Solar Definition and 1000 Threads

Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect.Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system. Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. As the cost of solar electricity has fallen, the number of grid-connected solar PV systems has grown into the millions and gigawatt-scale photovoltaic power stations are being built. Solar PV is rapidly becoming an inexpensive, low-carbon technology to harness renewable energy from the Sun. The current largest photovoltaic power station in the world is the Pavagada Solar Park, Karnataka, India with a generation capacity of 2050 MW.The International Energy Agency projected in 2014 that under its "high renewables" scenario, by 2050, solar photovoltaics and concentrated solar power would contribute about 16 and 11 percent, respectively, of worldwide electricity consumption, and solar would be the world's largest source of electricity. Most solar installations would be in China and India. In 2019, solar power generated 2.7% of the world's electricity, growing over 24% from the previous year. As of October 2020, the unsubsidised levelised cost of electricity for utility-scale solar power is around $36/MWh.

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  1. D

    Optimal Tilt Angle of Solar Array

    Hello! I have a difficult problem I have been working with recently. I have been trying to model the ever changing position of a solar PV array system. The system is a single axis tracker and orientates itself to have the smallest angle of incidence(AOI) to the suns beam as possible (the best...
  2. A

    Absorption and solar radiation spectra

    Hi, I'm hoping someone can advise me on the best place to find the absorption spectra for water (fresh) and ice, for the wavelength range UV to IR. Also, I'm looking for the solar radiation spectrum at the surface of the Earth (i.e. after atmospheric effects have been taken into account)...
  3. B

    Seeding a Solar System Simulation

    I've coded a physics simulator that simulates the solar system. Essentially it just calculates gravity between bodies and attracts them together, the most basic simulation. But obviously just feeding in positions for the sun and the planets will just have them all fall into directly each other...
  4. Y

    Can Graphene Be Effectively Used in Solar Sails?

    I am wondering if the properties of graphene could have implications for solar sails. I don't know much about graphene but I do know that it is only an atom thick and very very strong and theoretically can be made of infinite size. Are there any problems that graphene would face in terms of...
  5. J

    How accurate are simple models of the solar system?

    How accurate are "simple" models of the solar system? Exactly how much effect does the perturbation of other planets have on planetary orbits? That is, if we were to take a naive model of the solar system, just applying Kepler's laws to each planet individually, with no planet-planet...
  6. T

    Where Can I Find Accurate Data for Simulating Solar System Orbits in Java?

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  7. A

    What Size Solar Cell is Needed to Recharge a 12V Battery Bank in 8 Hours?

    Hi all, If I have a battery bank 12V@1000A- what size solar cell (kW) will recharge this battery bank (from flat to full) over a 8 hour period?
  8. Gliese123

    Which planet in this solar system would be most appropriate to terraform?

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  9. C

    Solar power plant: steam quality questions

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  10. A

    Solar lighting for remote yurt/cabin

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  11. U

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  12. C

    Stargazing Solar Eclipse - Are we just lucky?

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  13. D

    Compute temperature rise from solar irradiance

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  14. zonde

    Magnetic bubbles at the edge of the solar system and CMB

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  15. D

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  16. A

    Spectacular solar eruption 7 june 2011

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  17. S

    Solar Cells that can absorb energy from bulbs/Tubelights

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  18. M

    Simulation of formation of a solar system

    Are there any usable simulation in the literature on the formation of a solar system? It is possible for example that a solar system has 100 big planets?
  19. S

    Maxiumum Incident power on solar cell ?

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  20. J

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  21. P

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  22. S

    From Computer Science to Solar Energy Engineering

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  23. mcodesmart

    Solar Panel Efficiency: Temperature Effect

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  24. T

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  25. D

    Calculating Solar Array Orientation for Scientists

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  26. G

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  27. L

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  28. A

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  29. ddelaiarro

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  30. L

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  31. D

    Solar Energy Without Solar Cells?

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  32. marcus

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  33. nukeman

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  34. M

    Phosphor Powder for solar cells

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  35. R

    Fraction solar power due to UV

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  36. R

    Help with Modeling Solar Wobble for Pre-Calc Project

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  37. B

    Solar Reactor using water tubes & dish collector.

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  38. R

    Idea for optimising solar collection

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  39. M

    New 3D model of solar system and night sky

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  40. S

    Solar vs Conventional Inverters: Exploring Protection Devices

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  41. Q

    Are solar cells more efficient for specific frequencies of light?

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  42. I

    Solar flares triggering seismic events

    Well I'm sure a lot of us have seen websites predicting the end of the world from solar flares causing earthquakes. I'm a physics grad student and with my limited knowledge I have the impression that all such theories are pseudo scientific. But still I want to ask the question. It is...
  43. S

    What are the differences between a solar cooker and a solar oven?

    What is the different between solar cooker and solar oven ? Are they same ?
  44. F

    Boost Your Energy Efficiency: Discover the Benefits of Floating Solar Panels

    http://www.scientiaweb.com/2011/03/04/floating-solar-panels/ Sea is the place where they should be but too far from power grids :|
  45. Eagle9

    Energy from solar panels and electro motor

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  46. S

    Are Solar Storms More Impactful at the South Atlantic Anomaly?

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  47. H

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  48. S

    Java Program in JAVA which simulates the solar system

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  49. N

    Exploring the Impact of Dark Matter on Galaxies and Solar Systems

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  50. T

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