Solar Power through Solar Energy is emerging as the most popular and sustainable renewable energy source on Earth. It could potentially hold the answer to reversing the destruction of the earth and its natural resources. However, there is still a lot we do not know about solar power. To learn more- we talked to the experts, and they told us all we need to know about solar power and solar energy;

  1. Panels Must be Oversized For Long-Term Efficiency

One important fact often missed during the calculation of solar panel sizes is that efficiency typically declines 1% per year, so panels must be oversized to ensure that the minimum required power for equipment can still be generated in 10-20 years.

  1. DC Motors Are Hard to Maintain

Direct Current (DC) Motors which are used in conjunction with solar panels are very difficult to maintain, requiring specialist tools, knowledge, and equipment.

  1. Units Maintenance 

Utilizing standard 3 phase motors in conjunction with an inverter, means should the units require maintenance which are often in remote areas, or in countries where specialist tools and knowledge are not immediately accessible, that maintenance can be performed with relative ease.

Pablo Martinez-Moore, Application Specialist North Ridge Pumps

  1. Can Create Enough Energy for The Entire Humanity

3 years ago environmental scientists conducted research about solar panels and the Sahara desert. The results are really shocking- if humanity covers the whole Sahara with solar panels, it will generate four times more energy than all people consume annually. It means that covering 1/4 of the desert will satisfy all humans’ needs for energy. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it?

Maxim Levichev, Marketing manager at Fluix

  1. Renewable

The sun might hide behind the clouds once in a while, but we will not be running out of solar energy in the foreseeable future.- Available everywhere: Contrary to a popular misconception, solar panels work in cold climates as well.

  1. Money Saver

Instead of paying utility bills each month, installing solar panels offer a return on investment. The typical return is about 8 years.

  1. Cheaper Than Ever

The price of solar systems has decreased significantly since entering the market. In many countries, solar energy has become less expensive than traditional energy sources.

  1. High Upfront Investment

The large upfront costs are the biggest barrier for any homeowner who is considering having a solar panel installed – Space inefficient: A solar panel requires a considerable amount of space in order to produce electricity, as their efficiency is far from 100% and their power density is quite low as well.

  1. Manufacturing Has Negative Environmental Impact

The manufacturing process of solar power systems can be harmful to the environment and accompanied by carbon and greenhouse gases emissions, fossil fuel burning, plastic waste, and the use of toxic materials.

Robert Laswell, Editor at semprius.com. Robert is a renewable energy and sustainability specialist with 10+ years of experience in the solar and renewable energy space, mainly focusing on residential installations and community solar projects.

  1.  Solar Energy Is The Most Abundant Energy Source On Earth

There is enough solar energy hitting every hour which humans can use for their entire lifetime. Every other energy resource can be saved from getting extinguished if we can save up enough solar energy.

  1.  Solar Energy Is Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels

Many of us might not know this, but the cost of solar energy is much cheaper than that of fossil fuels. It is not long before solar energy will take the place of every other energy resource.

  1. Solar Power Plants Can Last For More Than 40 Years

Knowing the fact that solar energy is cheaper than other energy resources is not enough. But surprisingly it also lasts longer than the other resources? It is amazing. When a solar power plant is being made, it is backed with a power purchase agreement with a customer that lasts for about 20-25 years.

Adam Rowles, Reduce Power Bills

  1. Your Roof-Top Beauty Doesn’t Need To Be Compromised For Solar Panel Installation

With more energy from the sun falling onto the Earth in one hour than the global population consumes in one year [source: NREL], solar power’s greatest asset has always been its abundance. But between Bell Laboratories’ development of the first solar cell in 1954 and now, much has changed in the global solar energy landscape. One important change is that you can have a powerful roof, while also maintaining its beautiful, intended aesthetic. Gone are the days of having to sacrifice the visibility of your beautiful roof by adding traditional rack-mounted solar panels.

Since the advent of the modern solar panel, distributed solar energy systems have been strictly functional; today, we must begin to ask more about our distributed solar energy systems. Though we have accepted up until now that a rack-mounted solar panel system is necessary to capture solar energy, constant innovation, and technological advancement have led to the emergence of a new category of solar energy product: building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). 

BIPV products offer more by elevating and complementing a building’s design, without the visual interruption of conventional panels. 

By using one set of high-quality dual-purpose materials to create a durable design element capable of solar energy generation, solar shingles have the potential to engage new collaborators: homeowner associations prefer the uniform look of solar roofing, and architects are more eager to pursue sustainable design if they have access to a product that adds to, rather than detracts from their designs.

Jessie Schiavone, CEO, Energy Industry Specialist; SunStyle 

  1. It Is Intermittent

This is the most important and most widely ignored fact about solar. From a system and economic standpoint, intermittent power differs fundamentally from continuous power because intermittent power requires backup power (for when the sun is not shining). The frequent statements that solar is or will be cheaper than fossil fuels or hydroelectric or nuclear are thus meaningless, i.e., literally without any significance in the real world. (Exception for very low, single-digit % contributions to the grid. In that situation, it has some significance.) 

The only meaningful comparison is the cost of solar plus adequate power storage to allow continuous power supply, i.e.,  comparing continuous power to continuous power. To date, that cost is substantially higher than for traditional power sources. 

  1. It Will Become More Efficient And Cheaper

Production costs are declining, though those kinds of gains inevitably flatten. More importantly, the technology will improve. Two predictable near-term advances illustrate passivized emitter back surfaces and perovskite silicon tandem panels. Describing this technology is outside the scope of the question, this fact is widely known but mostly misunderstood. 

The current PV panel technology will be essentially obsolescent in 5–10 years, and retrofitting existing panels would be expensive or impossible. Investing in a twenty-year asset that will become obsolete in five is very rarely a good idea. In the long run, however, lower cost, higher efficiency solar panels will help offset the costs of adequate power storage.

  1. Solar’s Future Depends On Developing Low Cost And Efficient Storage Technology

Several possibilities exist, including expanded pumped hydro, possibly using abandoned underground mines as reservoirs, and redox flow cells. Current storage technology is nowhere close to adequate or cost-competitive, a fact that is well known but also widely denied. The important investments in solar are not in more economically uncompetitive installations but in new technology that will make solar + storage competitive with traditional sources.

  1. Solar Contributes Best To A Grid Where There Is A Complementary Second Source Of Renewable Generation In Place

Solar is available only during the day and clears better in summer than in winter. Complementary renewables reduce the fraction of the time when neither renewable can meet demand, which also reduces the storage capacity of both short and long-term storage required to fill those gaps.

  1. The Future is Solar Powered

By 2050 or 2060 solar PV power is expected to be the biggest source of electricity generation worldwide because it will be cheaper than any other form of generation in most of the world.

Harland Adkins, Founder, and General Manager Fast Food Menu Prices

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