Solar Power Wind Power Hydroelectric Power

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

SOLAR POWER

WIND POWER

HYDROELECTRIC POWER

1. Sun light is free.

1. Wind is free.

1. Water is free.

2. Sunlight is abundantly present in hotter areas but there is day light every day and everywhere.

2. Wind is not abundant everywhere, some areas might not have any wind at all.

2. Rivers are found in some countries, thus making it difficult for everyone to consider hydroelectric power.

3. Solar power is environmental friendly.

3. Wind turbines make noise.

3. Dams are built where there is a huge space for the water to flow but they are quite far from residential areas.

4. Installation is much cheaper as compared to hydroelectric power.

4. Installation is much cheaper as compared to hydroelectric power.

5. It is very expensive to build a hydroelectric power dam.

5. Excessive Sunlight can be available at midday and when there is no cloud to produce large amount of electricity.

5. A large amount of wind is needed to generate electricity.

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6. SEGS CSP being the largest Power plant produces 354MW of electricity.

6. Global wind capacity has produced 10,000MW of electricity.

6. Hydroelectric power plant has produced 3,427 tetra-watts in 2010.

7. Solar panels can be installed easily on rooftops or gardens/streets.

7. Wind turbines are also easily installed on rooftops considering the direction of the wind.

7. Keeping in mind the habitat of the animals, Dams are installed in a wide space destroying many homes forcing the creatures to relocate.

8. The efficiency of solar panels depends up on the location and environment where they are kept. It can reach up to 11% - 19%

8. The efficiency depends on the factor of how much the speed of the wind is. It ranges from 40% - 60%

8. Efficiency depends on the type of turbine used and can reach up to 95% of efficiency.

http://www.altenergy.org/

http://solarpowerpanels.hubpages.com/hub/A-brief-summary-of-solar-power

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity

http://www.mpoweruk.com/hydro_power.htm

http://howsolarworks.1bog.org/solar-panel-efficiency/

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/disted/ph162/l11.html

BENEFITS OF PHOTOVOLTAIC:

Residential can reduce the utility bill depending on the number of solar cells they use. The more solar cells the more reduction on electricity bill. Also electricity will be provided from the grid but that will be on a low cost rate.

It can be neatly installed without any moving parts and is environmental friendly.

Solar panels don’t emit dangerous gas as that of greenhouse.

Quality solar systems have tremendously long life which is still being calculated.

Houses with the installation of solar modules are easily sold or bought.

Reliability of power sources:

Solar energy is the kind of energy which is a never ending source of energy. It is the most reliable source than the other power generating energy sources. Sun being an endless source of energy for the PV system, solar panels are abundantly used in many applications; on rooftops, electronic devices, streetlights, gardens etc. Because of their structure, they are environmental friendly, means they don’t have moving parts and do not cause any intoxicating gas in the atmosphere. One of the best advantages of PV systems is the "grid connection" [1] method in which customers can make their own money after installing the solar array. The DC power is converted to AC power and is then distributed to the utility grid/electrical grid or makes its path directly to the AC loads when the grid is not energized. When there is further connection with the grid, which is when the customers can sell their own electricity provided by the sunlight from their own particular place.

But everything is not perfect, PV systems are too expensive to purchase and are heavy in weight. But apart from that efficiency of the solar panels matters, the efficiency of solar panel is less than the efficiency of solar cells [2] due to the structure of solar cells and the glass covering the panels, some sunlight may get reflected. The higher the efficiency of the solar panel the more savings because the amount of electricity we receive is higher. Therefore providing low cost utility bills. It is calculated by [3] Pm / (E) (Ac)

Where Pm is the maximum power output, E is the input light falling on the solar cells and Ac is the surface area of the solar cell in m2.

Hydroelectric power is the other source of energy gain from the flowing of water with electric generator connected with a turbine to provide power. As like any other energy sources, this also doesn’t pollute the environment nor create waste products. Water once used in the process of producing electricity can be reserved by the method known as [4] "pump storage" and can be used again when there is a high electricity demand which enables the generator to start up quickly when reusing again and produce high output voltage.

Apart from this the conventional hydroelectric power are expensive to build, destroying the habitat with it and also requires huge space to generate electricity.

Wind turbines are the conversion of wind power to electricity. Usually wind turbines require such an area where there is wind and also occupies a large space of land or even in sea. Small wind turbines can be installed on the rooftops. Wind turbines same as other energy sources do not emit hazardous gases not it pollutes the environment.

At some areas intermittency occurs where there are several intervals of wind that area. Being faced by intermittency doesn’t really affect the energy being produced in the grid. It is usually a very small change which can be negligible [5]. Apart from this wind penetrate energy according to the energy stored in the grid. For a 100% penetration it requires a very long storage which might take a week, month or a year. Denmark with 26% penetration, Spain - 17%, Germany - 9% and U.S being the least with 2.9% due to high demand of electricity [6].

Based on the other facts, wind turbine is cheaper to build as compared to hydro powers but hard to maintain.

Capacity factor is an indicator of how much energy can be produced by a wind turbine in a particular place [7]. Comparing all the three energy sources, the Photovoltaic capacity factor in Massachusetts ranges from 12-15%, the hydro power ranges from 30-80% whereas the wind turbine ranges from 20-40% only.

[1] . http://www.solardirect.com/pv/systems/systems.htm

[2] http://us.sunpowercorp.com/solar-resources/performance-reliability/solar-efficiency/

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell_efficiency

[4] http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/hyhowworks.html

[5][7] http://www.umass.edu/windenergy/publications/published/communityWindFactSheets/RERL_Fact_Sheet_2a_Capacity_Factor.pdf

[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power#cite_note-74 ref [78]

Summary on the new advancement of PV system.

Much new advancement on the electricity generation has been discovered recently and in the past few years. One of the discoveries is the "Gratzel cells" [1] which was being worked on since 1988. The Gratzel cells in this regard consist of two electrolytes with one end of fluoride-doped tin dioxide (SnO2F) at the anode and the other end with iodide as the cathode. A thin layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles is made a sandwich between the conductive plates which allows the sunlight to be absorbed in a very small fraction. Along with the most important ingredient is the photosensitive dye (ruthenium-polypyridine) is soaked with TiO2. At the end the plates are sealed together to prevent the leakage of the electrolyte. These cells are relatively cheap due to the elements used as compared to that of solar cells. The normal efficiency of solar cells recorded [2] as low as 4-5% and the Gratzel cells can produce an efficiency of 11%.

The Next advancement is the "Solar Steam" which of course produces steam and is used in every field and has its own advantages in medical field to sterize medical waste, in food, in the purification of water and almost 90% of electricity is produced by steam [3]. By the help of nanoparticles, the sunlight is converted into heat and when mixed with water produces steam.

RTI (Research triangle Institute) has discovered new technology known as "Colloidal quantum dots" which is likely more affordable and can have the same power conversion efficiency such as that of normally used solar cells. Colloidal quantum dots have the electronics property with a tunable optical which is adjusted according to its quantum size effect. These are inorganic semiconductors which are composed of both organic and inorganic materials processed in a solution in which the organic materials are synthesized with the inorganic semiconductor. The materials used can be accessed on as low cost as 75% as that of the normally used solar cells. [4]

[1]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dye-sensitized_solar_cell

[2]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dye-sensitized_solar_cell

[3]. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119140627.htm

[4]. http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Solar-Energy/New-Technology-to-Reduce-Cost-of-Solar-Energy-by-75.html