Renewable energy's future is bright, yet uncertain. Will it continue to grow rapidly? Is current growth sufficient to achieve climate stabilization? How do related technologies, like electric vehicles and heat pumps, fit in? This course will shed light on the many confusing and at-times inconsistent claims and predictions for renewable energy.
Wind turbines and solar photovoltaics (PV) are on a path of rapid growth. In these lessons, we review promising new technical approaches for wind and solar PV, such as offshore floating wind platforms and building-integrated PV.
There are two main solar technologies that are being considered for large scale power generation: (1) Photovoltacs (PV) and (2) Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). Another type - concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) is currently not a major player, but there are a few large facilities that use CPV technology. PV and CSP are principally different in the type of energy conversion and type of solar resource they rely on. We are going to review the basics of those technologies and their current state in energy market in this lesson before considering more technical details further on.
But recent advancements have greatly improved their efficiency and electrical output. Enough energy from the sun hits the Earth every hour to power the planet for an entire year. Here's how it works. You see, sunlight is made up of tiny packets of energy called photons. These photons radiate out from the sun.
And a single plant can generate 250 megawatts or more, which is enough to power about 90,000 homes. That's a lot of electricity to meet America's power needs.
It could be oil, molten salt, something that holds the heat well. Basically, this super-hot liquid heats water in this thing called a heat exchanger , and the water turns to steam. Now, the steam is sent off to a turbine, and from there, it's business as usual inside a power plant.
The other prominent technology developed on the utility scale in the US and worldwide is Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). While CSP is currently outpaced by PV on the global and domestic market, this technology may be advantageous in the areas with high annual insolation.
It produces clean energy. It has no emissions, no moving parts. It doesn't make any noise, and it doesn't need water or fossil fuels to produce power. And it can be located right where the power is needed, in the middle of nowhere, or it can be tied into the power grid. Solar PV is growing fast.