INTRODUCTION TO SOLAR ENERGY

In physics, energy is that the capacity to accomplish work. It is often potential,

kinetic, thermal, electrical, chemical, nuclear, or in other forms. Energy is often labeled
in keeping with its type once it's been transmitted. Motion is connected with all kinds of
energy. Additionally, there is also heat and work, which are both samples of energy that
can be transferred from one form to a different during a type of ways. Many sorts of
apparatus, like fuel-burning heat engines, generators, batteries, fuel cells, and
magnetohydrodynamic systems, generate usable mechanical or electricity. There are
several energy sources, which can be classified into two broad categories: Renewable
energy sources that may be easily replenished and Nonrenewable energy sources that
can't be easily replenished.

Solar energy may be a clean, cheap, renewable energy source that may be
harnessed virtually anywhere on the world that has the flexibility to fuel life on Earth and
provide sustainable energy to all or any of its people. Sunlight is out and away the
foremost important source of energy received by Earth; nevertheless, its intensity at the
surface is incredibly modest. radiation is light released by the sun, also referred to as
radiation. In fact, more energy from the sun reaches our planet in one hour than the
whole world's population uses during a year. Energy may be converted into electricity or
stored in batteries or thermal storage. There are several methods for collecting solar
radiation and turning it into useable energy. The approaches make use of either active
or passive solar energy. Active solar systems actively transform solar energy into
another type of energy, most commonly heat or electricity, using electrical or
mechanical equipment. While, passive solar methods do not require the use of any
external equipment. Instead, they use the local environment to heat structures in the
winter and reflect heat in the summer.
HISTORY OF SOLAR ENERGY

HOW DOES SOLAR ENERGY WORK, AND WHY SHOULD WE UTILIZE IT?

Sunlight is collected by photovoltaic or PV modules and transform it into useable

electrical current. The sun shines all over the planet, therefore, solar energy can be
used everywhere. Solar electric systems may be independent of the utility grid since
they can be paired with batteries for energy storage, making them cost-effective for
distant sites. Solar modules have no moving components, which reduces maintenance
expenses. They are also very dependable, with a service life of 25+ years of assured
power. Because solar electricity is powered by the sun, there is no need to drill for
petroleum-based fuels, refine them, or transport them to the location. As you can see,
solar energy has several advantages.

SOLAR TECHNOLOGIES

Solar energy may be harnessed in three ways: photovoltaics, solar heating and
cooling, and concentrating solar power. Photovoltaics utilize an electrical method to
create electricity directly from sunshine and may be used to power everything from
small devices like calculators and traffic signs to houses and huge commercial
companies. Solar heating and cooling (SHC) systems capture solar thermal energy and
utilize it to produce hot water, room heating, cooling, and pool heating for residential,
commercial, and industrial uses. Concentrating solar power (CSP) facilities employ
mirrors to focus the sun's energy, which is then used to power traditional steam turbines
or engines to generate electricity. Thermal energy concentrated in a CSP plant may be
stored and utilized to generate electricity at any time of day or night. SHC and CSP
applications both employ the heat generated by the sun to provide space or water
heating in the case of SHC systems, or to power typical electricity-generating turbines in
the case of CSP power plants. These methods eliminate the need for power or natural
gas.
WHAT IS SOLAR PANEL?

A solar panel, also called solar module, is an element of a photovoltaic system.

They are built out of a series of photovoltaic cells arranged into a panel. They are
composed of a panel made from a succession of solar cells. They come in various
rectangular designs and are utilized to generate power in groups. Solar panels, also
referred to as photovoltaic panels, absorb energy from the sun in the form of sunlight
and convert it to electricity which can be used to power residentials or businesses.
These panels can be used to amplify a building's electricity supply or to deliver power to
remote areas.

Solar is employed in large-scale industrial or utility applications in addition to

residential and commercial applications. Thousands, if not millions, of solar panels are
installed in a large solar array, or solar farm, that provides power to massive urban
populations.

TYPES OF SOLAR PANEL

 Monocrystalline Solar Panels

Monocrystalline solar panel are the

most developed kind of solar panel and
the oldest type. These monocrystalline
solar panels are produced using around
40 of the monocrystalline solar cells.
These solar cells are generated from pure
silicon.

Monocrystalline solar cells seem

dark in appearance due to the sunlight’s
interaction with pure silicon. While the cells are dark, there is various colors and designs
for the back sheets and casings. The monocrystalline cells are shaped like a square
with the corners omitted, so there are gaps between the cells.
 Polycrystalline Solar Panels

Polycrystalline solar panels are

new to the market but are gaining
popularity and efficiency quickly. This
solar panel are produced using
polycrystalline cells which are made from
silicon as well. But polycrystalline cells are
made from fragments of the silicon crystal
melted together.

The polycrystalline cells appear in the color of blue for the way that the sunlight
reflects on the crystals. Sunlight reflects off of silicon fragments differently than it does
with a pure silicon cell. Normally, the back frames and frames are silver with
polycrystalline, but it can vary. The cells are square-shaped, and there are no gaps
between corners of cells.

 Thin-Film Solar Panels

Thin-film solar panels are a

very new advancement in the solar
panel industry. The most distinctive
feature of thin-film panels is that they
are not always created from silicon.
They can be made from a variety of
materials, including Cadmium
Telluride (CdTe), Amorphous Silicon
(a-Si), and Copper Indium Gallium
Selenide (CIGS). These solar cells are created by placing the main material between
thin sheets of conductive material with a layer of glass on top for protection.

Thin-film panels are easily identified by their thin look, as their name suggests.
These panels are around 350 times thinner than silicon wafer-based panels. However,
thin-film frames can be large at times, and that can make the appearance of the entire
solar panel system compared to that of a monocrystalline or polycrystalline system.
Thin-film cells can be black or blue, depending on the material they were produced
from.

https://www.8msolar.com/types-of-solar-panels

TYPES OF SOLAR PV SYSTEMS

All type of solar power system is different from each other on the basis of their
specifications and features while all solar power system works on same principle.

1. Off Grid Solar Power System

Off-grid solar power system is a system that comes with battery bank. This power
plant system store unused energy in batteries, supplied with the solar PV system. With
the use of solar inverter, it allows this system to convert direct current from the batteries
into alternating current—which is the standard form of electricity for whatever that plugs
into a power source and is the appropriate electrical current for everyday domestic
appliances.

2. On Grid Solar Power System

This type of solar PV system is the one that only generates electricity when the
utility power grid is available. In order to work, they must be connected to the grid. On
grid solar PV system automatically transmit excess power to the grid when solar panels
are producing too much power.

3. Hybrid Solar Power System

This solar power system is the combination of off-grid and on-grid solar PV
systems.

APPLICATION OF SOLAR ENERGY

1. Solar Water Heating

Solar energy can be used to heat water. Heating water for bathing, dishwashing,
and clothes washing is the second largest home energy cost. Installing a solar water
heater can reduce your water heating bill by as much as 50 percent. A solar water
heater works a lot like solar space heating. In our hemisphere, a solar collector is
mounted on the south side of a roof where it can capture sunlight. The sunlight heats
water in a tank. The hot water is piped to faucets throughout a house, just as it would be
with an ordinary water heater.

2. Solar Electricity

Solar energy can also be used to produce electricity. Two ways to make
electricity from solar energy are photo voltaic and solar thermal systems.

 Photovoltaic Electricity

Photovoltaic comes from the words photo, meaning light, and volt, a
measurement of electricity. Sometimes photovoltaic cells are called PV cells or
solar cells for short. You are probably familiar with photovoltaic cells. Solar-
powered toys, calculators, and roadside telephone call boxes all use solar cells
to convert sunlight into electricity. Solar cells are made up of silicon, the same
substance that makes up sand. Silicon is the second most common substance
on Earth. Solar cells can supply energy to anything that is powered by batteries
or electrical power. Electricity is produced when radiant energy from the sun
strikes the solar cell, causing the electrons to move around. The action of the
electrons starts an electric current. The conversion of sunlight into electricity
takes place silently and instantly. There are no mechanical parts to wear out
Compared to other ways of making electricity, photovoltaic systems are
expensive and many panels are needed to equal the electricity generated at
other types of plants. It can cost 10 to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour to produce
electricity from solar cells. Most people pay their electric companies about 12
cents per kilowatt-hour for the electricity they use, and large industrial consumers
pay less. Solar systems are often used to generate electricity in remote areas
that are a long way from electric power lines. In 2009, the DeSoto Next
Generation Solar Energy Center in Florida opened. It is the largest photovoltaic
plant in the country, generating 25 megawatts of electricity—enough to power
3,000 homes.

 Solar Thermal Electricity

 Like solar cells, solar thermal systems, also called concentrated solar
power (CSP), use solar energy to produce electricity, but in a different way. Most
solar thermal systems use a solar collector with a mirrored surface to focus
sunlight onto a receiver that heats a liquid. The super-heated liquid is used to
make steam to produce electricity in the same way that coal plants do. There are
CSP plants in California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Colorado, and Hawaii. Solar
energy has great potential for the future. Solar energy is free, and its supplies are
unlimited. It does not pollute or otherwise damage the environment. It cannot be
controlled by any one nation or industry. If we can improve the technology to
harness the sun’s enormous power, we may never face energy shortages again.

3. Solar Space Heating

Space heating means heating the space inside a building. Today, many homes
use solar energy for space heating. A passive solar home is designed to let in as much
sunlight as possible. It is like a big solar collector. Sunlight passes through the windows
and heats the walls and floor inside the house. The light can get in, but the heat is
trapped inside. passive solar home does not depend on mechanical equipment, such as
pumps and blowers, to heat the house, whereas active solar homes do.

4. Solar Distillation

Before beginning a discussion on water treatment systems that utilize solar

power, it is worth mentioning the sun and how much power is actually available. As the
Earth is an imperceptible cosmic dot from the sun’s perspective, very little of the total
energy emitted from the sun ever reaches the Earth. In fact, at the outmost reaches of
our atmosphere we receive only one-billionth of the energy that the sun produces. The
sun’s energy per unit area is called solar flux and is generally measured in W/m2. While
the extraterrestrial solar flux (flux at the outer edge of our atmosphere) is 1,353 W/m2,
this can never be reached on the Earth’s surface. If the solar flux were that high on the
Earth’s surface we would be in much greater danger from the sun, so we are quite
thankful that the atmosphere absorbs much of the solar flux. However, the interference
from the atmosphere complicates solar technologies. Due to atmospheric diffusion,
solar flux is reduced by at least 15–30%, even on the sunniest day of summer on the
equator. Typically, solar flux from 300 to 1,000 W/m2 is referenced as being used for
solar technologies. Often times, references to higher solar flux values include the
magnifying characteristics of compounding reflectors. Solar technology is surprisingly
fickle as it is heavily dependent on sufficient solar flux. Attributes that affect solar flux
are absorption and scattering by the atmosphere, the time (day, month, or year),
latitude, altitude, and meteorological effects. Additionally, technology used to capture
the sun’s energy is expensive to manufacture and produce, though often not as
expensive as other water treatment technology costs. Under current systems and
operations, desalination costs are substantial for developing communities—particularly
those with comparatively small populations. The infrastructure required to produce and
support continuous desalination and purification—including power supply, pre-
treatment, brine management, janitorial maintainability, repairs and modifications
maintainability, and inventory—is a daunting task when the protective hedge of other
city sized systems are far removed. However, while cities may have the cash flow to
employ full-scale operations to alleviate water needs, those left beyond the reach of
urbanization have hand-collected water from unsanitized sources as their only recourse.
Yet despite developing countries with 50–70% of their population living in the few urban
centers (UN DESA 2007), there still remains hundreds of millions of people qualified by
the UN as being “water-stressed” who need access to cheaper and more reliable
technology to bring them clean water.

ADVANTAGES OF SOLAR ENERGY:

1. Source of Renewable Energy

Unlike certain other energy sources, solar energy cannot be depleted. Solar
energy will be available as long as we have the sun, thus sunlight will be available to
humanity for at least 5 billion years after the sun dies, according to experts.

2. Electricity bills are reduced.

Your energy costs will be lower since you will be meeting some of your
energy demands with the power generated by your solar system. The amount you
 save on your bill will be determined on the size of the solar system and the amount
of power or heat you use.

3. Various Applications

Solar energy may be utilized for a variety of applications. You may use
photovoltaics to create power or heat (solar thermal). Solar energy may be used to
generate electricity in locations where there is no access to the power grid, to distill
water in areas where there is a scarcity of clean water, and to power spacecraft in
space. Solar energy may also be used into construction materials. Sharp just
unveiled transparent solar energy windows.

4. Low Operating Costs

Solar energy systems, in general, do not need a lot of upkeep. You simply
need to maintain them moderately clean, so cleaning them twice a year would
enough.

5. Technological Advancement

The solar power industry's technology is continuously evolving, and

advancements will continue in the future. Quantum physics and nanotechnology
advancements have the potential to enhance the efficacy of solar panels and
double, or perhaps treble, the electrical input of solar power systems.

DISADVANTAGES OF SOLAR ENERGY:

1. Cost

The initial cost of acquiring a solar system is rather significant. This covers
the purchase of solar panels, an inverter, batteries, wiring, and installation.
Nonetheless, because solar technology is continually evolving, it is fair to predict that
prices will fall in the future.

2. Weather-related

While solar energy may still be collected during gloomy and rainy days, the
effectiveness of the solar system decreases. Solar panels rely on sunshine to
 properly collect solar energy. As a result, a few gloomy, rainy days can have a
significant impact on the energy system. You should also keep in mind that solar
energy cannot be collected at night.

3. Cost of solar energy storage

Solar energy must be used immediately or stored in huge batteries. These

batteries, which are utilized in off-the-grid solar systems, may be charged during the
day, and used at night. This is an excellent method for utilizing solar energy
continuously throughout the day, but it is also rather costly. In most situations, it is
preferable to use solar energy during the day and draw power from the grid at night
(you can only do this if your system is connected to the grid). Fortunately, your
energy consumption is often higher during the day, allowing you to satisfy the
majority of it using solar energy.

4. Uses a lot of space

The more power you wish to generate, the more solar panels you'll need to
capture as much sunshine as possible. Solar PV panels take up a lot of space, and
some roofs aren't big enough to accommodate the number of solar panels you'd like
to have.

5. Associated with pollution

Although pollution from solar energy systems is far lower than pollution from
other sources of electricity, solar energy can be connected with pollution. The
transportation and installation of solar systems have been linked to greenhouse gas
emissions. There are also certain poisonous elements and hazardous goods used in
the production of solar photovoltaic systems, which might have an indirect impact on
the environment. Nonetheless, solar energy emits considerably less pollution than
other alternative energy sources.
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