Scribd
Upload
28 views3 pages

Solar PV

Uploaded by

Satyender Kumar Jain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
28 views3 pages

Solar PV

Uploaded by

Satyender Kumar Jain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity,

either directly using photovoltaics (PV), indirectly using concentrated


solar power, or a combination. Concentrated solar power systems use
lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus a large area of
sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an
electric current using the photovoltaic effect.[1]
Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small
and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single
solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system.
Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the
1980s. As the cost of solar electricity has fallen, the number of grid-
connected solar PV systems has grown into the millions and utility-scale
photovoltaic power stations with hundreds of megawatts are being built.
Solar PV is rapidly becoming an inexpensive, low-carbon technology to
harness renewable energy from the Sun. The current largest
photovoltaic power station in the world is the Pavagada Solar Park,
Karnataka, India with a generation capacity of 2050 MW.[2]
The International Energy Agency projected in 2014 that under its "high
renewables" scenario, by 2050, solar photovoltaics and concentrated
solar power would contribute about 16 and 11 percent, respectively, of
the worldwide electricity consumption, and solar would be the world's
largest source of electricity. Most solar installations would be in China
and India.[3] In 2017, solar power provided 1.7% of total worldwide
electricity production, growing 35% from the previous year.[4] As of
2018, the unsubsidised levelised cost of electricity for utility-scale solar
power is around $43/MWh.[5]
Photovoltaic cells
Main articles: Photovoltaics and Solar cell
Schematics of a grid-connected residential PV power system[6]
A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell (PV), is a device that converts light into
electric current using the photovoltaic effect. The first solar cell was
constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s.[7] The German industrialist
Ernst Werner von Siemens was among those who recognized the
importance of this discovery.[8] In 1931, the German engineer Bruno
Lange developed a photo cell using silver selenide in place of copper
oxide,[9] although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of
incident light into electricity. Following the work of Russell Ohl in the
1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller and Daryl Chapin
created the silicon solar cell in 1954.[10] These early solar cells cost
US$286/watt and reached efficiencies of 4.5–6%.[11] In 1957, Mohamed
M. Atalla developed the process of silicon surface passivation by thermal
oxidation at Bell Labs.[12][13] The surface passivation process has since
been critical to solar cell efficiency.[14]
The array of a photovoltaic power system, or PV system, produces direct
current (DC) power which fluctuates with the sunlight's intensity. For
practical use this usually requires conversion to certain desired voltages
or alternating current (AC), through the use of inverters.[6] Multiple solar
cells are connected inside modules. Modules are wired together to form
arrays, then tied to an inverter, which produces power at the desired
voltage, and for AC, the desired frequency/phase.[6]
Many residential PV systems are connected to the grid wherever
available, especially in developed countries with large markets.[15] In
these grid-connected PV systems, use of energy storage is optional. In
certain applications such as satellites, lighthouses, or in developing
countries, batteries or additional power generators are often added as
back-ups. Such stand-alone power systems permit operations at night
and at other times of limited sunlight.

You might also like