Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utilities in the electric power industry, it is the first stage in the delivery of electricity to end users, the other stages being transmission, distribution, energy storage and recovery, using the pumped-storage method.
Solar energy 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.
Sustainable energy is the practice of using energy in a way that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
Yukio Hatoyama is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan.
Solar air conditioning refers to any air conditioning (cooling) system that uses solar power.
Many nations have installed significant solar power capacity into their electrical grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources. Solar power plants use one of two technologies:
Spain is one of the top ten countries by solar photovoltaics installed capacity and the first country for concentrated solar power (CSP) in the world. In 2018, the cumulative total solar power installed was 7,011 MW, of which 4,707 MW were solar PV installations and 2,300 MW were concentrated solar power. In 2016, nearly 8 TWh of electrical power was produced from photovoltaics, and 5 TWh from CSP plants. During 2016 Photovoltaics accounted for 3% of total electricity generation and solar thermal an additional 1.9%.
Renewable energy accounted for 12.2 % of total primary energy consumption and 14.94 % of the domestically produced electricity in the United States in 2016. Hydroelectric power is currently the largest producer of renewable electricity in the country, generating around 6.5% of the nation's total electricity in 2016 as well as 45.71% of the total renewable electricity generation. The United States is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world after China, Canada and Brazil.
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 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.
DESERTEC was a large-scale project supported by a foundation of the same name and the consortium Dii created in Germany as a limited liability company (GmbH). The project aimed at creating a global renewable energy plan based on the concept of harnessing sustainable power from sites where renewable sources of energy are more abundant and transferring it through high-voltage direct current transmission to consumption centers. All kinds of renewable energy sources are envisioned, but the sun-rich deserts of the world play a special role.
A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is a power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to convert the output from direct to alternating current, as well as mounting, cabling, and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. It may also use a solar tracking system to improve the system's overall performance and include an integrated battery solution, as prices for storage devices are expected to decline. Strictly speaking, a solar array only encompasses the ensemble of solar panels, the visible part of the PV system, and does not include all the other hardware, often summarized as balance of system (BOS). As PV systems convert light directly into electricity, they are not to be confused with other solar technologies, such as concentrated solar power or solar thermal, used for heating and cooling.
The balance of system (BOS) encompasses all components of a photovoltaic system other than the photovoltaic panels. This includes wiring, switches, a mounting system, one or many solar inverters, a battery bank and battery charger.
Solar power in Japan has been expanding since the late 1990s. The country is a leading manufacturer of photovoltaics (PV) and a large installer of domestic PV systems with most of them grid connected. Japan has an insolation of about 4.3 to 4.8 kWh/(m2·day).
Solar power in California includes utility-scale solar power plants as well as local distributed generation, mostly from rooftop photovoltaics. It has been growing rapidly because of high insolation, community support, declining solar costs, and a Renewable Portfolio Standard which requires that 33% of California's electricity come from renewable resources by 2020, and 50% by 2030. Much of this is expected to come from solar power via photovoltaic facilities or concentrated solar power facilities.
Pakistan has some of the highest values of insolation in the world, with eight to nine hours of sunshine per day, ideal climatic conditions for solar power generation. However, the country has been slow to adopt the technology.
Kigali Solaire is a solar power plant in Rwanda and at the time of construction was Africas largest grid-linked solar energy installation. It was built in 2007 on Mont Jali near the capital Kigali. The plant is using photovoltaics and has a peak output of 250 kW and an estimated annual output of 325,000 kWh. It was constructed and built by the German city of Mainz's utility company Stadtwerke Mainz representing the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, which has a partnership with Rwanda.
The San Luis Valley Solar Ranch is a 30 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station in the San Luis Valley, located near the town of Mosca, Colorado. It was the largest solar facility in the state when it came online at the end of 2011. The electricity is being sold to Public Service of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to solar energy:
Under its commitment to the EU renewable energy directive of 2009, France has a target of producing 23% of its total energy needs from renewable energy by 2020. This figure breaks down to renewable energy providing 33% of energy used in the heating and cooling sector, 27% of the electricity sector and 10.5% in the transport sector. By the end of 2014, 14.3% of France's total energy requirements came from renewable energy, a rise from 9.6% in 2005.
