How Solar Photovoltaic Systems Can Help You

Photovoltaic alone cannot guarantee the electric-power supply of a consumer; storage systems for the electricity or a secondary power-supply system must be available. Photovoltaic is excellently suited to operate one or two lamps in a house, or to power a telecommunications systems, a refrigerator or a TV set in developing countries. Remember that 1.6 billion people worldwide are still not connected to a power grid. For these purposes, batteries such as those we use in cars are possible storage systems for electrical energy.

Photovoltaic power generation is very expensive in comparison with the power we get “from the wall.” Large photovoltaic facilities in the megawatt range, in which the economies of scale are already exhausted, still produce power at a cost of 35 ct per k Wh, while the electric power from our outlets costs us just over 18 ct per k Wh. The calculation is different, however, for the areas of application in developing countries mentioned above. Here, the power which solar panels replace may come from a diesel-driven generator. Including the cost of transportation, the price for a liter of diesel would be about Pound 1.50, and it could generate 3 to 4 kWh of electricity; hence, the cost would be within the same range as that of photovoltaic power, or even higher. Under such conditions, photovoltaic makes economic sense. Since the utility of photovoltaic often depends on the storage question, it is primarily suitable for systems for which small outputs are needed, such as for powering television sets, refrigerators or lamps.

Government financial support measures for the development of solar photovoltaic in various countries have caused the installation of photovoltaic panels worldwide to rise continuously, In 2007, it amounted to 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of electrical output, a figure that is difficult to conceptualize, so that we might better view it in a comparison: A nuclear power plant has an electrical output of 1.3 GW; on the coldest day of the year, Germany maintains 80 GW of power-station output to assure its power supply; and total worldwide installed power station output amounts to about 3600 GW. Let us not forget, however, that the conditions which would provide such maximum photovoltaic output occur at the latitude of Germany only for a few hours a year. Despite all the successes of recent years, photovoltaic is therefore still far from being a “major player” in economic terms in the electric-power generation picture. The shore of the power generation of photovoltaic systems installed in Germany is about one percent. The keys to opening the photovoltaic option as a major energy-supply factor is in the industrialized countries, where the expense of producing facilities has to be brought down through further technological advances.

The peripheral parts of the system largely involve known technology, so that the cost reduction potential is in the photovoltaic component itself. Government support for photovoltaic makes sense in terms of acceleration of technological developments and opening up its potential, as well as in order to guarantee sufficient markets to maintain a critical industrial capacity. The photovoltaic industry could then earn its money in the niche markets in which it is already competitive today. You may also be interested to look into home solar power systems.

Useful information solar photovoltaic:
http://www.greenearth4energy.com/solar_photovoltaic.html

Useful information photovoltaic systems:
http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Are-Photovoltaic-Systems?&id=1536758

Useful information home solar power systems:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Home-Solar-Power-Systems-Uses&id=3547988