PV Gap

Heidi Said:

how to convert solar energy into electrical energy?

We Answered:

Solar energy is a one of the types of energies available naturally.
This solar energy is available from the sun's rays.We can transfer them to electrical energy.This is stored in batteries and in turn utilised.Before giving you a brief answer to you i want to know what are you doing in your life.If you are an engineering graduate then the above given explanations would not be enough for you.Basically solar energy s converted into electrical energy in two methods.One of the methods is ELECTROMECHANICAL conversion and the other is PHOTOVOLTAIC conversion.In the first cases the solar energy from the sun is made to run the prime mover of the generator.From this inturn the required power is obtained.In the other method the sun's rays are directly stored in the photovoltaic batteries and then utilised.These are only the basics and for further references refer certain books.

Tonya Said:

about solar energy?

We Answered:

Solar power plants work much better in very sunny areas. However, solar panels work in a fairly wide range of locations.
Solar thermal plants are especially more suited to these sunnier areas.

There are several new technologies changing solar photovoltaics or PV.
Different kinds of thin film solar cells, which are cheaper to make because they use less materials. But they aren't as efficient as regular solar cells. They are more useful where more area is available. There are silicon thin film, cadmium teluride thin film and
Copper indium diselenide thin film. I believe there is also copper indium gallium,

solar cells both thin and regular are made from different forms of silicon. Monocrystalline silicon,
Amorphous silicon thin film on plastic substrate , thin film on metal sheet, thin film on glass;
Multicrystalline silicon, Amorphous silicon/ monocrystalline silicon hybrid, String ribbon crystalline silicon, as you can see, the answer is complex.

Some companies are using nanotechnology to improve design.

Power plants, could be solar thermal, where the sun heats water to boiling and makes steam to drive a generator. They use things like parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight on the part that holds the water. Companies doing this say they can already produce electricity at prices competitive with gas and coal fired plants.

Power plants can be concentrating photovoltaic, similar to the thermal plants, but the sunlight is concentrated on PV panels. One company said they increased the sunlight by a factor of 30 .

The best effeciency so far for PV cells is about 20% Most are now up to 14-16%
Thin film efficiency is lower, mostly 10% or less.

Time for a solar panel system to pay for itself is roughly 15 years depending on variables, like tax credits, cost/watt of installation etc.


http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-so… this is an article in Scientific American about a proposal to convert the U.S. electric grid into almost all solar by 2100, 65% by 2050,
using solar thermal and concentrating PV solar power plants in the U.S. southwest.

"Solar is one the most land-efficient sources of clean power we have, using a fraction of the area needed by hydro or wind projects of comparable output. All of America's needs for electric power – the entire US grid, night and day – can be generated with Ausra's current technology using a square parcel of land 92 miles on a side. For comparison, this is less than 1% of America's deserts, less land than currently in use in the U.S. for coal mines."

"Solar thermal power plants such as Ausra's generate electricity by driving steam turbines with sunshine. Ausra's solar concentrators boil water with focused sunlight, and produce electricity at prices directly competitive with gas- and coal-fired electric power."
from Ausra's website

Green Wombat has several articles on solar thermal plants being built in California.
http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/

Here are links to some solar thermal companies. there are a few more.

http://www.ausra.com/

http://www.skyfuel.com/

http://www.solucar.es/sites/solar/en/ind…

http://www.esolar.com/

http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/

Here's a company at or near the cutting edge in thin film PV
http://www.nanosolar.com/

other thin film companies are
United Ovonics Solar (claims good performance in less sunny areas)
First Solar
Emkor
Heliovolt
Open Energy

Evergreen Solar( unique string ribbon technolgy)
Sunpower has the most efficient cells

Virginia Said:

which site is more useful for solar energy?(please answer)?

We Answered:

best site is the desert since in most days there are no clouds.