 What is solar energy?

Solar energy refers to capturing radiant light  and heat from the Sun.

 Why do we need to analyze solar energy?

It is an important source of renewable energy and its technologies are broadly characterized as

either passive solar or active solar depending on how they capture and distribute solar energy or
convert it into solar power. Our sun is a natural nuclear reactor. It releases tiny packets of
energy called photons, which travel the 93 million miles from the sun to Earth in about 8.5
minutes. Every hour, enough photons impact our planet to generate enough solar energy to
theoretically satisfy global energy needs for an entire year.Currently photovoltaic power
accounts for only five-tenths of one percent  of the energy consumed in the United States. But
solar technology is improving and the cost of going solar is dropping rapidly, so our ability to
harness the sun’s abundance of energy is on the rise. The large magnitude of solar energy
available makes it a highly appealing source of electricity

 What amount of solar energy we can store?

The Earth receives 174 petawatts (PW) of incoming solar radiation (insolation) at the
upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by
clouds, oceans and land masses. Solar radiation is absorbed by the Earth's land surface, oceans –
which cover about 71% of the globe – and atmosphere. Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land
masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14 °C. The total solar energy absorbed by
Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per year. In
2002, this was more energy in one hour than the world used in one year. Photosynthesis captures
approximately 3,000 EJ per year in biomass. The amount of solar energy reaching the surface of the
planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained from all of the
Earth's non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium combined.
  89 PW absorbed by land and oceans

 Where will you be able to collect highest amount of solar energy?

The potential solar energy that could be used by humans differs from the amount of solar energy present
near the surface of the planet because factors such as geography, time variation, cloud cover, and the land
available to humans limit the amount of solar energy that we can acquire.
Geography affects solar energy potential because areas that are closer to the equator have a greater amount
of solar radiation. However, the use of photovoltaics that can follow the position of the Sun can significantly
increase the solar energy potential in areas that are farther from the equator. Time variation effects the
potential of solar energy because during the nighttime there is little solar radiation on the surface of the
Earth for solar panels to absorb. This limits the amount of energy that solar panels can absorb in one
day. Cloud cover can affect the potential of solar panels because clouds block incoming light from the Sun
and reduce the light available for solar cells.
In addition, land availability has a large effect on the available solar energy because solar panels can only be
set up on land that is otherwise unused and suitable for solar panels. Roofs have been found to be a suitable
place for solar cells, as many people have discovered that they can collect energy directly from their homes
this way.
  Difference between active & passive solar?

Active solar techniques use photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, solar thermal collectors,

pumps, and fans to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include selecting
materials with favorable thermal properties, designing spaces that naturally circulate air, and
referencing the position of a building to the Sun. Active solar technologies increase the supply of
energy and are considered supply side technologies, while passive solar technologies reduce the
need for alternate resources and are generally considered demand side technologies.

Active solar techniques include the use of photovoltaic systems, concentrated solar power and solar
water heating to harness the energy. Passive solar techniques include orienting a building to the Sun,
selecting materials with favorable thermal mass or light-dispersing properties, and designing spaces
that naturally circulate air. In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to
collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar
heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unlike active solar heating systems, it
does not involve the use of mechanical and electrical devices.

 What is the application of solar energy?

 Water heating (Solar hot water systems use sunlight to heat water)
 Heating, cooling and ventilation
 Cooking (Solar cookers use sunlight for cooking, drying and pasteurization.)
 Process heat
 Water treatment
 Molten salt technology
 Fuel Production
 Transport
 Electricity Production

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Electricity Production
Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly
using concentrated solar power (CSP). CSP systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large
area of sunlight into a small beam. PV converts light into electric current using the photoelectric effect.

Solar power is anticipated to become the world's largest source of electricity by 2050, with solar
photovoltaics and concentrated solar power contributing 16 and 11 percent to the global overall
consumption, respectively. In 2016, after another year of rapid growth, solar generated 1.3% of global power.
Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 392 MW Ivanpah Solar
Power Facility, in the Mojave Desert of California, is the largest solar power plant in the world. Other large
concentrated solar power plants include the 150 MW Solnova Solar Power Station and the 100 MW Andasol
solar power station, both in Spain. The 250 MW Agua Caliente Solar Project, in the United States, and the 221
MW Charanka Solar Park in India, are the world's largest photovoltaic plants. Solar projects exceeding 1 GW
are being developed, but most of the deployed photovoltaics are in small rooftop arrays of less than 5 kW,
which are connected to the grid using net metering and/or a feed-in tariff.

Photovoltaics
In the last two decades, photovoltaics (PV), also known as solar PV, has evolved from a pure niche market of
small scale applications towards becoming a mainstream electricity source. A solar cell is a device that
converts light directly into electricity using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was constructed
by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. In 1931 a German engineer, Dr Bruno Lange, developed a photo cell using silver
selenide in place of copper oxide. Although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident
light into electricity, both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the importance of
this discovery. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and
Daryl Chapin created the crystalline silicon solar cell in 1954. These early solar cells cost 286 USD/watt and
reached efficiencies of 4.5–6%.By 2012 available efficiencies exceeded 20%, and the maximum efficiency of
research photovoltaics was in excess of 40%.

Concentrated solar power

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of
sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated heat is then used as a heat source for a conventional power
plant. A wide range of concentrating technologies exists; the most developed are the parabolic trough, the
concentrating linear fresnel reflector, the Stirling dish and the solar power tower. Various techniques are
used to track the Sun and focus light. In all of these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated
sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage

Energy storage methods

Thermal energy storage. The Andasol CSP plant uses tanks of molten salt to store solar energy.

Thermal mass systems can store solar energy in the form of heat at domestically useful temperatures for
daily or interseasonal durations. Thermal storage systems generally use readily available materials with
high specific heat capacities such as water, earth and stone. Well-designed systems can lower peak demand,
shift time-of-use to off-peak hours and reduce overall heating and cooling requirements.
Phase change materials such as paraffin wax and Glauber's salt are another thermal storage medium. These
materials are inexpensive, readily available, and can deliver domestically useful temperatures (approximately
64 °C or 147 °F). The "Dover House" (in Dover, Massachusetts) was the first to use a Glauber's salt heating
system, in 1948. Solar energy can also be stored at high temperatures using molten salts. Salts are an
effective storage medium because they are low-cost, have a high specific heat capacity and can deliver heat
at temperatures compatible with conventional power systems. The Solar Two project used this method of
energy storage, allowing it to store 1.44 terajoules (400,000 kWh) in its 68 m³ storage tank with an annual
storage efficiency of about 99%.
Off-grid PV systems have traditionally used rechargeable batteries to store excess electricity. With grid-tied
systems, excess electricity can be sent to the transmission grid, while standard grid electricity can be used to
meet shortfalls. Net metering programs give household systems a credit for any electricity they deliver to the
grid. This is handled by 'rolling back' the meter whenever the home produces more electricity than it
consumes. If the net electricity use is below zero, the utility then rolls over the kilowatt hour credit to the
next month. Other approaches involve the use of two meters, to measure electricity consumed vs. electricity
produced. This is less common due to the increased installation cost of the second meter. Most standard
meters accurately measure in both directions, making a second meter unnecessary.
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity stores energy in the form of water pumped when energy is available from a
lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation one. The energy is recovered when demand is high by
releasing the water, with the pump becoming a hydroelectric power generator.
How Do Solar Panels Work?

When photons hit a solar cell, they knock electrons loose from their atoms. If
conductors are attached to the positive and negative sides of a cell, it forms
an electrical circuit. When electrons flow through such a circuit, they generate
electricity. Multiple cells make up a solar panel, and multiple panels (modules)
can be wired together to form a solar array. The more panels you can deploy,
the more energy you can expect to generate.

What are Solar Panels Made of?

Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are made up of many solar cells. Solar cells are
made of silicon, like semiconductors. They are constructed with a positive
layer and a negative layer, which together create an electric field, just like in a
battery.

How Do Solar Panels Generate Electricity?

PV solar panels generate direct current (DC) electricity. With DC electricity,

electrons flow in one direction around a circuit. This example shows a battery
powering a light bulb. The electrons move from the negative side of the
battery, through the lamp, and return to the positive side of the battery.

With AC (alternating current) electricity, electrons are pushed and pulled,

periodically reversing direction, much like the cylinder of a car’s engine.
Generators create AC electricity when a coil of wire is spun next to a magnet.
Many different energy sources can “turn the handle” of this generator, such as
gas or diesel fuel, hydroelectricity, nuclear, coal, wind, or solar.

AC electricity was chosen for the U.S. electrical power grid, primarily because
it is less expensive to transmit over long distances. However, solar panels
create DC electricity. How do we get DC electricity into the AC grid? We use
an inverter.
What Does a Solar Inverter Do?

A solar inverter takes the DC electricity from the solar array and uses that to
create AC electricity. Inverters are like the brains of the system. Along with
inverting DC to AC power, they also provide ground fault protection and
system stats, including voltage and current on AC and DC circuits, energy
production and maximum power point tracking.
Central inverters have dominated the solar industry since the beginning. The
introduction of micro-inverters is one of the biggest technology shifts in the PV
industry. Micro-inverters optimize for each individual solar panel, not for an
entire solar system, as central inverters do. This enables every solar panel to
perform at maximum potential. When a central inverter is used, having a
problem on one solar panel (maybe it’s in the shade or has gotten dirty) can
drag down the performance of the entire solar array. Micro-inverters, such as
the ones in SunPower’s Equinox home solar system, make this a non-issue. If one
solar panel has an issue, the rest of the solar array still performs efficiently.
How Does a Solar Panel System Work?

Here’s an example of how a home solar energy installation works. First,

sunlight hits a solar panel on the roof. The panels convert the energy to DC
current, which flows to an inverter. The inverter converts the electricity from
DC to AC, which you can then use to power your home. It’s beautifully simple
and clean, and it’s getting more efficient and affordable all the time.
However, what happens if you’re not home to use the electricity your solar
panels are generating every sunny day? And what happens at night when
your solar system is not generating power in real time? Don’t worry, you still
benefit through a system called “net metering.”

A typical grid-tied PV system, during peak daylight hours, frequently produces

more energy than one customer needs, so that excess energy is fed back into
the grid for use elsewhere. The customer gets credit for the excess energy
produced, and can use that credit to draw from the conventional grid at night
or on cloudy days. A net meter records the energy sent compared to the
energy received from the grid. Find out more about net metering here.