The German industrialist Ernst Werner von Siemens was among those who recognized the importance of this discovery. The first solar cell was constructed by Charles Fritts in the 1880s. Schematics of a grid-connected residential PV power system Ī solar cell, or photovoltaic cell (PV), is a device that converts light into electric current using the photovoltaic effect. Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as 'concentrated solar thermal') plants use solar thermal energy to make steam, which is thereafter converted into electricity by a turbine.Photovoltaic (PV) systems use solar panels, either on rooftops or in ground-mounted solar farms, converting sunlight directly into electric power.Solar power plants use one of two technologies: Long-distance transmission allows remote renewable energy resources to displace fossil fuel consumption. Many industrialized nations have installed significant solar power capacity into their grids to supplement or provide an alternative to conventional energy sources while an increasing number of less developed nations have turned to solar to reduce dependence on expensive imported fuels (see solar power by country). 3.5.2 Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs).The International Energy Agency said in 2021 that under its 'Net Zero by 2050' scenario solar power would contribute about 20% of worldwide energy consumption, and solar would be the world's largest source of electricity. Along with onshore wind, the cheapest levelised cost of electricity is utility-scale solar. Īs of 2021, solar generates 4% of the world's electricity, compared to 1% in 2015 when the Paris Agreement to limit climate change was signed. Solar PV has rapidly become a viable low-carbon technology, and as of 2020, provides the cheapest source of electricity in history. Millions of installations and gigawatt-scale photovoltaic power stations have been and are being built. Since then, as the cost of solar electricity has fallen, grid-connected solar PV systems have grown more or less exponentially. Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. Photovoltaics were initially solely used as a source of electricity for small and medium-sized applications, from the calculator powered by a single solar cell to remote homes powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and solar tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight to a hot spot, often to drive a steam turbine. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic effect. Solar power is the conversion of renewable energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination.

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