Issues with mass implementation of solar power plants.
Solar Power is one of the cleanest and greenest source of energy available to us. Solar power cleanly converts the Sun’s power into energy that we could use in our everyday life without any harmful emissions.
It is one of the most abundant sources of energy. Only a small fraction of the entire solar power output strikes the Earth, but even that output is sufficient to power more than 10,000 times our current energy demands.
Hence not only is solar power clean but it is also abundantly available on earth. According to National Academy of Engineering, the share of solar power in the total energy market remains rather small, well below 1 percent of total energy consumption, compared with roughly 85 percent from oil, natural gas, and coal. Why isn’t such a clean and abundant source of energy not harnessed by mankind and why are we still dependant upon non-renewable source of energy like fossil fuels to meet all the energy demands?
Solar Power is one of the fastest growing renewable source of energy. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, more solar panels were installed in the third quarter of 2011 than in all of 2009 combined. Even though solar power is growing at a rapid pace in the United States, there are various problems associated with the mass implementation of Solar Power.
Variables that should be tracked over time
Solar Power is one of the cleanest and greenest source of energy available to us. Solar power cleanly converts the Sun’s power into energy that we could use in our everyday life without any harmful emissions.
It is one of the most abundant sources of energy. Only a small fraction of the entire solar power output strikes the Earth, but even that output is sufficient to power more than 10,000 times our current energy demands.
Hence not only is solar power clean but it is also abundantly available on earth. According to National Academy of Engineering, the share of solar power in the total energy market remains rather small, well below 1 percent of total energy consumption, compared with roughly 85 percent from oil, natural gas, and coal. Why isn’t such a clean and abundant source of energy not harnessed by mankind and why are we still dependant upon non-renewable source of energy like fossil fuels to meet all the energy demands?
Solar Power is one of the fastest growing renewable source of energy. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, more solar panels were installed in the third quarter of 2011 than in all of 2009 combined. Even though solar power is growing at a rapid pace in the United States, there are various problems associated with the mass implementation of Solar Power.
Variables that should be tracked over time
- Contribution of Solar Power to the total Power demand
- Growth in number of solar plants around the world over the years
- Cost efficiency study of those plants as compared to plants based on coal or other resources.
Projected contribution of Solar Power
It is estimated that the contribution of Solar Power towards the total energy production is expected to grow by leaps and bounds, and it is estimated to overtake fossil fuel demand by the year 2080.
Following are the problems associated with implementation of Solar Power
Hard Elements associated with implementation of Solar Power
1. Efficiency
Most of the Solar Panels present today are made from Silicon. Silicon can convert sunlight into electricity with an efficiency of around 10-20%, although recent technology has increased this number slightly. However, the biggest shortfall in using silicon for solar panels is that there is a theoretical maximum of 31% which we can achieve. Hence only 31% of sunlight falling on the panels can be effectively converted into usable electricity.
2. Manufacturing cost
Solar panel are currently manufactured mainly from Silicon. These silicon based solar panel are extremely expensive to manufacture. Intense research and various government subsidies have significantly brought down the cost of Solar Panels over the past decade, however the largest cost of using solar power is the initial setup cost. The power generated from the solar panels is roughly 3 to 6 times higher in value than the current price of electricity obtained from fossil fuels.
3. Storage cost
Even after discovering cheap ways to manufacture solar panels, one of the major barriers to widespread use of sun’s energy is the need for storage. Even though Sun is abundantly found all over the Earth, cloudy weather and nighttime darkness cannot provide us with uninterrupted source of solar power. Hence Solar Power needs to be stored for times when sun is not present in the sky, which increases the cost of Solar Power.
Soft Elements associated with implementation of Solar Power
1. Social acceptance of high energy cost
As we have mentioned above, the cost of power generated from solar panels is roughly 3 to 6 times higher than the current prices. Hence the acceptance of solar power by everyone as a single source of energy is difficult. Everyone wants a cheap source of power and paying extra just to obtain clean and a green source of energy is not acceptable by most.
2. Political backing
Assisted by continual support of the government and years of subsidies, the cost of solar power has fallen sharply over the years. But the solar power companies are unable to stay truly competitive and keep creating jobs without few more years of government support. Hence continued government support is one of the reasons that solar power is even a bit competitive as compared to other fuels. Without this political backing, solar power is still not cost effective for mass implementation.
Conclusion
As observed above there are a lot of engineering challenges associated with the mass implementation of Solar Power. There is an immediate need of developing better engineered materials for the manufacturing of solar panels. There are a few dyes, and nano-particles which are capable of giving almost 70-80% of theoretical efficiency than the current widely used material silicon which give only 31% theoretical efficiency . However, none of these nanoparticles have been mass manufactured. Also, various efficient ways need to be developed to store the power from solar panels in various photovoltaic cells.
The United States accounted for $1.6 billion of the world’s $29 billion market for solar panels; California is by far the leading solar state. Still United states is lagging behind countries like Germany and China in Solar Power.
The Desert sunlight solar farm is a 550 MW solar power plant under construction in Riverside County, California, that will use thin-film solar photovoltaic modules. Gujarat Solar Park, a group of solar farms at various locations in the Gujarat state of India, with overall capacity of 690 MW.
Hence the future for Solar Power looks bright, but there are yet a lot of engineering and technical challenges to be achieved before a successful mass implementation of Solar Power is accomplished.
Following are the problems associated with implementation of Solar Power
Hard Elements associated with implementation of Solar Power
1. Efficiency
Most of the Solar Panels present today are made from Silicon. Silicon can convert sunlight into electricity with an efficiency of around 10-20%, although recent technology has increased this number slightly. However, the biggest shortfall in using silicon for solar panels is that there is a theoretical maximum of 31% which we can achieve. Hence only 31% of sunlight falling on the panels can be effectively converted into usable electricity.
2. Manufacturing cost
Solar panel are currently manufactured mainly from Silicon. These silicon based solar panel are extremely expensive to manufacture. Intense research and various government subsidies have significantly brought down the cost of Solar Panels over the past decade, however the largest cost of using solar power is the initial setup cost. The power generated from the solar panels is roughly 3 to 6 times higher in value than the current price of electricity obtained from fossil fuels.
3. Storage cost
Even after discovering cheap ways to manufacture solar panels, one of the major barriers to widespread use of sun’s energy is the need for storage. Even though Sun is abundantly found all over the Earth, cloudy weather and nighttime darkness cannot provide us with uninterrupted source of solar power. Hence Solar Power needs to be stored for times when sun is not present in the sky, which increases the cost of Solar Power.
Soft Elements associated with implementation of Solar Power
1. Social acceptance of high energy cost
As we have mentioned above, the cost of power generated from solar panels is roughly 3 to 6 times higher than the current prices. Hence the acceptance of solar power by everyone as a single source of energy is difficult. Everyone wants a cheap source of power and paying extra just to obtain clean and a green source of energy is not acceptable by most.
2. Political backing
Assisted by continual support of the government and years of subsidies, the cost of solar power has fallen sharply over the years. But the solar power companies are unable to stay truly competitive and keep creating jobs without few more years of government support. Hence continued government support is one of the reasons that solar power is even a bit competitive as compared to other fuels. Without this political backing, solar power is still not cost effective for mass implementation.
Conclusion
As observed above there are a lot of engineering challenges associated with the mass implementation of Solar Power. There is an immediate need of developing better engineered materials for the manufacturing of solar panels. There are a few dyes, and nano-particles which are capable of giving almost 70-80% of theoretical efficiency than the current widely used material silicon which give only 31% theoretical efficiency . However, none of these nanoparticles have been mass manufactured. Also, various efficient ways need to be developed to store the power from solar panels in various photovoltaic cells.
The United States accounted for $1.6 billion of the world’s $29 billion market for solar panels; California is by far the leading solar state. Still United states is lagging behind countries like Germany and China in Solar Power.
The Desert sunlight solar farm is a 550 MW solar power plant under construction in Riverside County, California, that will use thin-film solar photovoltaic modules. Gujarat Solar Park, a group of solar farms at various locations in the Gujarat state of India, with overall capacity of 690 MW.
Hence the future for Solar Power looks bright, but there are yet a lot of engineering and technical challenges to be achieved before a successful mass implementation of Solar Power is accomplished.
So what we need to do is get everyone on board with solar power and it won't need to be as expensive! I'm not sure that's how it works, though. :)
ReplyDeleteGood topic Dhruvi!
ReplyDeleteMy question is, How cost effective are these Nano particles? and how is that factor going to impact the cost problem that already exists with the current panels?