Solar power is by far the Earth's most available energy source, easily capable of providing many times the total current energy demand. However, it is an intermittent energy source, meaning that solar power must normally be supplemented by storage or another energy source for example with wind power and pumped-storage hydroelectricity.
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Solar power is by far the Earth's most available energy source, easily capable of providing many times the total current energy demand. However, it is an intermittent energy source, meaning that solar power must normally be supplemented by storage or another energy source for example with wind power and pumped-storage hydroelectricity.
The largest solar power plants, like the 354 MW SEGS, are concentrating solar thermal plants, but recently multi-megawatt photovoltaic plants have been built. Completed in 2008, the 46 MW Moura photovoltaic power station in Portugal and the 40 MW Waldpolenz Solar Park in Germany are characteristic of the trend toward larger photovoltaic power stations. Much larger ones are proposed, such as the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm, and the 600 MW Rancho Cielo Solar Farm. Covering 4% of the world's desert area with photovoltaics could supply all of the world's electricity. The Gobi Desert alone could supply almost all of the world's total energy demand.
Overview
Sunlight can be converted into electricity using photovoltaics (PV), concentrating solar power (CSP), and various experimental technologies. PV has mainly been used to power small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to off-grid homes powered by a photovoltaic array.
One problem with solar power though is that developing countries may not have the funds to build the power plants. One fundamental difference between renewable energy and non-renewable energy is that non-renewable resources can be purchased as they are consumed, whereas with renewable resources, you pay up front for the next twenty years or so of energy.
Concentrating solar power CSP
main: Concentrating 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 troughs, concentrating linear fresnel reflector, dish Sterling and solar power tower. Suntrofmulk parabolic troughs achieve over 25% efficiency and considered by far the most advanced in the CSP industry.These methods vary in the way they track the Sun and focus light. In all these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage. Martin and Goswami (2005), p. 45
A parabolic trough consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the reflector's focal line. The receiver is a tube positioned right above the middle of the parabolic mirror and is filled with a working fluid. The reflector is made to follow the Sun during the daylight hours by tracking along a single axis. Parabolic trough systems provide the best land-use factor of any solar technology. The SEGS plants in California and Acciona's Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Nevada are representatives of this technology.
