept in an underground aquifer and the heat extracted in winter by using a heat pump. The system can be used to warm or cool down roads, keeping them free of ice and snow as well as, in some cases preventing the road surface from becoming softened from overheating. Also, in some cases, the stored energy could be used for cooling commercial or domestic buildings.




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