PV Gap

Andre Said:

if i install 5 MW solar power plant how much electricity produce?

We Answered:

5 MW is 5000 kW is 5000000 watts.

that size solar power plant is huge, many acres.
.

Lester Said:

how is solar power used to generate electricity? how does it work?

We Answered:

There are two processes. Phot voltaic cells (aka solar cells) work by absorbing radiant energy. This excites electrons in the absorbing medium (usually silicon). These excited electrons can be made to flow through a closed conducting circuit producing electricity. The cells are fairly efficient, but they produce direct current. Unfortunately, DC cannot be transmitted over long distances so power produced by solar cells needs to be used close by. Also, most power users are actually designed to use alternating current so even for local use the DC must be converted to AC via a device known as an inverter. All of this adds to the cost making solar cells uneconomic absent some form of subsidy.

The other approach would be to focus sunlight (using mirrors) on a boiler to generate high pressure steam. This steam can then be used to drive generators via turbines in the same way as steam generated in fuel fired power plants.

A demonstration plant using this approach was actually built in the U.S. and actually produced about 1MW of power. The ecological foot print of this type of generating facility is, however, as it requires a very large area.

Both approaches produce no energy at night and power production is greatly reduced when its cloudy.

Oscar Said:

How is Solar power used to generate electricity?

We Answered:

Using solar cells. Technically it is photovoltaic effect.