Solar 101

SOLAR ENERGYARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE COMPANY

WHAT IS SOLAR ENERGY?Solar energy is theenergy that comes fromthe sun that supportslife on earth as we knowit. Solar energy can be used as a source of heat and light and can be used to generate electricity.

HOW WAS SOLAR USED IN THE PAST? People havebeen trying toharness the powerof the sun forcenturies. In 1877, airblowing over sun-heated iron wasused to heathomes. In 1910, The firstpatent involving asolar collector wasawarded. The 1930’s sawthe firstwidespread use ofsolar power forheating.

SOLAR ENERGY POWER PLANTSThere are two ways to use solarenergy to generate electricity; Photovoltaic: The direct conversion of sunlight to electricity Thermal: The use of heat to generate electricityA Photovoltaic Solar Power Plant A Thermal Solar Power Plantcontains: contains: Solar Arrays Collector Field Inverter Turbine Transformer Generator Cooling Tower Transformer

HOW A PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR SYSTEM WORKS The sun illuminates the solar cells in the PV Array, which convert the energy in the sunlight into electricity. The electricity goes into an inverter and into the power lines to your home.PV Array Inverter

PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER PLANTS Glendale Airport, Single Axis and High Concentration Photovoltaic Prescott Airport, Single Axis, Tilted Tracker Single Axis and High Concentration Photovoltaic Scottsdale Covered Parking, Fixed Photovoltaic panels

HOW A SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANT WORKSParabolic (trough) mirrors can focus thesun at 30 to 60 times its normal intensityon a receiver pipe located along the focalline of the trough.Synthetic oil captures this heat as itcirculates through the pipe, reachingtemperatures as high as 750ºF. The hot oilis pumped through a heat exchanger onthe power production side of the plant toproduce steam.Electricity is produced in a conventionalsteam turbine/generatorThe power cycle is completed with thecondensing of the steam through acooling tower and then pumping it backthrough the heat exchanger connected tothe solar energy collection field.

SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS 10 MW Solar II Experimental Power Plant, California 25 kW Dish/Stirling Engine System, Arizona 350 MW Parabolic Trough Power Plant, California

SOLAR TRIVIAEvery second 657 million tons of hydrogen areconverted to 653 million tons of helium in our sun.The missing 4 million tons are converted to lightand heat energy via Einstein’s E=MC2 equation andradiated into space. At an average distance of 93million miles form the sun, the earth collectsapproximately 4 lbs. of total energy, which supportslife on earth as we know it.For every kWh of electricity generated by solarenergy, the following emissions are avoided sincethat kWh need not be generated from a fossil fuelpower plant. In one year, the approximate avoidedemissions in lbs/year are: SOLAR POWER PLANT CO2 NOX SOX PARTICULATES SIZE1 kW 2,508 6.3 5.2 0.3610 kW 25,800 63 52 3.6100 kW 258,000 630 520 361 MW 2,580,000 6300 6200 360

HOW MUCH SOLAR WOULD BE NEEDED TO POWER ARIZONAIn order to power Arizona’s electrical energy needs, 400 square milesof land will be required. We get about 2,400 hours of “productive” sunshine each year. The state of Arizona consumes about 60,000,000 MWh of electricity each year. As of 2004 APS has 13 solar power plants around the state generating some 8,801 MWh of electricity per year

Additional Sources of Informationhttp://science.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/default.htmhttp://www.sandia.gov/http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/pvmenu.cgi?site=ncpv&idx=3&body=infores.htmlhttp://www.eere.energy.gov/RE/solar.htmlhttp://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/http://www.nrel.gov/clean_energy/solar.htmlhttp://solarhistory.com/http://www.solarenergy.com/info_history.htmlhttp://www.californiasolarcenter.org/history_solarthermal.htmlhttp://www.jjsviewbox.com/ImageCatalog/MonumentValley/ThumbnailFrame.htm Contact Janet Crow, APS Outreach Coordinator at (602) 250-4990 or janet.crow@aps.com

Solar 101

by Sunworks on Jan 31, 2011

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