Converting sunlight into electricity has always been a problem with solar platforms. There are new technologies and strategies that are tackling this issue.
The old power generating plants use a fuel to heat a liquid until it expands or turns into gas. This can produce electricity when the generator is cranked by the turbine that the pressure or gas rotates. This is a method long used for coal, nuclear, hydropower, and other power source types. The concept is now being transferred to solar platforms in an effort to get more bang for the buck out of these clean energy platforms.
When it comes to solar energy, sunlight can be converted to energy at 10-15% efficiency only. If that efficiency were in sports, the best players would only bat an average of 150, 1.5 of football throws, and 1 out of 10 dunk shots. These aren't good.
The problem with solar power is the base construct of solar cells. Different forms of silicon have been used to convert sunlight into energy. The material is simply inefficient and improvements are slow and incremental. The situation is similar to trying to turn a moped into a high performance racing bike. You don't have much to work with. Given the limitations of silicon, solar producers are trying new strategies.
One of the major new strategies is to use the sun as a direct heating component to produce power. Solar producers make use of reflective panels to focus the sunlight onto a certain spot. A pipe or pool of liquid is found in the spot. The concentrated sunlight will heat the liquid and the turbine will crank the generator to produce energy. You can understand this perfectly if you've ever sat inside a car without air conditioning during a very hot day.
Generating energy from the sun on a large scale has always been a bit of a head-scratcher. But the concentrated energy gives us hope for that.
The old power generating plants use a fuel to heat a liquid until it expands or turns into gas. This can produce electricity when the generator is cranked by the turbine that the pressure or gas rotates. This is a method long used for coal, nuclear, hydropower, and other power source types. The concept is now being transferred to solar platforms in an effort to get more bang for the buck out of these clean energy platforms.
When it comes to solar energy, sunlight can be converted to energy at 10-15% efficiency only. If that efficiency were in sports, the best players would only bat an average of 150, 1.5 of football throws, and 1 out of 10 dunk shots. These aren't good.
The problem with solar power is the base construct of solar cells. Different forms of silicon have been used to convert sunlight into energy. The material is simply inefficient and improvements are slow and incremental. The situation is similar to trying to turn a moped into a high performance racing bike. You don't have much to work with. Given the limitations of silicon, solar producers are trying new strategies.
One of the major new strategies is to use the sun as a direct heating component to produce power. Solar producers make use of reflective panels to focus the sunlight onto a certain spot. A pipe or pool of liquid is found in the spot. The concentrated sunlight will heat the liquid and the turbine will crank the generator to produce energy. You can understand this perfectly if you've ever sat inside a car without air conditioning during a very hot day.
Generating energy from the sun on a large scale has always been a bit of a head-scratcher. But the concentrated energy gives us hope for that.
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