Solar power is energy harnessed from the sun. It has always existed, but only in recent years has the technology been available to capture it and use it to create electricity.
As a natural resource, solar power is not only environmentally friendly, but it’s also completely free, versatile and perhaps most importantly, renewable.
The limited supply of fossil fuels continues to diminish, so it’s important to turn our attention to renewable sources of energy, such as solar.
Where did it start?
Solar technology is considered to be relatively new, but the very first solar cell was actually created in 1888. Although the technology has been improved and refined during its development, the core principles remain the same now as they did then.
While the actual energy from the sun is free, finding ways to store it and convert it into electricity used to be very costly, and until very recently this has still been the case. This meant that energy suppliers have had to lean towards other sources to provide gas and electricity.
Developing solar tech
The most common way of harnessing the sun’s power is through solar panels – or photovoltaics (PV).
Traditionally these cells contain single-crystal silicon, but manufacturers are now moving towards polycrystalline silicon in order to reduce costs further. Thin-film solar cells are also becoming a more popular choice because they’re easier to produce.
Another potential development could be concentrating PV technology, which uses lenses and mirrors to focus energy onto the most efficient cells.
As a result of all this hard work, a solar module now costs just 1% of what it did over three decades ago. As a result, the industry has a bright future.
Solar energy leaders
While the cost of solar energy has come down drastically since the early days, there is still a concern that it isn’t as efficient as oil, coal and natural gas. It’s these sorts of costs that affect your electricity bill – surprisingly the supplier can only control around 20% of the price you pay.
It’s also these costs that have prevented the uptake of solar energy. However, that’s beginning to change. At the moment Germany leads the way with the most installed solar tech (by MW), followed by Spain, Japan, US and Italy.
The UK isn’t quite there yet, but with more technology being developed all the time, it shouldn’t be long until the country is challenging for a spot in the top ten.