Transcript Why not solar? - Kenneth Frawley

Why Not Use Solar Power??
By:
William Aban
David Orozco
Aaron Castile
Marilyn Urena
Virginia Lopez
A power company
would
About Solar
Power benefit for
• Solar power is pollution free during use. Production end wastes and
emissions
aresolar
manageable
using existing
pollution
controls.
End-ofusing
power
by
the
follow:
use recycling technologies are under development.
•
Facilities can operate with little maintenance or intervention after
initial setup.
•
Solar electric generation is economically competitive where grid
connection or fuel transport is difficult, costly or impossible.
Examples include satellites, island communities, remote locations and
ocean vessels.
•
When grid connected, solar electric generation can displace the
highest cost electricity during times of peak demand (in most climatic
regions), can reduce grid loading, and can eliminate the need for local
battery power for use in times of darkness and high local demand;
such application is encouraged by net metering.
•
Once the initial capital cost of building a solar power plant has been
spent, operating costs are low when compared to existing power
technologies.
•
Solar Panels can be rented out to costumers.
Solar Panels
• Siemens ST Series multiplelayer CIS solar cells with 12V
Output.
• Boulder, CO has 5.72 solar
insulation in kilowatt-hours per
square meter per day.
• Three Solar panels will be
connected in series to produce
60 Watts (17.1V x 3.5 A) of
total power.
How it Works
• In a sunny climate, you can get
enough power to run a 100W
light bulb from just one square
meter of solar panel.
• The sunlight reaching the earth's
surface is plentiful compared to
average power consumed by
humans. Additionally, solar
electric generation has the
highest power density among
renewable energies.
• Position the Solar Panels so that
they will acquire maximum
energy from a light source.
How it Works
•Store the acquired
energy into batteries,
and use the batteries
to control the rest of
the system when the
solar energy is absent.
•In no-light or low-light
conditions design the
system to go into sleep
mode so that energy is
not wasted.
How it Works Part 2
• Photovoltaic cells are made of
special materials called
semiconductors such as
silicon, which is currently the
most commonly used.
• When light strikes the cell, a
certain portion of it is absorbed
within the semiconductor
material.
• The energy of the absorbed
light is transferred to the
semiconductor by placing
metal contacts on the top and
bottom of the PV cell, we can
draw that current off to use
externally.
• Solar cells produce DC which
must be converted to AC when
used in currently existing
distribution grids. This incurs
an energy loss of 4-12%
How much does it cost?
• Your Solar Power System
Should Last for 20-30 Years.
• It cost about $18,000 after
incentives and solar energy
rebates.
• The state and federal incentive
program provides fifty percent
of solar power energy system
costs in many states.
Whooffers
Offersthe
Solar
Power
Who
product?
• BP Solar
• One of the world's leading solar
companies
• Akeena Solar
• The Nation's Leading Solar Power
Installer
Who
is
Using
Solar
Power
Who already has this product?
• Application Type: EnergyMax™ Tracking System
Location: Vallejo, CA
• Project Completion: June 2003
Project Size: 256 kilowatt (peak)
Electricity Production: 460,000 kilowatt hours per year.
• The solar power plant is located adjacent to a city water pumping
station
• Its designed to provide 60-80% of the station's energy requirements.
• Saving the city an estimated $65,000 a year.
• In addition to installing the system, BP operates and maintains the
solar electric system on behalf of the city.
• Whole Foods Market, Inc., the world's largest organic and natural
foods supermarket, has become the first major food retailer in the
Northeast to introduce solar energy as a power source at its
Edgewater, NJ store.
• Date Completed: May 2004
Size / Peak Capacity: 125 kWp
• Type: EnergyMax™ Roof System
Electricity Production: 115,000 kilowatt hours per year
• The State of New Jersey and the New Jersey Board of Public
Utilities (BPU) through the New Jersey Clean Energy Program,
provided a $500,000 rebate on the cost of the system.
• The cost was covered by system owner A-Net Energy through BP
Solar partner, SunEdison. Whole Foods Market in return agreed to
purchase energy produced by the BP Solar electric system over a
20 year period at a pre-determined rate.
• Whole Foods Market received a guaranteed cost of electricity from
clean solar power with no capital investment required.
Why We Do Not Use Solar Power
Now?
• Solar cells are costly, requiring a large initial capital
investment.
• Limited power density
• To get enough energy for larger applications, a large number of
photovoltaic cells is needed. This increases the cost of the
technology and requires a large plot of land.
• Like electricity from nuclear or fossil fuel plants, it can only
realistically be used to power transport vehicles by converting
light energy into another form of stored energy suitable for
transport.
Why Should We Act Now
• The environment is depleting rapidly with
the use of non-renewable energy sources.
• The longer we wait the more it will cost.
• It will cost more to change infrastructure in
the future.