Solar Power Cost » Solar Energy facts

Solar Power Cost News : Corporate Entities and Solar Hippy Energy

admin — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:30:13 +0000

According to the South Brunswick Post, Dow Jones has launched a massive solar project.

On Monday a ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the solar project which will be built on it’s route 1 campus. 13,000 solar panels will be installed on parking areas throughout the 2,000 acre campus. Depending on how much sunlight their is the solar system will account for between 15% to 50% of energy consumption of the campus.

Used with creative commons permission from Brighton Earthship

During the ribbon cutting ceremony U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, made mention of the BP oil spill fiasco, and encouraged a need to move away from traditional dirty forms of generating power, such as oil, and coal, and move towards clean renewable sources of energy. The Senators heavily praised Dow Jones for it’s efforts to go solar, and encouraged other large corporate entities to follow in their foot steps.

The solar system will deliver 3.6 megawatts from the solar panels installed on the parking areas. Another 522 kilowatts will be generated from solar installations attached to roofs.

The generated power will be used to offset the campus’s needs from electric company PSE&G during times of sunlight. When their are times of less energy consumption the generated power will be fed into the grid.

The massive solar power system is expected to be completed in 2011, and will be constructed by SunPower Corp.

For more information about how you can help with spreading the solar love check out Solar Power Cost.

Technorati Tags: How do Solar Panels Work, Solar Energy facts, solar installations, solar panels, Solar Power Cost, solar power facts, solar power system

Breaking Solar Power News: Holy Quantum Dots Batman!

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:00:37 +0000

Photo used under Creative Commons from James Cridland

So what’s the major aspect of solar energy that’s really holding it back? Don’t know the answer?

Well I’ll tell you, it’s efficiency.

Efficiency of silicon solar cells at the moment is limited to around 30%. That’s not a lot when you think about it. That means 70% of the sunlight that’s hitting your panel is completely wasted.

So why is it wasted, and why can we not figure out a way to utilize more?

Well first you need to understand a bit of the science of how silicon solar cells work… Nope, not gonna get into a long winded discussion right here, if you would like to know more about that please visit Solar Energy Facts.

The problem is that most of the energy coming from the sun is just to high to be turned in to usable energy. Hot Electrons is the term used to define this energy and it is lost as heat during the conversion process. Enter Quantum Dots! Sounds like a new candy!

Here’s the theory behind quantum dots, or semiconductor nanocrystals as some like to call them. If you were able to separate the higher energy from the sunlight “hot electrons” and be able to capture them, the efficiency of a solar power system could be increased to a theoretical 66%. That’s more than doubling the efficiency, which amounts to a whole lot more energy.

According to Xiaoyang Zhu, professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Materials Chemistry, “There are a few steps needed to create what I call this ‘ultimate solar cell,’”. “First, the cooling rate of hot electrons needs to be slowed down. Second, we need to be able to grab those hot electrons and use them quickly before they lose all of their energy.” This is where quantum dots come in, it has been shown that hot electrons can be slowed down in semiconductor nano crystals. So that’s the first step, for the second, how to take those hot electrons out, Zhu’s team has discovered that they can be transferred from photo-excited lead selenide nanocrystals to an electron conductor made of widely used titanium dioxide.

So in a nutshell the sunlight comes in and the higher energy “hot electrons” are grabbed and slowed down by lead selenide nanocrystals (quantum dots), and transferred to an electron conductor, which allows the system to work with them instead of just casting them off as heat like conventional silicon solar cells.

Zhu cautions that this is just a first step and theirs still a lot of engineering that needs to take place before any technology is viable, but hey, it seems like a lot of good progress to me.

Resource: University of Texas at Austin (2010, June 18). Highly efficient solar cells could result from quantum dot research. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 18, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/06/100617143930.htm

Technorati Tags: quantum dots, semiconductor nanocrystals, silicon solar cells, Solar Energy facts, solar power facts

Solar Power Facts of Solar Power Cost

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:23:59 +0000

So what are some solar energy facts anyways? How about how do solar panels work, and how is sunlight turned into energy?

The solar revolution has been happening for the last 20 years and is now firing into high gear. It has taken a long time for the technology to become feasible enough for everyday people to utilize. The best part is the technology is increasing at an ever increasing speed. Solar panels or photovoltaic cells as they are sometimes called (photo = light, voltaic = electricity) are needed to generate solar power from the sun. But how exactly does it do this? Well, we need to think of solar power as a source of electricity and that the process of generating it works on the same principles of other forms of electricity. The flow of energy, after generated is run through electrical wiring to appliance’s in your house just like energy from coal or nuclear. But how is the energy made initially from the sun you ask?

I am sure you have heard of the element silicon, it is the stuff responsible for the computer renaissance. Well silicon is also important in the cultivation of solar energy. You see when silicon is stripped of it’s impurities it will be able to transmit electrons and is the main ingredient in making solar panels because it acts as a semiconductor. But you can’t stop there because silicon by itself will not generate electricity because it has neither a positive or negative charge. The pure silicon needs to be combined with other elements that do have positive and negative charges, the process of adding impurities on purpose is called doping. Boron is a element that when introduced to silicon will create a positive charge, but to generate electricity we also need an element to create a negative charge, like phosphorus. Once the elements have been introduced they are put on the panel with conductive wires between them creating an electric field. So where does the sun come in?

There are many types of particles sent out by the sun. The particle that is involved with solar energy is the photon. When the panel receives sunlight the photons effectively ram into the the negative and positive charged atoms of the elements used in the panel. What happens next is that the photons will knock atoms off of the outer ring of atoms, these atoms are are called free carriers and carry electricity along with them. Which will be drawn in to the positively charged element’s outer ring through the electrical field which acts as a diode either drawing in or pushing the electrons to flow to the positive or negative side. The free carriers will then fill up the holes that the photons originally made by knocking the atoms off there ring. The more atoms or free carriers that are broken off and find a hole to fill the more energy is created, which has the effect of creating a flow of electrons we call a current. So now we have current, and the cells electrical field creates voltage. Combined current and voltage equals power. By placing metal contacts on the top and bottom of the photovoltaic cell, we can draw the current off to use for what we require it for, like a refrigerator.

Now if silicon is shiny then why are panels black? Well because silicon is shiny it will reflect a lot of the suns photons which will in effect lower our ability to cultivate power. To combat this we add a layer of anti-reflective coating, which will limit the reflection loss of photons to less then 5%! We will then cover the panel with a glass cover plate and a sturdy frame to minimize the effects of nature.

Unfortunately not much energy is created by one solar cell, which means that lots of them are needed, drastically raising solar power cost. At least till new technology is developed, for instance paint that will conduct solar power, which would be really hot (no pun intended, alright maybe). The problem is that the solar power cost is somewhat extravagant at the moment to buy systems and have them installed.

Luckily there are extremely easy ways to lower Solar Power Cost, and also have some fun by making solar panels yourself. Doing it this way can drastically lower the amount of money you’ll spend on your initial investment. I highly recommend trying it out, just be careful when purchasing a kit, they are not all created equal. If you would like more information please visit Solar Power Cost to check out a kit I have personally hand picked and know works great.

Thank you for visiting Solar Power Cost new content and Solar Energy Facts will be published regularly so please visit often, tell your friends, and bookmark it. Also if you would like to join the RSS feed and receive automatic updates whenever a new post is added click on the big sun at the top.

How Much Will Your Residential Solar Power Cost

admin — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:24:59 +0000

How much does residential Solar Power Cost?

The cost for residential solar energy generation varies greatly depending on several factors. Lets take a look at some of them.

1. How much electricity do you need, or want to make?

This should be the first question you ask yourself. Do you want to go 100% solar, or maybe you will want an integrated system that ties into the electrical grid to replace some of your electricity needs. The first step is to figure out how much electricity you need. This can be done by looking at your utility bill, the usage of electricity is represented by kWh or kilowatt-hour. 1 Kilowatt-hour is equal to 1000 watts of electricity used in one hour. Lets use my bill as an example. I will point out that your kWh will probably be different. Also there is a handy tool you can use for calculation that you can access here.

My total kWh for the month is 460. So lets divide that by 30 to get a daily representation which will equate to 15.3 kWh a day of electrical usage. Now to get the wattage we need per day from our Solar Panels we will multiply our daily kWh by 1000 which gives us 15300 watts of usage a day.

460 kWh x .3 = 15.3 kWh x 1000 watts = 15,000 watts

Now that we have the total watts of electricity we need to generate a day we can look at the next factor.

2. How much sunshine do you get at your location?

This is actually easier then it sounds NASA has created the NASA Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy site which will be able to give you all the information you need for this next step.
For the solar panel estimator select the Insolation Average, Min and Max, and the Radiation on Equator-pointed Tilted Surface parameters. Note the yearly average figures you find for your location. Just a note Insolation means the number of hours in a day that a solar panel will produce its rated voltage. So my annual horizontal average is 3.72. Input into calculator.

3. You’ll also need to know what size, or wattage of panels you wish to use?

Keep in mind when picking out panels that you’ll want the same type and size. It has been noted that panels with different electrical characteristics do not complement very well. There are many types and sizes what you want is really up to you. So just for this example I’ll go with a 175 watt solar panel. Note that a higher wattage does not mean the solar panel is of better quality. Input this into the calculator.

4. Now you will have to adjust for inefficiencies in your system. What I mean by this is that when we talk about energy coming through a system, we mean that energy courses through different devices in a chain I.E. charge controller, inverter, batteries. Every step of the way loses us energy, so we want to only put things in the chain that are absolutely necessary and are in good working order. There will always be some loss to the output level. It’s just the way it goes. The only thing we can really do about it is to make sure are system is as efficient as possible. A good example of this is the picture at the top of this post. If you are thinking about buying a manufactured system this information should be available from them, otherwise figure between 50% – 70% efficiency. I’ll average for example and use an efficiency of 60%.

5. You may have noticed when you looked at the NASA site that insolation values can go up drastically for tilted panels, or positioning panels to face towards the sun. Because of this your annual average of Insolation can almost triple so lets go back and get a different figure. So lets use a tilt of 45 degrees, which brings our Insolation from 3.72 to 4.31.

So if we went for horizontal positioned panels I would need 39 panels at 175 watts each.

If we went with the 45 degree angle we would need 34 panels at 175 watts each.

Now you can shop around for better prices but the 175 watt panels I am using for this example are $672.00 each.

Horizontal : 39 x 672 = $26,208 US.

45 Degree angle : 34 x 672 = $22,848 US

I realize this seems like a large up front investment however you are adding value to your house, also making it up with non existent energy bills, selling energy back back to the utility company’s, and last but definitely not least getting tax breaks and other incentives from the government. While buying manufactured panels and having them installed may be the easiest way to get solar energy coursing through your wires, it is also by far the most expensive Solar power Cost.

Solar Power Cost vs. Energy Bill Cost Part 2

admin — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 17:48:59 +0000

For those of you who read yesterday’s Solar Power Cost vs. Energy Bill Cost here is part two.

Some utility company’s around the US are raising there power prices up to 29% according to an article by USA Today. If your thinking your electricity bill is already astronomical then I have some bad news for you. Prices will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. An average household that spends $70 a month may rise up to $90, the fact is most of us are already struggling to make things meet and one more addition to our plate is not something we’re looking forward to. The good thing is there are plenty of ways you and your family can do to save money and cut down on toxic pollution as well. But lets delve into why energy prices are going up a little further which brings me to:

Solar Power Cost of Building vs. Building New Coal and Nuclear Plants

So how much does it cost to build a new power plant anyways? Earlier last month an article by the New York Times quoted that GE estimates there new plants built in conjunction with it’s new nuclear partner Hitachi, would cost 1.83 billion dollars. Which coincidentally is 80% more then it’s previous estimates in May of 2005 for building twin power plants for a total of 2 billion dollars. This sharp increase in price is a tribute to how unstable the energy industry can be. These plants will generate electricity at in-between $2000 and $3000 per kilowatt. We also need to look at how much it costs to refurbish older nuclear power plants. As energy generating plants grow older, so does the technology and the fuel that is used for generating the electricity. For instance The Browns Ferry 1 plant in Alabama, which has just been turned on again has an overhaul Bill of 1.8 billion dollars. That’s almost 2 billion DOLLARS!!!! Is this really the best way we could be spending this money? On a side note this plant was involved with one of the most catastrophic accidents in nuclear power generation history and was close to a nuclear meltdown! Chernobyl anyone?

How much does it cost for a Coal Plant you ask?

While energy generation from coal can be way less expensive and way more toxic to the atmosphere (coal fired plants release more greenhouse gas then any other form of energy generation) it is still extremely expensive to build. In June 2008 it was projected that to build a new coal fired plant in Portage, a southwestern Wisconsin city, it would have the price tag of 1.2 billion dollars, and would supply 150,000 homes with power. Since then the cost of building supplies has risen sharply as stated previously, now we are looking at an even larger price. Are you getting pissed yet? as far as refurbishing goes the Hudson Power Plant in New Jersey has been going through renovation for the last couple of years. While yes the are outfitting it with better environmental controls, the price tag set for the project is 1 billion dollars. GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

So now lets get into Solar Power Cost

Now one of the biggest problems with a large scale Solar Thermal Power Plant also referred to as, concentrated solar power, or CSP. Is the initial price tag of constructing it. One of the reasons why is because it would have to have a large means of storing the generated power and also to store the heat it generates from the sun in able for the plant to function at night when the Solar energy retreats. Now lets look at the worlds largest Solar Power Plant that is underway to be constructed in the Mojave dessert!

PG&E has recently signed the worlds largest solar deal, and they will be partnering up with Brightsource Energy. The contract is for the construction of 3 brand new Solar Thermal Plants which will generate 500 Megawatts of power. There are also additional options to expand the plants to generate 900 Megawatts, powering 375,000 homes. The price tag on this project is 3 billion dollars, and yes I know what your thinking, that’s more then nuclear or coal. But the beauty of Solar is that for one it is environmentally friendly and 100% renewable, and two, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but sunlight’s free man. In the long run this is way more economical then coal or nuclear! If you would like to check out more about the Mojave project click here.

Solar power cost is still expensive to purchase from utility company’s, however utilizing solar panels on your residential home after the initial investment, is pretty much free, with very low maintenance charges. Especially considering there are lots of state and government programs that offer you incentives and tax credits to use this kind of energy generation. Also if you are into DIY projects or would like to get into them, then check this out. Making your own solar power panels have never been easier, and really are a great learning activity for your family. Tell your kids to turn off the TV and do something fun together.