Overview of and topical guide to solar energy
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to solar energy:
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun. It has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar energy technologies include solar heating, solar photovoltaics, solar thermal electricity and solar architecture. These can make considerable contributions to solving some of the most urgent problems that the world now faces.
Overview
Solar energy can be described as all of the following:
- Energy – an indirectly observed quantity, often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems.
- Renewable energy – energy which comes from natural resources which are naturally replenished.
- Natural resource – materials and components (something that can be used) that can be found within the environment. Every man-made product is composed of natural resources (at its fundamental level). A natural resource may exist as a separate entity such as fresh water, and air, as well as a living organism such as a fish, or it may exist in an alternate form which must be processed to obtain the resource such as metal ores, oil, and most forms of energy.
- Renewable resource – natural resource with the ability to reproduce through biological or natural processes and are replenished with the passage of time.
Sunlight
- Sun – the star at the center of the Solar System
- Sunlight – in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, particularly infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light.
Conversion of solar energy
Solar power – the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP).
- Active solar – technologies are employed to convert solar energy into another more useful form of energy (for example, to heat or electrical energy).
- Heliostat – a device that includes a mirror, usually a plane mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating for the Sun's apparent motions in the sky.
- Solar tracker – devices that orient various payloads toward the Sun.
- Role of copper in generating and transmitting energy with maximum efficiency in solar photovoltaic power generation, concentrating solar thermal power, and solar water heaters.
- Solar cell efficiency –
- Solar cell – made from a monocrystalline silicon wafer
- Solar chemical – a number of possible processes that harness solar energy by absorbing sunlight in a chemical reaction in a way similar to photosynthesis in plants but without using living organisms.
- Solar constant – a measure of flux density, it is the amount of incoming solar electromagnetic radiation per unit area that would be incident on a plane perpendicular to the rays, at a distance of one astronomical unit (AU) (roughly the mean distance from the Sun to the Earth).
- Solar inverter – or PV inverter, converts the variable direct current output of a photovoltaic (PV) solar panel into a utility frequency alternating current that can be fed into a commercial electrical grid or used by a local, off-grid electrical network.
- Solar photovoltaics –
Solar thermal energy
Solar thermal energy (STE) – technology for harnessing solar energy for thermal energy (heat).
- Solar district heating and solar district cooling. See: Seasonal thermal energy storage.
- Solar water heating (SWH) – or solar hot water (SHW) systems comprise several innovations and many mature renewable energy technologies that have been well established for many years.
- Solar air conditioning – any air conditioning (cooling) system that uses solar power.
- Thermal mass – a concept in building design regarding how the mass of the building provides "inertia" against temperature fluctuations, sometimes known as the thermal flywheel effect.
- Solar pond – a pool of saltwater which acts as a large-scale solar thermal energy collector with integral heat storage for supplying thermal energy.
- Solar chimney – solar chimney – often referred to as a thermal chimney – is a way of improving the natural ventilation of buildings by using convection of air heated by passive solar energy.
Concentrated solar power
Concentrated solar power – a system that uses mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a small area. Electrical power is produced when the concentrated light is converted to heat, which drives a heat engine (usually a steam turbine) connected to an electrical power generator.
Photovoltaics
Photovoltaics –
- Photoelectric effect – electrons are emitted from matter (metals and non-metallic solids, liquids or gases) as a consequence of their absorption of energy from electromagnetic radiation of very short wavelength, such as visible or ultraviolet radiation.
- Photovoltaics (PV) – is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect.
- Growth of photovoltaics – showing the history of installed photovoltaics.
- Timeline of solar cells – begins in the 19th century when it is observed that the presence of sunlight is capable of generating usable electrical energy.
- Solar insolation – a measure of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area and recorded during a given time. It is also called solar irradiation. Not to be confused with insulation.
- Solar constant – a measure of flux density, is the amount of incoming solar electromagnetic radiation per unit area that would be incident on a plane perpendicular to the rays, at a distance of one astronomical unit|astronomical unit (AU) (roughly the mean distance from the Sun to the Earth).
- Solar cell efficiency – the percentage of the solar energy to which the cell is exposed that is converted into electrical energy. Also referred to as "energy conversion efficiency".
- Third generation photovoltaic cell – are solar cells that are potentially able to overcome the Shockley-Queisser limit of 31-41% power efficiency for single bandgap solar cells.
- Solar cell research – in universities and research institutions around the world.
- Quantum efficiency of a solar cell –
- Cadmium telluride – a crystalline compound formed from cadmium and tellurium, used as an infrared optical window and a solar cell material.
- Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) – energy conversion is a direct conversion process from heat differentials to electricity via photons.
- Polycrystalline silicon photovoltaics – are a type of solar cell.
- Thermodynamic efficiency limit – the absolute maximum theoretically possible conversion efficiency of sunlight to electricity.
- Sun-free photovoltaics –
- Polarizing organic photovoltaics (ZOPV) – is a concept for harvesting energy from Liquid crystal display screens, developed by engineers from UCLA.
- Solar cell – made from a monocrystalline silicon wafer.
- Polymer solar cell – are a type of flexible solar cell.
- Nanocrystal solar cell – are solar cells based on a substrate with a coating of nanocrystals.
- Solar panel – (also solar module, photovoltaic module or photovoltaic panel) is a packaged, connected assembly of photovoltaic cells.
- Photovoltaic system – (PV system) use solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity.
- Photovoltaic power station – also known as a solar park or solar farm, is a large-scale photovoltaic system designed for the supply of merchant power into the electricity grid.
Photovoltaic system
Photovoltaic system –
Solar cells
System components
- Solar charge controller –
- Solar inverter – or PV inverter, converts the variable direct current output of a photovoltaic (PV) solar panel into a utility frequency alternating current that can be fed into a commercial electrical grid or used by a local, off-grid electrical network.
- Solar micro-inverter – or micro inverter, converts direct current (DC) electricity from a single solar panel to alternating current (AC).
- Solar cable – the interconnection cable used in photovoltaic power generation.
- Solar combiner box – an electrical distribution box where the DC fuses or circuit breakers are placed.
- Photovoltaic mounting system – are used to fix solar panels on surfaces like roofs, empty plots etc.
- Maximum power point tracker –
- Solar tracker – devices that orient various payloads toward the Sun.
- Solar shingles – also called photovoltaic shingles, are solar cells designed to look like conventional asphalt shingles.
- Solar mirror § Photovoltaic augmentation –
System concepts
Photovoltaic power stations
Photovoltaic power station –
- Solar Energy Generating Systems –
- Stand-alone photovoltaic power system – : To store energy when an excess is available and to provide it when required.
- Grid-connected photovoltaic power system –
- Rooftop photovoltaic power station – a system which uses one or more photovoltaic panels, installed on rooftops of residential or commercial buildings, to convert sunlight into electricity.
- Topaz Solar Farm – a 550 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic power plant, being built in San Luis Obispo County, California.
- Solar Ark – one of the most famous solar buildings .
- Solar Umbrella house – a private residence in Venice, California, remodeled using active and passive solar design strategies to enable the house to function independent of the electrical grid.
- Erlasee Solar Park – also sometimes called the Gut Erlasee Solar Park, is a photovoltaic power station located in one of the sunniest regions of Germany.
- Guadarranque solar power plant – (also known as Cádiz solar power plant, Spanish: Parque Solar Guadarranque, or Planta Solar Guadarranque) is a photovoltaic solar power plant in the Guadarranque industrial park in San Roque, Cádiz, Spain.
- Pocking Solar Park – a photovoltaic solar power plant in Pocking, Lower-Bavaria, Germany.
- Copper Mountain Solar Facility – a 58 MWp (48 megawatt MW AC) solar photovoltaic power plant in Boulder City, Nevada.
- Wyandot Solar Facility – a solar photovoltaic power plant completed in 2010, located in Salem Township, Wyandot County, Ohio.
- Kvthen Solar Park –
- Building-integrated photovoltaics – photovoltaic materials that are used to replace conventional building materials in parts of the building envelope such as the roof, skylights, or facades.
- Moura Photovoltaic Power Station – a large photovoltaic power station in Amareleja, in the municipality of Moura, Portugal. Also known as the Amareleja Photovoltaic Power Station.
- Nevada Solar One – a concentrated solar power plant, with a nominal capacity of 64 MW and maximum capacity of 75 MW, spread over an area of 400 acres.
- Panoche Valley Solar Farm – a proposed 399 MW photovoltaic power plant in San Benito County, California.
- Beneixama photovoltaic power plant – a 20 MW photovoltaic power plant located in Beneixama, Spain.
- Gottelborn Solar Park – also known as Solarpark Zeche Göttelborn, is an 8.
- Darro Solar Park – also referred to as Solarpark Darro, is a 5.
- Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park – a large photovoltaic power plant in Olmedilla de Alarcón, Spain.
- Blythe Photovoltaic Power Plant – the largest photovoltaic (PV) solar project in California.
- Strasskirchen Solar Park – the eighth largest photovoltaic power station in the world, with an installed capacity of 54 MW.
- Puertollano Photovoltaic Park – the fourth largest photovoltaic power station in the world, with a nominal capacity of 47.6 MW.
- Alamosa photovoltaic power plant – is an 8.22 MW photovoltaic power plant in Alamosa County, Colorado.
- Topaz Solar Farm – a 550 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic power plant, being built in San Luis Obispo County, California.
Experimental proposed solar power
- Solar updraft tower – a renewable-energy power plant for generating electricity from solar power.
- Solar-pumped laser – laser that shares the same optical properties as conventional lasers such as emitting a beam consisting of coherent electromagnetic radiation which can reach high power, but which uses solar radiation for pumping the lasing medium. This type of laser is unique from other types in that it does not require any artificial energy source.
- Thermoelectric generator – (also called thermogenerators) are devices which convert heat (temperature differences) directly into electrical energy, using a phenomenon called the "Seebeck effect" (or "thermoelectric effect").
- Solar chemical – a number of possible processes that harness solar energy by absorbing sunlight in a chemical reaction in a way similar to photosynthesis in plants but without using living organisms.
- Space-based solar power – : Part of the solar energy is lost on its way through the atmosphere by the effects of reflection and absorption.
- Solar sail – (also called light sails or photon sails) are a form of spacecraft propulsion using the radiation pressure (also called solar pressure) of light from a star to push large ultra-thin mirrors to high speeds.
- Magnetic sail – or magsail is a proposed method of spacecraft propulsion which would use a static magnetic field to deflect charged particles radiated by the Sun as a plasma wind, and thus impart momentum to accelerate the spacecraft.
- Solar thermal rocket – a theoretical spacecraft propulsion system that would make use of solar power to directly heat reaction mass, and therefore would not require an electrical generator like most other forms of solar-powered propulsion do.
Economics and politics of solar power
- Cost of electricity by source – a calculation of the cost of generating electricity at the point of connection to a load or electricity grid.
- Duck curve – graphs the mismatch between peak power load on the grid and hourly solar and wind energy production.
- Financial incentives for photovoltaics – are incentives offered to electricity consumers to install and operate solar-electric generating systems, also known as photovoltaics (PV).
- Net metering – an electricity policy for consumers who own (generally small) renewable energy facilities (such as wind, solar power or home fuel cells) or V2G electric vehicles.
- Feed-in tariff – standard offer contract advanced renewable tariff or renewable energy payments) is a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies.
Solar power by country
- Solar power by country – many industrialized nations are installing significant solar power capacity in their grids as a supplement or alternative to other power sources. Long distance transmission allows remote renewable energy resources to be used to displace fossil fuel consumption.
- Solar power in Australia – growth in the amount of installed PV capacity in Australia has been dramatic with a 10-fold increase between 2009 and 2011. Feed-in tariffs and mandatory renewable energy targets designed to assist renewable energy commercialisation in Australia have largely been responsible for the rapid increase.
- Solar power in Canada – Canada has many regions that are sparsely populated and difficult to access. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are increasingly used as standalone units, mostly as off-grid distributed electricity generation to power remote homes, telecommunications equipment, oil and pipeline monitoring stations and navigational devices.
- Solar power in China – China has over 400 photovoltaic (PV) companies. In 2007 China produced 1.7 GW of solar panel capacity, nearly half of the world production of 3.8 GW, although 99% was exported.
- Solar power in the European Union – During 2010, the European solar heating yield was 17.3 TWh, annual turnover was 2.6 Billion € and employment was 33,500 persons (1 job for 80 kW new capacity).
- Solar power in Germany – in 2011, solar PV provided 18 TWh (billion kilowatt-hours) of electricity in Germany, about 3% of its total electricity capacity.
- Solar power in Italy – ranked among the world's largest producers of electricity from solar power with an installed photovoltaic nameplate capacity of 12,750 MW at the end of 2011 and 263,594 plants in operation as of 18 August 2011.
- Solar power in Portugal –
- Solar power in Romania – had in 2007 an installed capacity of 0.
- Solar power in Spain – one of the most advanced countries in the development of solar energy, and it is one of the European countries with the most hours of sunshine. Spain is the fourth largest manufacturer in the world of solar power technology and exports 80 percent of this output to Germany.
- Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park – photovoltaic power plant in Olmedilla de Alarcón, Spain, with 270,000 solar photovoltaic panels generating 60 megawatts (peak). It produces enough electricity to power more than 40,000 homes.
- Solar power in the United Kingdom – with a total installed generating capacity of 750 megawatts (MW).
- Solar power in India – already a leader in wind power generation, India is planning to produce 20 GW of solar power by 2020.
- Solar power in Israel – with no oil reserves and the country's tenuous relations with its oil-rich neighbors, the search for a stable source of energy is a national priority.[1][2] Solar technology in Israel has advanced to the point where it is almost cost-competitive with fossil fuels.[3]
- Solar power in Japan – a leading manufacturer of solar panels and is in the top 5 ranking for countries with the most solar PV installed.
- Solar power in Pakistan –
- Solar power in the United States – an area of considerable activity and there are many utility-scale solar power plants.
- Solar power in Turkey –