The document provides an overview of solar energy, highlighting its origins, types, and the technologies used to harness it. It details different types of solar cells and their efficiencies, advantages, and disadvantages, emphasizing solar power's pollution-free nature and potential for renewable energy. Additionally, it discusses the historical development of solar technology and its various applications.

1. Solar Energy:
The Ultimate Renewable
Resource
Prepared by:
Fortaleza, Debbie Lou
Esloyo, Genelyn
Espadero, Bernard
Magaspag, Wilther jan
Manait, Frederick
Marcelo, Jenvy Claire
Pulgado, Kimberly
Quinatagcan, Sharwin

2. What is Solar Energy?
 Originates with the
thermonuclear fusion
reactions occurring in the
sun.
 Represents the entire
electromagnetic radiation
(visible light, infrared,
ultraviolet, x-rays, and radio
waves).
 Radiant energy from the sun
has powered life on Earth for
many millions of years.

3.  is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is
harnessed using a range of ever-evolving
technologies such as solar
heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal
energy, solar architecture, molten salt power
plants and artificial photosynthesis.
 It is an important source of renewable
energy and its technologies are broadly
characterized as either passive solar or active
solar depending on how they capture and
distribute solar energy or convert it into solar
power.

4. Photovoltaics
Photo+voltaic = convert light to electricity

5. Photovoltaic Solar Panel
 absorb sunlight as a source of energy to
generate electricity. A photovoltaic (PV) module
is a packaged, connected assembly of typically
6x10 photovoltaic solar cells. Photovoltaic
modules constitute the photovoltaic array of
a photovoltaic cell that generates and
supplies solar electricity in commercial and
residential applications.

6. Types of Solar Cell
Solar Cell Type Efficiency-Rate Advantages Disadvantages
Monocrystalline Solar Panels
(Mono-SI)
~20%
High efficiency rate; optimised
for commercial use; high life-
time value
Expensive
Polycrystalline Solar Panels
(p-Si)
~15% Lower price
Sensitive to high temperatures;
lower lifespan & slightly less
space efficiency
Thin-Film: Amorphous
Silicon Solar Panels (A-SI)
~7-10%
Relatively low costs; easy to
produce & flexible
shorter warranties & lifespan
Concentrated PV Cell (CVP) ~41%
Very high performance &
efficiency rate
Solar tracker & cooling system
needed (to reach high
efficiency rate)

7. Advantages and Disadvantages
 Advantages
 Solar power is pollution free and causes no greenhouse
gases to be emitted after installation
 Renewable clean power that is available every day of the
year, even cloudy days produce some power
 Return on investment unlike paying for utility bills
 Virtually no maintenance as solar panels last over 30 years
 Ability to live grid free if all power generated provides
enough for the home / building
 Can be installed virtually anywhere; in a field to on a
building

8. Disadvantages
 High initial costs for material and installation and long
ROI
 Needs lots of space as efficiency is not 100% yet
 No solar power at night so there is a need for a large
battery bank
 Depending on geographical location the size of the
solar panels vary for the same power generation
 Cloudy days and during winter months do not produce
much energy
 Solar powered cars do not have the same speeds and
power as typical gas powered cars

9. Solar Cells Background
 1839 - French physicist A. E. Becquerel first recognized the
photovoltaic effect.
 1883 - first solar cell built, by Charles Fritts, coated semiconductor
selenium with an extremely thin layer of gold to form the junctions.
 1954 - Bell Laboratories, experimenting with semiconductors,
accidentally found that silicon doped with certain impurities was
very sensitive to light. Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller and Gerald
Pearson, invented the first practical device for converting sunlight
into useful electrical power. Resulted in the production of the first
practical solar cells with a sunlight energy conversion efficiency of
around 6%.
 1958 - First spacecraft to use solar panels was US satellite Vanguard
1

10. The heart of a photovoltaic system is a solid-state device called a
solar cell.
How does it work

11. Solar Panel Parts

12. Solar Panel Installation

13. Solar Power Plant

14. Driven by Space Applications in
Early Days

15. Solar Home Systems
Space
Water
Pumping
Telecom
Main Application Areas – Off-grid

16. Residential Home
Systems (2-8 kW)
PV Power Plants
( > 100 kW)
Commercial Building
Systems (50 kW)
Main Application Areas
Grid Connected

17. So why Solar Power?
 With the amount of solar energy the planet
receives we have the potential to provide at
least 1,000 times the energy consumed globally.
(in 2008)
 On a sunny day the sun gives off 1,000 watts of
energy to the earths surface per square meter
 Sunlight is infinite, unlike many of our other
energy sources

18. Benefits
 Powered by the Sun
 Zero emissions
 Little maintenance once installed
 Can last a lifetime
 For every $mill. Invested, 5-15 jobs are created