Performace of Solar Cells
The silicon solar cell has been around for more than half a century, and during that time it has made significant steps in terms of performance. On April 25, 1954, Bell Labs demonstrated a silicon solar cell for the public for the first time. It had an efficiency of about 6%, meaning that it was able to convert about 6% of the sun’s energy it experienced to electricity.
The silicon solar cell followed the selenium solar cell, which was quite a bit less efficient. Selenium solar cells operated at only about 0.5% efficiency.
Most research on solar cells since then has focused mainly on increasing efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs. Cells with up to 40% efficiency have been built using rare materials. Unfortunately, using these materials substantially increases the production cost; these high-efficiency cells can cost over 100 times as much as ordinary 8% efficient cells to produce. Decreasing production cost is perhaps even more important than improving efficiency when it comes to encouraging more users to switch to solar power.
Under ideal conditions, the sun can deliver about 1,000 watts of power per square meter. These are the conditions that are assumed when a specific solar cell’s output specifications are cited. Sunlight intensity can vary due to the influence of things like dust, pollution, elevation, and weather. Some events, such as volcanic eruptions, can even reduce sunlight on a worldwide scale for long periods of time. Low elevation also negatively affects solar cell efficiency. This is due to the fact that, as elevation gets higher, the air becomes thinner, and the effects of dust and pollution are decreased.
At present, multicrystalline solar cells output at approximately 14-19% efficiency. However, this kind of cell is not expected to improve much beyond that point. Amorphous silicon cells, on the other hand, although currently about 8% efficient, are widely considered to be the future of solar cell technology.
Assuming there aren’t any massive improvements to solar cell efficiency in the short term, what would it take to replace all fossil fuel-based energy production in the US with solar power? A little over 10,000 square miles of land would have to be dedicated to solar panels in order to supply all of the electricity currently produced in the US. There is much more suitable land than that currently unused.
Solar power systems, in order to make power available even when the sun isn’t shining, need to also incorporate some type of power storage. For this purpose, batteries are the most common power storage method, often being used in banks either in homes or near them. Even during the day, when solar panels are generating electricity, batteries can help with the job of meeting high demand, at times when appliances like air conditioners are seeing heavy use.
Over the last 60 years, solar cell efficiency has improved substantially, from 0.5% to as high as 40%. In recent years in particular, they’ve also become a lot more affordable.
If you are looking into installing a solar power system, you need to consider the kind of roof panel that you are going to utilize. If you are interested to know more about roof solar panels, go to Roof Solar Panels.
If you are interested in building your own solar panel, check out these step-by-step guides Build Solar Panel and GreenDIY Energy Review.
