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Solar Power Applications: by Barbara M. Drazga

The document discusses several solar power applications: 1) Concentrating solar power plants use mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight and generate electricity through technologies like parabolic troughs and central receivers. 2) Solar thermal electric power plants and solar heating systems harness solar energy to generate hot water or heat for domestic, industrial, and building uses. 3) Photovoltaic technology uses solar cells to directly convert sunlight into electricity that can power devices or charge batteries. Solar arrays provide power for satellites, remote equipment, and emergency phones.

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56 views4 pages

Solar Power Applications: by Barbara M. Drazga

The document discusses several solar power applications: 1) Concentrating solar power plants use mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight and generate electricity through technologies like parabolic troughs and central receivers. 2) Solar thermal electric power plants and solar heating systems harness solar energy to generate hot water or heat for domestic, industrial, and building uses. 3) Photovoltaic technology uses solar cells to directly convert sunlight into electricity that can power devices or charge batteries. Solar arrays provide power for satellites, remote equipment, and emergency phones.

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Solar power applications

 by Barbara M. Drazga

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP): Concentrating solar power


(CSP) plants are utility-scale generators that produce electricity
using mirrors or lenses to efficiently concentrate the sun’s energy.
The four principal CSP technologies are parabolic troughs, dish-
Stirling engine systems, central receivers, and concentrating
photovoltaic systems (CPV). 

Solar Thermal Electric Power Plants: Solar thermal energy


involves harnessing solar power for practical applications from solar
heating to electrical power generation. Solar thermal collectors,
such as solar hot water panels, are commonly used to generate solar
hot water for domestic and light industrial applications. This energy
system is also used in architecture and building design to control
heating and ventilation in both active solar and passive solar
designs.

Photovoltaics: Photovoltaic or PV technology employs solar cells


or solar photovoltaic arrays to convert energy from the sun into
electricity. Solar cells produce direct current electricity from the
sun’s rays, which can be used to power equipment or to recharge
batteries. Many pocket calculators incorporate a single solar cell,
but for larger applications, cells are generally grouped together to
form PV modules that are in turn arranged in solar arrays. Solar
arrays can be used to power orbiting satellites and other spacecraft,
and in remote areas as a source of power for roadside emergency
telephones, remote sensing, and cathodic protection of pipelines.

Solar Heating Systems: Solar hot water systems use sunlight to


heat water. The systems are composed of solar thermal collectors
and a storage tank, and they may be active, passive or batch
systems.
 

Passive Solar Energy:  It concerns building design to maintain its environment at a


comfortable temperature through the sun’s daily and annual cycles.  It can be done
by (1) Direct gain or the positioning of windows, skylights, and shutters to control the
amount of direct solar radiation reaching the interior and warming the air and surfaces
within a building; (2) Indirect gain in which solar radiation is captured by a part of the
building envelope and then transmitted indirectly to the building through conduction
and convection; and (3) Isolated gain which involves passively capturing solar heat and
then moving it passively into or out of the building via a liquid or air directly or using a
thermal store. Sunspaces, greenhouses, and solar closets are alternative ways of
capturing isolated heat gain from which warmed air can be taken.

Solar Lighting: Also known as daylighting, this is the use of


natural light to provide illumination to offset energy use in electric
lighting systems and reduce the cooling load on HVAC
systems. Daylighting features include building orientation, window
orientation, exterior shading, saw tooth roofs, clerestory windows,
light shelves, skylights, and light tubes. Architectural trends
increasingly recognize daylighting as a cornerstone of sustainable
design.

Solar Cars: A solar car is an electric vehicle powered by energy obtained from solar
panels on the surface of the car which convert the sun’s energy directly into electrical
energy. Solar cars are not currently a practical form of transportation. Although they can
operate for limited distances without sun, the solar cells are generally very fragile.
Development teams have focused their efforts on optimizing the efficiency of the vehicle,
but many have only enough room for one or two people.

Solar Power Satellite: A solar power satellite (SPS) is a proposed


satellite built in high Earth orbit that uses microwave power
transmission to beam solar power to a very large antenna on Earth
where it can be used in place of conventional power sources. The
advantage of placing the solar collectors in space is the unobstructed
view of the sun, unaffected by the day/night cycle, weather, or
seasons. However, the costs of construction are very high, and SPSs
will not be able to compete with conventional sources unless low
launch costs can be achieved or unless a space-based manufacturing
industry develops and they can be built in orbit from off-earth
materials.

Solar Updraft Tower: A solar updraft tower is a proposed type of


renewable-energy power plant. Air is heated in a very large circular
greenhouse-like structure, and the resulting convection causes the
air to rise and escape through a tall tower. The moving air drives
turbines, which produce electricity. There are no solar updraft
towers in operation at present. A research prototype operated in
Spain in the 1980s, and EnviroMission is proposing to construct a
full-scale power station using this technology in Australia. 

Renewable Solar Power Systems with Regenerative Fuel


Cell Systems: NASA has long recognized the unique advantages of
regenerative fuel cell (RFC) systems to provide energy storage for
solar power systems in space. RFC systems are uniquely qualified to
provide the necessary energy storage for solar surface power
systems on the moon or Mars during long periods of darkness, i.e.
during the 14-day lunar night or the12-hour Martian night. The
nature of the RFC and its inherent design flexibility enables it to
effectively meet the requirements of space missions. And in the
course of implementing the NASA RFC Program, researchers
recognized that there are numerous applications in government,
industry, transportation, and the military for RFC systems as well.

 
From article about “Solar Power Commercial Market
Applications” Energy Industry Business Reports

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