How Is Solar Energy Calculated?

Solar energy is a mix of the number of hours of direct sunlight as well as the strength you could count on beaming at your location. This mix is referred to as insolation and is the average irradiated density calculated in kilowatt hours in a given square meter per day. As an example, the solar radiated density level of 1000 watts per square meter is an expected quantity for high noon in the heart of summertime when the sun is at its pinnacle of energy irradiation. Measuring solar irradiance on kilowatts per square meter daily basis if the sun remained brilliant and at its peak for an eight hour period, the solar radiant density would be 8.0.

Solar irradiance or density levels will fluctuate widely over the course of a year, particularly in more northern locations. For example, New York City is 6.0 in the month of June but merely 1.7 in the month of December calculating out as an annual average of 4.0. Therefore, you know that solar energy levels are seventy percent less in the initial winter month of December than it will be when June rolls around. When evaluated against Phoenix with a solar irradiant level of 7.8 in June and only 3.0 in December which averages out to 5.5 annually.

If your solar power unit is an off grid model it will be necessary to attain a capacity over 2.3 to 3 time than average June numbers would indicate. If all of these equations and solar lingo is confounding you, the internet has the standards for all locations available for you. This is courtesy of NASAs weather satellites, which have been collecting this data for a good number of years.

Using Irradiance Calculations To Design Your Solar Power Unit

Once we understand how many kilowatts are necessary to satisfy the electrical needs of your residence, we can evaluate which sized system we will need. With a grid tied system, it is fine to use your average annual irradiance for calculating and you want to have a goal of paying zero dollars to your utility provider for the entire year. If you want an off grid unit, you must use the irradiance calculation for December as the yearly power requirement must be adequate.

There are now two completely different sorts of solar panels for domestic and industrial use, one is to heat water and the other type is to provide electricity.

Solar Panels for water are used more in the United Kingdom as they seem to supply the most value benefits to the user. Due to the climate in the United Kingdom and the lack of continuous daylight, solar panels generally work best between the months of April to the beginning of October when the sun is at its highest within the sky.
The typical home will need around five sq meters of solar panel to produce enough heat for their day after day hot water use.

Increasing the time zone by one month both sides to include April and October you may need to have installed up to twenty meters of solar panels which can produce an excessive amount of hot water in the warmer months and then this can and should be discharged as this amount of hot water would be impractical to store. Thus the sizing for solar panels is very important not to under or oversize.

There are two varieties of hot water solar panels, one is a blackened box with pipes running through it like a maze, the water is pumped through this box, the sun’s energy streaming in heats the box and also the pumped water warms up by the time it flows through the exit.

The different sort of hot water solar panel is made from a system called evacuated tubes, these are tubes made from borescope glass (pirex) and they’re made just similar to a thermos flask, twin walled with the air removed therefore the sun’s radiation passes through it a lot more efficiently.

Inside the glass tube a sealed copper rod is fitted, this rod has a small quantity of pure distiled water within and then the air is sucked out to form a vacuum, then the rod is sealed.

The solution within the rod boils at a good deal lower temperature than normal fluids, as a result of the lower air pressure within the rod, when the water boils it travels to the tip of rod then condenses, returns, and then the cycle continues (providing there’s still daylight).

These types of solar panels work extremely well on partly cloudy days because of the rods still cycle whilst the clouds pass over. The top of the tubes insert into a header pipe where water passes all the way through, therefore the hot tips of the rods heat the water passing through.

A normal house could need to have 20 to 30 evacuated tubes installed. The two main advantages of this sort of system is that if a tube breaks it can get replaced independently and on days with broken cloud the panels are more efficient.

Both these types of solar panels work best in conjunction with solar hot water cylinders, most properties have some form of hot water storage. These are generally heated indirectly by utilising a separate gas boiler. The water heated by the solar boiler passes through a copper coil within the cylinder and indirectly radiates the hot water from the pipe to the water in the cylinder.

“Our original strategy of offering a compact, cost-effective platform with single wafer handling is proving to be a very popular solution with Photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer,” says Andreas Dill, Head of Oerlikon Systems.

So far the core competence of Oerlikon Systems was mainly on Semiconductor and Coating Technologies. After the realignment, the focus is now diversifying into the promising nanotechnology applications. With this significant order for SOLARIS the Business Unit has made an important inroad into the PV crystalline cell manufacturing industry. Oerlikon has with this success established itself as pivotal in the PV industry as a technology and equipment manufacturer: with Oerlikon Solar for the Thin-Film technology and with Oerlikon Systems for the crystalline technology. “Both processes complement one another with their respective fields of application. For the Oerlikon Group the advantage and benefit is to be represented in both growth markets with its leading technology,” says Thomas Babacan, Chief Operating Officer at Oerlikon.

SOLARIS was designed for front and backside coating of crystalline silicon solar cells using clean PVD sputtering technology. Its multi-layer capability allows passivation and SiN coating on the front side as well as coating of the backside with various materials. Its very small footprint (3.3 x 2.2 m) and easy integration into existing production lines give SOLARIS a remarkably low ‘cost of ownership’.
“For this client, the SOLARIS production solution provides a big step toward cost-effective production of solar cells. Ultimately, it will help PV technology – and the industry – achieve grid parity,” explains Andreas Dill, Head of Oerlikon Systems.

Home solar space heating is a unique option for heating your home during cold months. If you are interested in this type of system, you will have to choose between passive solar heating systems and active solar heating systems. For instance, a passive system could be built as a frame on the outside of your home. The entire affair would be covered with glass and black screening. Vents cut into the bottom portion of the room’s exterior wall allow cold air to enter the heater, and vents at the top allow warm air to circulate back into the room. This type of setup requires no fans or motors.

An example of an active solar space heating solution would be a solar radiant floor, which can be easily installed over laminate or vinyl (or over existing subfloors, as well). Solar water heating is accomplished in a similar way, using the light and heat generated by the sun to warm water, which is then distributed as you need. While these systems are generally not capable of heating water to the same degree as a traditional water heater, their function is simply to warm the water, thus reducing the amount of energy required to heat the water even higher.

As interest in solar space heating and solar hot water heating has increased, numerous companies have realized the potential of the market and have begun designing residential systems around the principle. This has resulted in the greater availability of prefabricated systems (in the past, most of these systems were manufactured by the homeowner, with a bit of ingenuity).

However, before rushing out and purchasing any solar heating system, it’s highly advised that you do a bit of research into the company’s offering. What do other customers have to say about its efficiency, or about its cost versus ability? This information will help ensure that you make the right choice.

Browse 41 market data tables and in-depth TOC on Concentrated PV and Solar PV market.

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http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/concentrated-pv-and-solar-advanced-technologies-and-global-market-research-33.html

The Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) market includes the submarkets for Low Concentration Photovoltaic (LCPV), Medium Concentration Photovoltaic (MCPV), and High Concentration Photovoltaic (HCPV). The CPV market is still in a nascent stage but is developing rapidly due to the finite nature of non-renewable sources of energy, and the increasing demand for higher output and green energy. The CPV market is estimated to reach $266.0 million in 2014 from about $63.9 million in 2009.

Among all segments, HCPV commands the largest share of global CPV market, and is also expected to have the highest CAGR of 39.1% from 2009 to 2014. The conversion of HCPV systems lowers land requirement, and facilitates higher energy output at lower costs. HCPV technology is thus expected to achieve cost parity with conventional sources of electricity at a faster rate than other CPV technologies.

The initial high growth opportunity for the CPV market lies in regions with high direct normal irradiance (DNI) or direct solar radiation and high cost of grid electricity. These regions include southwest America, southwest Europe, western and central Australia, the Middle East, and northern Africa. While technology developments in the CPV systems market are currently concentrated in Spain, Germany, and the U.S.; government support for CPV technologies in countries such as India, China, Japan, and Australia are expected to drive future market growth.

The global solar PV market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 12.5% during 2009 – 2014 to reach $38.1 billion in 2014. Crystalline silicon PV holds the largest market share of 82%; while the thin film silicon market is expected to have highest growth rate of 28.2% from 2009 to 2014.

In July 2009, India unveiled a $19 billion plan to produce 20 GW of solar power by 2020, with this increasing to 100 GW by 2030 and 200 GW by 2050.

It’s a hugely ambitious project–solar now accounts for only a tiny proportion of India’s energy mix. The need for more capacity is clear–apart from environmental imperatives, India’s inability to meet power demand now has for long crimped its economic growth.

Rules governing the sale of solar power to India’s national and state grid companies are vague, solar equipment makers don’t yet produce enough to benefit from economies of scale and bring down prices, and financing costs make it difficult to expand output rapidly.
Of India’s installed generating capacity of 152.36 gigawatts, there are just two megawatts of solar capacity connected to the grid. There is no data available for off-grid generation.
However, things are moving. On Saturday the government is to unveil a roadmap on how India can achieve its target, which includes provision for surplus solar power made in the domestic sector to be fed into the grid for a fee.

It will also include the role of the federal and provincial governments, funding issues and what sort of financial supports will be made available.

Grid companies aren’t obliged to buy solar power but the “Solar Mission” announcement may change this.

Solar power in India costs 15 rupees ($0.32) per kilowatt hour, compared to 3.5 rupees per kilowatt hour power drawn from the national grid, government officials say.
Other parts of the roadmap may call for government buildings to be fitted with solar panels by 2012, and for the promotion of microfinancing to encourage nearly 20 million households to start using solar power by 2020.

“The solar push will not come easy. After all, we are talking about the world’s second most populous nation transitioning from fossil-fuel energy, which accounts for nearly 60 per cent of our electricity generation, to solar power becoming a substantial part of the country’s energy mix,” Rajiv Arya, chief executive officer of Moser-Baer (India) Ltd.’s photovoltaic business.
Photovoltaic cells, are usually made of silicon, collect solar energy and convert it to electricity.
Moser-Baer will invest $5 billion over 10 years to build new photovoltaic cell manufacturing capacity, in plants in Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi, Chairman Deepak Puri said Tuesday.
Only two other local companies–Tata BP Solar and Webel-SL Energy Systems Ltd. — make solar panels.

The government recently invited bids from companies to set up photovoltaic cell making plants, and offered a range of supports for this.

“The investment required to set up a 3000 megawatt manufacturing capacity will be around 180 billion rupees,” said Rajiv Jain, associate director at India Semiconductor Association. “It is not the money but the cost of finance that will be critical.” Industry players such as K. Subramanya, chief executive at Tata BP Solar, expect the targets can be met and funding won’t be a hurdle.

“This is entirely possible and we have in front of us examples of telecom and internet revolutions that have happened in less than a decade,” Mr. Subramanya said.

Pictured below is a simple small passive solar heater made from recycled aluminium drinks cans and used to heat a room.

If the building to be heated is well insultated, a solar heater such as this can lift the temperature by a significant number of degrees. A larger heater or a number of similar heaters can be used to heat larger spaces, or to heat smaller spaces to a higher temperature.Offcuts of 2 x 4 and a sheet of plywood were used to build a box to tightly hold 5 rows of 10 black-painted aluminium drinks cans.

The inside of the box was then sealed using silicone to prevent hot air from escaping.

Cold air is drawn in from a hole at the bottom of the box, and the heated air emerges from the top passing through a pipe into the room to be heated. A perspex sheet was glued to the box to let sunlight in but not let the hot air escape.

Currently homeowners that produce more solar energy than they produce can zero their bills but they’re not paid for the extra energy they feed back into the grid. The payment for producing extra energy is known as “feed-in tariffs” and such an incentive has seen great success in European countries like German and Spain.

Under the new law, the California Public Utilities Commission is required to set the rate for the paybacks by Jan. 1, 2011.

The idea aims to utilize the empty and unused lots like rooftops, water house roofs and parking areas for the purpose of producing solar energy. Aside from these there remain many unused private properties that can be easily converted into solar power generating units, bringing in extra cash for the home owners.

The advantage of a fiber-optic solar-cell system over a planar one is that light bounces around inside an optical fiber as it travels along its length, providing more opportunities to interact with the solar cell on its inner surface and producing more current. “For a given real estate, the total area of the cell is higher, and increased surface area means improved light harvesting and more energy,” says Max Shtein, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Michigan who was not involved with the research.

Fiber-optic solar cells could also be used in ways that aren’t possible currently. Zhong Lin Wang, professor of materials science and engineering at Georgia Tech, says fiber solar cells would take up less roof area than planar cells because long lengths of the fibers could be nestled into the walls of a house like electrical wiring.

Dye-sensitized solar cells use dye molecules to absorb light and generate electrons. The Georgia Tech group first removes the cladding from optical fibers and then grows zinc-oxide nanowires along their surface, like bristles on a pipe cleaner. Next, the fibers are treated with dye molecules, which the zinc-oxide structures absorb. The advantage of coating nanowires, rather than a smooth surface, with the dye is that the wires collectively have a very large surface area. The more dye molecules there are over a given area of such a cell, the more light it can absorb, says Wang. The dye-coated fibers are then surrounded by an electrolyte and a metal film that carries electrons off the device.