How Important is The Role of Solar Energy?

Solar energy is often ruled out by many experts when looking at the future energy requirements for the world. Some of the common arguments are that it has a low, cost to benefit ratio and a short life span; however what many people do not realise that is the dominant force in the conversion to green technology. A recent report found that Photovoltaic is among the fastest growing industries in the world and is expected to be a major contributor in developing nations such as China and India. Since 1990 the electric outputs from photovoltaic modules has increased from 47MW to over 23.5GW. That is an increase of over 500 times the amount in 1990. This has caused a debate between scientists on the future prospects of solar energy. Some believe that recent technological advancements in photovoltaics could trigger a further raise in the total world output at a similar rate, on the other hand others claim that solar energy output is set to level out by 2020. One of the biggest factors in the estimation of future solar energy output is the cost of silicon. Silicon is not cheap to produce and is one of the major parts of a solar panel. If future technologies can get around this issue the potential growth in solar energy is limitless. One of these technological advancements is CPVs, though many have not even heard of Concentrated Photovoltaics they could become very important in the effort to decrease the worlds reliance on fossil fuels. CPVs could potentially reduce the cost of solar panels by up to 50%. Using cheap materials such as plastics a layer of concentrating lenses are placed over the silicon. This increases the electrical output of some solar panels by up to 20% in experiments. The overall savings of this technology could really benefit the industry and have a particular large effect on the up take of solar electricity in developing nations. One of the most exciting developments in the industry is the development into remote electronic devices. Till recently the lifespan and durability of solar panels have been questionable reducing the amount of usage in remote devices. Though with in the last 10 years mobile and remote devices are more commonly powered by a mixture of both solar and wind. Some of the most important electronic equipment in the world is currently powered through local green technology. A great example of these devices is the DART system. The DART System is a specialised tsunami sensor located 100’s of kilometres out in the oceans, which provide warning to over 500 million homes across the world and rely on solar energy. Solar technology is becoming more and more important across the world and will continue to do so in to the future.

For any further details on solar pv, solar panels in Mid Wales or any other alternative energy solutions, please visit WDS Green Energy