Using the Sun for Power – How It Works

Executive Summary about Sun Power by Richard Chapo

Generating electricity from the sun is all about converting sunlight into power. The technology behind solar systems is known as photovoltaic technology. Essentially, this technology involves using sunlight to create a chemical reaction. This process creates a direct current of electricity. The electricity is then converted to usable alternating current electricity and stored in a battery or fed into a utility grid system.

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Limoneira Solar Project

Limoneira Company has installed Limoneira Solar in Santa Paula.

Detailed description from Limoneira after the pictures…

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Beach Ball by Tony Leung

Beach Ball designed by industrial designer Tony Leung, is the concept of solar energy generating system in Abu Dhabi between Saadiyat Island and Yas Island. This system has a photovoltaic panel that is contained in the inflatable transparent latex material.

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Solar Energy Applications

Solar energy technologies use energy from the sun to produce heat, light, hot water, electricity, and even cooling, for homes, commercial and industrial.

There are a variety of technological applications that have been developed to take advantage of solar energy. Technology can be read further below.

Photovoltaics System

Solar cells work by converting sunlight directly into electricity. The electrons in the semiconductor material, the material used to capture sunlight, will move when the sun’s energy in the form of photons hit it. Solar energy is forcing the electrons to move, occur continuously, and consequently there is also a continuous electricity production. Process, which turns sunlight (photons) into electricity (voltage), called the photovoltaic effect.

Solar Cell Module

Solar cells are usually organized into modules that each module can consist of 40 solar cells. Some modules can be arranged to form a PV line fitted with a fixed angle facing south. Or even could be placed in a sun-tracking device, to get more solar energy throughout the day. Several rows of PV could produce enough power for a house. As for industrial applications or power companies, hundreds of lines of PV can be linked to form one large PV systems and sufficient to meet the electricity needs.

Thin Film Solar Cell

Thin film solar cells use several layers of semiconductor material with a thickness in the micrometer scale. Technology allows to create solar cells integrated into rooftops to the skylights. Even solar cells are designed for applications having the same power with actual roof.

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Solar Thermal Power Plant from Google

In recent years, Google invest in green energy sector seriously. More than US$ 250 million invested by this company and there is no clear information about why the company’s biggest search engine in the world invest in this sector in addition to its commitment to encourage and develop green energy more quickly.

Google company may not only “simply” investing. The company has a team that is able to analyze and predict the future of this sector.

This time Google reinvest US$ 168 million in a solar thermal power plant located in the Mojave Desert, southeastern California, USA.

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Solar Wind by Francesco Colarossi, Giovanna Saracino and Luisa Saracino

To build a big wind power generator needed a large enough space to put many large-sized turbines.

Designer Francesco Colarossi, Giovanna Saracino and Luisa Saracino have a solution for this problem by utilizing the empty space below the flyover. This concept is called “Solar Wind.”

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Greenerator by Jonathan Globerson

If you live in apartments in high-rise buildings, and want to use renewable energy, such as wind turbine and solar cell, then Greenerator concept design is one of the solutions. The Greenerator by Jonathan Globerson can be installed on balconies and equipped with flexible solar panels and a vertical axis wind turbine. The energy generated by the system can be used to power computers or other equipment in the home. The designer believes that each unit can reduce your electric bill by 6 percent.

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Solight by Lee Ju Won

Sometimes the plants we have in our apartment might be a little trouble getting enough sunlight. Thus, the Solight concept may resolve the problem. This device is able to store solar energy through the internal battery, after which it will be able to be placed on top of the plants, provides a healthy dose of natural sunlight.

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Solarve by Sanyo

Solarve (Solar Vehicle), the first solar-cell-equipped public bus in the world, recently announced by Sanyo in Japan. The bus was revealed to memorialize the 100th anniversary of Ryobi, a Japanese transportation and logistics company.

The Solarve is basically a city bus with solar cells on top that generate power for its interior LED lightings.

Sanyo says the bus solar panels generate total power of 798 watts (420 watts through crystalline silicon cells, and 378 watts through amorphous silicon cells). Power will be supplied by storage batteries inside the bus about nine hours for a long winter, or extended periods of time without sunlight.

The Solarve expected to be first used as a beginning September 1 (in Okayama City in southern Japan).

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Solar Powered Backup Generator

Did you ever want to have an emergency “backup” system that supplies electric power constantly? There is now a truly portable (and ultra-high efficient) solar power generator that produce up to 1800 watts of household electricity on demand when you need it.

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SunFlower by Ricardo Baiao

Sunflower is the new home & office solutions, which use solar energy to generate electricity through three built in standard sockets. Combined with a solar powered music systems interact and change the common living spaces into enjoyable and sustainable environment. Top solar panels for receiving solar energy throughout the day and the rechargeable battery of your equipment continues to work throughout the night. [Via]

Designer: Ricardo Baiao

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Hélio by Léa Longis

Hélio DAB Radio design using colorful Grätzel solar panel that is transparent. Grätzel solar panel get the color from vegetal ink, upping the quotient of green. LED panels and speakers complement the radio and in sync with the form. This kind we want to bring home! [Via]

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Solar Powered Pool Skimmer

For many pool owners, taking a variety of leaves, insects and other foliage that find their way into the water can be a spending of their time in the backyard. Enter smart Solar Powered Pool Skimmer, which not only took an elbow oil out of the pool to keep shining, but as his name, added bonus that is powered by the sun.

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Top 5 World’s Largest Solar Power Plants

1. Olmedilla Park Solar Power Plant

(in Olmedilla de Alarcón, Spain, 60 MW) Finished in September 2008. This power plant uses 162,000 average photovoltaic solar panel to deliver 60 MW of electricity on a sunny day. The whole factory was completed in 15 months at a cost of about 530 million U.S. dollars current exchange rate. Olmedilla built with conventional solar panels, which are made with silicon and tend to heavy and expensive.

2. Puertollano Park Solar Power Plant

(Spain, 50 MW) in 2008 Renovalia develop the power station in Puertollano, Ciudad Real, residential energy parks with an installed capacity of 50 megawatts (MW). The power generated here is equivalent to the annual domestic consumption of electricity of about 39,000 households. The energy produced here will replace the theoretical disposal 84,000 tons CO₂/year or 2.1 million tons of CO₂ over 25 years during the production.

3. Moura Solar Power Station

(Portugal, 46 MW) Completed December 2008. This solar power plant is placed in the municipality of Moura, Alentejo, Portugal, one of the sunniest areas in Europe and besides one of the most economically depressed. The construction involves two stages, first with a built in 13 months and completed in 2008, and the rest will be completed in 2010, with a total cost of € 250 million for the project. The power plant will have an installed capacity of 46 mwp, by more than 376,000 solar panels. Nearly 190,000 panels (32 MW) installed in permanent structures, 52,000 (10 MW) in a single-axis trackers, which follow the sun in the sky, and further 20 MW of power capacity will be added during phase 2 project. This will occupy an area of 320 hectares (130 acres), producing 88 GWh of electricity per year.

4. Waldpolenz Solar Park

(Germany, 40 MW) 550,000 First Solar thin-film CdTe modules. Completed in December 2008 Waldpolenz Solar Park, which is the world’s largest thin-film photovoltaic (PV) power system, built at a military air base east of Leipzig in Germany. The power plant 40-megawatt solar power system using state-of-the-art thin film technology. 550,000 First Solar thin film modules are used, which supplies 40,000 MWh of electricity per year. The investment costs for solar parks Waldpolenz Euro 130 million.

5. Arnedo Solar Plant

(Spain, 36 MW). Completed in October 2008, power plant that produces 34 GWh per year, which would own 12,000 households and prevent 375,000 tons of CO₂. Facilities in seven acres and 172,000 panels houses. Project budget of about € 180,000,000. La Rioja, a region of Spain known for its wine, already covers 62% of electricity with enhanced resources.

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First Solar Inc. and Ordos City signing MoU in Construction of 2 GW Solar Electricity Generator

Solar electricity generator with a capacity of 2 GW may be far from our imagination, but not in China. First Solar Inc., A solar power company from the United States, will build the solar electricity generator in Ordos city, in the province of  Inner Mongol. This project is the development of the world’s largest solar electricity generator. The signing between them have been done at September 8, 2009 at the headquarters of First Solar Inc. in Tempe, Arizona, witnessed by Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

“We are proud of the signing of this MoU” said Mike Ahearn, chief executive of First Solar Inc. was quoted as saying by APP.

Government of the United States and China can work together to reduce the cost of electricity from solar electricity generator connected to the network which will be competitive with electricity from traditional energy sources and create a blueprint for accelerating large-scale development of solar energy utilization of the world to prevent / reduce the impact of climate change, he added.

The MOU underscores a long-term partnership between First Solar Inc. and Ordos City, which First Solar Inc. will also consider making investments in the Ordos solar cells.

“We are very pleased to partner with one of the major players in industry of solar electricity generator technology in the project that will impact on low-carbon production in the Ordos.” said Cao Zhichen, deputy mayor of Ordos. For this project the Government of Ordos city will provide 65 square kilometers of land.

“Discussions with First Solar Inc. on the construction of the factory in China is a demonstration for investors in China that they can be confident of investing in high technology fields,” he said further.

China actively increasing the production capacity of electricity cheaper than solar energy sources as part of its national goal to achieve 10 percent energy supply from renewable energy sources by 2010 and 15 percent in the year 2020 including the energy source of wind, hydro, biomass and solar.

Currently, the installed capacity of solar electricity generator in China around 90 MW. Government of China plans to boost the utilization of solar energy from the initial target of just 1.8 GW in 2020 to 2 GW by 2011 and 10 to 20 GW by 2020 as announced in a press conference of the MoU signing.

The first phase of Ordos city solar electricity generator is building 30 MW of project demonstration is planned to begin in June 2010. The next phase, respectively built solar electricity generator with a capacity of 100 MW and 870 MW is expected to be completed by the end of 2014. While the last phase of 1000 MW will be completed by the end of 2019.

Based on the MoU, during the initial phase of implementation, First Solar Inc. will actively study the possibility of development module and manufacturing suppliers in the Ordos. First Solar Inc. also plans to expand its supply chain for the production of thin-film photovoltaic modules and used module recycling.