As we seek ways to reduce our dependency on fossil fuel, with new technological advances and greater environmental awareness, solar power plants and systems will hopefully become commonplace throughout the world. Accumulating the power of the sun and converting it to solar power energy we can use for our every day needs is achieved through several methods.
The two most popular methods for generating solar power energy are the concentrating solar power system and the photovoltaic system (PV). The PV system cam convert light from the sun directly into electricity, and is most often used for industrial and residential applications. The Concentrating Solar Power (CSP system) uses the sun’s heat in lieu of fossil fuels to generate heat that fuels a traditional power plant. The CSP system could potentially provide sufficient electricity for a whole city. There are three methods by which a Concentrating Solar Power System generates a large amount of energy: the power tower system, the dish engine system, and the parabolic-trough system.
Solar panel installation costs can vary greatly. For example, you may see higher costs if you plan to install custom solar panels in for a house located in a densely populated area, whereas roof-mounting traditional box-style solar panels on a building located in a remote or sparsely populated area will cost a bit less. If you prefer a more discreet, aesthetically pleasing appearance, building materials are now available with the solar cells built right in. Your roofing, awnings and windows become the solar power energy collectors that provide your power.
If your structure is shaded part of the time, consider mounting the solar panels with ground and pole mounts; adding greater freedom to your design. Additionally, the panels can be rooftop mounted. Special features can be added to solar panels that cause them to follow the sun’s path across the sky, thus increasing their energy output and providing more solar power energy.
Parabolic-trough systems focus the sun’s heat by use of long mirrors. The heat then travels to piping that has been built into the mirror’s center, through which oil is pumped which carries heat away from the mirrors. Heat from the oil is then used to heat up water to generate steam and power a generator.
Dish-engine systems that are made up of a solar parabolic dish, use heated fluids in a similar way to the parabolic-trough systems, but the expansion of the heated fluid allows it to move large pistons for powering an electric generator to generate solar power energy.
Solar power energy created by power tower systems use a huge array of mirrors to focus the heat from the sun onto a tower mounted receiver which heats molten salt flowing through the receiver. The heat from the molten salt is then used to heat water to create steam to power a generator.