Choosing solar power is a great way to conserve our planet and help prevent global warming. The source of energy comes straight from the sun and is virtually unlimited. Also the amount of energy that hits the earth’s atmosphere is 1667 Watt per square meter. The amount of energy that hits the earth in 1 hour is greater than our worlds entire energy consumption in 1 year. Pretty amazing right?
This is an article about solar power information and by reading this article you will understand the different types of solar power technologies that exists.
The different types of solar power are:
Concentrated Solar Power or CSP
There are 3 different types of CSP.
Parabolic troughs
These types are curved and concentrate the sunlight into a receiver which then heats a transfer fluid that runs a generator.
Power Tower
This system generates steam which is used to power a generator to produce electricity. This form can produce from 50 to 200 megawatts of energy.
Dish Engine
This is a generator that burns sunlight directly into electricity.
PV or Photovoltaic Systems
Photovoltaic systems convert sunlight into electricity with the help of a semi conductor. The most common used semi conductor for PV systems is Silicon.
These comes in many different shapes and sizes, but they all work in the same way. Individual photovoltaic cells are connected to make PV modules and PV modules are connected to make PV arrays. The PV arrays are then used as a part in a photovoltaic system.
The difference between CSP and Photovoltaics is that CSP is used to produce larger quantities of electricity. CSP are used in solar power plants.
Photovoltaics is generally used in smaller systems such as in calculators, highway emergency phones, satellites, or on residential roofs as a way to generate free electricity.
In summary:
There are different types of solar technologies. One is called concentrated solar power and it works by concentrating the suns rays into a receiver. In this receiver there is a medium that collects the energy and use it to power a generator which produces electricity.
Photovoltaics use semiconductors to transform the sun energy to electricity directly. The material used is often Silicon.
The difference between CSP and PV is that CSP are larger systems and are mostly used in commercial solar electricity plants. Photovoltaics are generally smaller and can be found in our day to day life such as calculators, emergency phones, etc.