Life Alternate » Solar

Cleaning Solar Panels

Wispa — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:02:29 +0000

Photovoltaic solar panels detest dirt and grim more than anything. As the wind blows across the world lots of particles are picked up and deposited elsewhere. Some of this may end up on your solar panels. The grains of sand act as barriers to the sunlight and block the much needed solar energy from reaching the cells and reducing the amount of electricity produced.

Rooftop Solar Panel

We can compare this somewhat to how amazed we are at the clarity of our TV display or computer screen after giving it a good clean. Or giving the car windows a good clean and everything seems a bit more crisper. The light has been getting reflected away by all that dirt – wherever it may have come from – and reducing the quality of the display or views. Solar arrays suffer just as much and can benefit from a good regular clean.

Luckily the surfaces of your panels are treated and with the help of some rain or a watering hose the most of the dirt may was away by itself. The will still need a regular light service to maximize their performance. At home this would be relatively easy to perform if your panels are easier to access. Sometimes it might take a bit more effort if the mountings are hard to reach.

All this is really trivial when we compare residential solar with the massive solar farms that are being developed across the world. The crave sun, sun and well more sun. This often means low rainfall and hot dry locations like deserts which are ideal places for millions of little particles of dirt and sand to become airborne by a slight blow of wind. No doubt much of this ends up on the solar panels and keeping them clean is a necessary task that needs to be done regularly to keep up the efficiency of the electrical output.

The answer may come from Outer Space.

Not from aliens but from a development by NASA for it’s planetary robots. On far distant planets calling up a man is a space suit to give the solar powered robots a clean is not going to be practical. So the scientists have come up with a novel idea and this is to electrocute the dirt. Running a small short electric charge over the solar panels that causes most of the dirt to be repelled from the panels keeping them clean.

The amount of energy used is small and easily produced by the solar panels and the cleaner arrays perform much better. Using this idea back on earth based solar farms would add to the cost of the solar plants but the benefit from the solar efficiency would more than pay for itself many times over. It would not guarantee 100% that the panels will be clean, small dust particles could be easily shifted but as the grains get bigger then it would still need a wiped by damp cloth.

For all of us with solar panels at home, whether they are mounted on our roofs or on a smaller scale as part of a solar battery charger, the story here is quite clear. Dirty panels do not perform at their best. Keep them clean and maximize their power output.

Amonix Develops Concentrated Photovoltaic

Wispa — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:59:15 +0000

Amonix receives a US$129 Million in venture funding to develop Concentrated Photovoltaic Solar Panels.

Another acronym comes along in the solar industry for us to remember. This time it is CPV which stands for Concentrated Photo Voltaic. The difference here between the more common Photovoltaic (PV) is the the addition of a lens in front of the solar cell. This acts a bit like a magnifying glass to focus the solar energy on the cell, it gets Concentrated.

The added factor of the Amonix units being steerable keeps them at the optimum angle to capture more of the suns energy than fixed solar panels. Efficiency of the units comes out at around 25% of the suns energy converted in to usable electricity. The actual individual cells themselves can capture 39% of sunlight. The solar array has an output of around 72 kilowatts and all this is done using a much smaller area than a solar farm using just standard photovoltaic panels.

Just like cooking eggs, there is more than one way to do it. Capturing solar energy is possible in many forms to suit many purposes. The Amonix fills a gap for utilizing a much smaller area that produces more power.

Plans as afoot for Amonix to build solar farms in the South West USA capable of producing up to 20 megawatts of energy

US Military Powered by Mobile Solar Generator

Wispa — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:12:39 +0000

Military operating from remote locations for extended periods of time need supplies. Without regular deliveries of food, fuel and other needed necessities, like candy bars, the unit may grind to a halt.

The US Marines have come up with a partial solution to on of those problems and that is the need for electrical energy. Known as the Ground Renewable Expeditionary ENergy System, or GREENS for short. This is a highly portable solar energy generator. Fold out photovoltaic solar panels provide the 1,600 watts of energy which can be stored in rechargeable batteries. The system can supply 300 watts of power for the units needs.

With the battlefield becoming electronic power is much needed and traditionally chargers have needed a regular supply of fuel. Using solar take away the need for regular supplies and allows the unit to become more independent in remote locations.

Deliveries of fuel also consumes fuel so this can be seen a double saving for the military. But whatever way you look at it the military is a war machine and having systems called GREEN should not offset the destruction and pollution that a military machine can cause.

Solar Generators have a more peaceful use outside the military. They have been used in remote locations or in situations where electrical power is not connected such as in building sites to power tools. Disaster relief agencies should have a few of these ready to go for any emergency.

China Bathes in Solar Energy

Wispa — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:18:27 +0000

China being “quite a large country” has the advantage of that over two thirds of this area can be utilized for solar energy production with around 2000 hours of sunshine every year. This has not gone unnoticed and both domestic and overseas developments are taking place and some on quite a large scale.

sunset china

Applied Materials , a US based company, are the latest in a long line of overseas corporations setting up bases in China. With the establishment of a solar power technology centre in Xi’an, Shaanxi Provence, Applied Materials aim to boost the research and development of thin film solar technology and crystal solar panels along with the training of engineers in the solar power field.

As one of the largest suppliers to the semiconductor industry, Applied Materials hopes to further increase its share of the solar power energy market.

First Solar has been given the go-ahead to build a solar energy production site in Ordos, Inner Mongolia by the Chinese government. The projects is estimated to take 10 years to build and will have a capacity of 2,000 MW of solar produced electricity. This would be the equivalent output of 2 or 4 coal power stations and without the environmental hazards such as CO2 pollution and hazards of coal mining.

Along with solar energy, China is also embracing wind technology. A 20 megawatt wind development is planned in Gansu Provence. It is hoped that the first stage will be online by the end of 2010 with a capacity of 5 megawatt of wind energy being produced.

Away from the large scale production, Beijing has set up the “Sunshine School Project”. The aim here is to build 100 energy efficient schools. Starting with solar powered lighting and displays. The project develops further with the utilization of solar energy for hot water and heating. These smaller scale energy saving projects will demonstrate that solar energy can be utilized for more remote areas to being some comforts to villages without the need for massive electrical production. This and the education of the school children of environmentally friendly products should produce the a next generation of Chinese more aware of the hazards of using non renewable energy.

With China is still a large polluter with a large number of coal power stations. It does seem that the country is embracing renewable energies without taking the easy way out and relying totally on coal power.

Germanys Largest Solar POWER STATION

Wispa — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:09:00 +0000

Germany Steams ahead with one of the worlds largest photovoltaic solar energy developments. The state of Brandenburg hosts what is currently the worlds second largest solar energy site.

Erected on a disused military training ground that was used by the East Germany forces then plant consists of 560,000 solar modules and was symbolically finished with the help of the state governor, Matthias Platzeck, along with infrastructure and transport minister, Wolfgang Tiefensee.

The solar park is scheduled to come permanently online at the end of 2009 and will have 700.000 modules installed that in total will produce around 53 megawatts of solar electricity. In consumption terms that amount of power will provide enough electricity for 15,000 households.

Solar Array

A single coal fired powered station could produce around 600 megawatts of electricity, That is 10 times the capacity of the solar plant at Brandenburg. But Germany is not the best area in the world to make best used of photovoltaic solar energy, being located in the northern regions of the world is not the best location to capture the sun. On the “bright” side, it is 53 megawatts of needed energy that is clean, producing no waste in production and needing no fuelling. Coal power plants on the other hand pollutes both way, Excavating or mining coal tears at the land, ripping it apart and energy production produces environmentally damaging gasses and waste that has to be disposed off.

Cost of the plant is around 160 million Euros and takes up an area of 200 football fields, A large area by anyone’s standard, At the area was previously a military training ground and covered with unexploded munitions it was left unused and a possible danger to the public. Erecting the solar energy plant has put this disused land to use and removed the explosives. When the plant has reached the end of its life, in many many years to come, the land will be cleared of the solar station and released back to nature with no further development taking place

A second site in North Rhine-Westphalia is the location of the first solar thermal power in the country. The 33 million euro plant is experimental and has a capacity of just 1.5 megawatts. Solar thermal, although not a new idea, is not as technologically developed as solar photovoltaic energy production. Ultimately energy producing capacities of thermal energy should surpass that of solar panel power production and on a commercial scale will take up a lot less land use to produce the same amount of energy.

Being one of the major players in the proposed Desertec project that aims to utilise the large area surrounding the Sahara desert in North Africa to produce renewable energy. Solar thermal energy production will be a large part of this project.

Germany, like many other progressive nations around the world is embracing the switch to renewable energies like solar and wind power and has set itself a target to provide at least 20 percent if its energy needs from clean energy sources.

What types of Solar Battery Charger

Wispa — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:51:57 +0000

For all of you out there that have dumped the traditional non rechargeable batteries and switched over to the cost effective rechargeable type, the next step in going greener and cheaper is actually recharging those batteries with solar energy. There is a massive choice here and you don`t want to choose the wrong type of charger for your batteries.

A couple of things to wonder about is how portable are you? Have you lots of personal gadgets that you like to carry about while you are away from home. The ideal candidate here is the outdoor person, backpacker or hill walker.

The second though is just what type of batteries do you use in your equipment, they might not all be the same size and that will narrow down your options for what charger to purchase. You`ll want your charger to be extremely portable.

For the mostly stay at home person, portability is not your primary concern so you are no so limited in choice. The types of batteries you use are still important and you`ll probably be thinking about a universal charger.

Actually before we move on, take a look around at all your devices and check if you have missed any that are still no running on rechargeable batteries and make a point in swapping over to the more cost effective battery.

The solar battery chargers today offer a variety of options, for the basic capable of charging a single type AA or AAA battery to chargers that are both solar and can be plugged in to your computer via a usb cable. Along with the universal chargers that can take all manner of batteries and also charge batteries that are on-board your device as well as actually powering some of them.

Portability varies too, some are the ultimate like roll up film or fold-able wallets to larger heave duty devices. If you backpack then weight will be a factor, for those that drive or even cycle then weight is of less importance.

The ideal solar batter charger for you is out there, you just have to look around at what you`ll need charging and when. No more dead batteries for your devices.

NTT Docomo Solar Powered Phone

Wispa — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:52:43 +0000

NTT Docomo has recently announced the development of its latest mobile phone. A solar Hybrid phone that will go on sale in Japan around September 2009.

The solar hybrid as well as being able to charge like recharge like any regular phone has a built in solar panel that will enable one minute of talk time for every ten minutes of exposure to the sun.

The Solar Phone also comes equipped with an amazing 8 mega-pixel CCD camera build in along with having a waterproof body that can be submerged up to depths of 1 meter.

While powering you phone by solar power is nothing new, which usually entailed carrying around a separate solar charger, this combines them together in one unit.So while other phones may have problems with overheating in the sun. This little mobile phone loves it, in fact you could say it grows more powerful in the sun.

Thinking of a new phone, try the solar hybrid, ideal for those that like to be out and no worries about being away from your charger left at home. Or not ready yet, still go solar with a solar phone charger

San Diego Top of California Solar League

Wispa — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:24:58 +0000

From the San Diego Union Tribune it is reported that City of San Diego leads the league in installation of roof top solar panels. Having more installations than cities such as Los Angeles and San Fransisco with 2,262 roof installations which combined can generate 19.4 megawatts of clean electricity. The output of all California`s solar energy is estimated to be 500 megawatts

In ten years San Diego has come from not being in the top 10 solar cities to being number 1.

The 2,262 solar roofs combined can produce the equivalent power used by 12,000 homes.

Rooftop Solar Panel

Officials have said this is due to the promotion of solar energy along with the city’s Fast-tracking permit scheme and incentives for solar energy installations. The also give credit to having lots and lots of sun for the increase.

California as a whole has a target of 1 million rooftop solar installations by the year 2017 with currently state wide only 50,000 have made the step. With currently less than 1% of California`s energy needs supplied by solar energy a lot more rooftops need to be converted.
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The current standings of solar installations in California

San Diego 2,262
Los Angeles 1,388
San Francisco 1,350
San Jose 1,333
Fresno 1,028
Bakersfield 751
Clovis 733
Santa Rosa 725
Sacramento 692
Berkeley 648

Hammacher Robot Solar Powered Pool Skimmer

Wispa — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:39:56 +0000

Our latest solar gadget is designed for those of you with outdoor pools. Just imagine waking up in the morning eager for that refreshing dip in your luxurious pool only to be faced with the site of dead leaves, bugs, twigs and all manner of undesirable objects floating before you eyes. Well Hammacher Schlemmer can offer you the Robotic solar powered pool skimmer.

Obviously waterproof, this skimmer will happily start swimming about your pool in the morning clearing up before you take your dip. It`d robotic so it never tires. Powered by two solar photovoltaic panels, which the robot stores in a rechargeable NiMH battery, it will swim around up for you while also letting two chlorine tablets slowly dissolve and sanities your water keeping it doubly clean.

Being a robot, it is naturally intelligent and has a few tricks up it`s sleeve. Should it come across any flotsam that is slightly to large to handle and ends up getting clogged, it will go into reverse mode to try and remove the blockage, before carrying on its task like nothing happened. Sensors can also detect how much energy from the sun it is receiving and should clouds arrive it will reduce its workload to conserve energy. The pool skimmer can operate for up to 8 hours on a full battery charge, with dimensions of 6 1/4″ height, 20″ in width and a length of 23″. Weighing just 8 lbs its easily movable.

If you have just installed your solar pool heating then this is it ideal gadget to keep it clean from all those nasties that every pool seems to attract. At $499 this solar powered pools skimmer may seem expensive but it does give a glimpse into what we will see everyday in the future, the clean solar future that is.

Chinavasion Solar Powered FlashLight

Wispa — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:06:47 +0000

Solar Energy is normally associated with the sun and therefor daytime. As the industry grows and matures the lack of sunlight becomes an easy problem to overcome. Using modern battery technology you can store the suns solar energy for later use, even when its dark.

Along comes the solar powered flashlight. Chinavasion has come up with a design that also utilizes the latest in LED technology for an environmentally friendly torch. Being around 250mm in length and 28mm diameter with a built in Li-on battery. With ten led light emitting diodes, this flash light will save you money by eliminating the need for buying expensive batteries or using electrical chargers.

The flash light has a solar panel built in to its shaft, that when exposed to sunlight during the day keeps the flashlight charged for whenever you need it. The casing is aluminum and its also waterproof.

The down side here is that we keep our flashlight in a cupboard and not exposed to the sunlight. It seems a small change in lifestyle maybe needed. Placing the flashlight near a light source but still easy to get your hands on when you really need it.