What is Solar Energy, and its Benefits and Limitations?

Solar energy is, to put it simply, the energy of the sun. Solar energy is created by harnessing the sun’s rays and transforming them into electrical power. Solar energy is created by using panels with photo-voltaic cells mounted in an array on these panels. When these photo-voltaic cells are exposed to the sun the heat generated causes the cells to convert the sun rays into electricity. There are two types of solar energy. Firstly, there is the Solar Photovoltaic panel (PV) which converts solar energy into electricity using a photo-voltaic cell that contains a silicon based semiconductor material. Each photovoltaic cell consists of a sandwich of two highly purified silicon pieces. These highly purified silicon semiconductors are highly efficient in converting sunlight into electricity. When sunlight strikes these semiconductors, the electrons in the atomic bond of the silicon semiconductors become excited and move about freely. The movement of the electrons produces electricity. The other type is called Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) which is used in so-called solar power farms. These use mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a small area. These lenses have tracking systems which follow the passage of the sun across the sky. In this way they continuously capture sunlight. The concentrated light is then used as a heat source that drive a steam turbine connected to an electrical power generator. The electricity produced by Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is called Solar Thermal energy.

         Solar energy has enormous benefits. Firstly, solar energy is renewable. It does not deplete after use. It is a perpetual energy source. It will not disappear unlike oil, gas, uranium and coal. Once these are used they are gone forever and cannot be reused or recycled. Secondly, solar energy is free. The sun is a given good. We do not pay for it as compared to oil, gas, coal or uranium, where we must pay to obtain them before we create energy from them. Thirdly, solar energy installations are easy to construct. Solar panels in the form of solar farms with numerous large solar panels do not cost much to construct. Whereas with oil refineries, coal power stations and nuclear power stations huge costs are involved in constructing their stations and plants. There is the added cost of procurement of reactors, turbines and other machines to create electrical power. Another benefit of solar power is that it can reduce the electrical power consumption of homes and offices derived from fossil fuels or nuclear power. This effect realizes lower electricity bills for households and businesses. Benefits can also come in the form of tax reliefs for businesses who install solar panels. This benefit can be given by governments in the form of tax incentives. Households can obtain rebates from the local or national government for installing solar panels for their houses. There is a benefit accruing to the environment in installing large solar energy farms. This is the very low impact on the terrain from solar arrays. Unlike coal power electivity stations, nuclear power stations and oil refineries, there is a huge impact on the terrain. There is land clearance and preparation. A lot of land is needed to construct coal power stations and nuclear power plants as well oil refineries. The other benefit of solar power is that there is no pollution resulting from its deployment and use. In the case of coal power there is smoke and nuclear power stations can release radiation in the event of a catastrophic accident such as in Chernobyl, Ukraine and Fukushima, Japan. Oil refineries can accidently release fuel into rivers and oil drilling platforms can have leaks that can cause major oil spill like that in the BP accident in the Gulf of Mexico. Solar energy also allows consumers to be less dependent on energy suppliers and countries who import coal, gas, uranium and oil to be less dependent on nations which supply these resources. This means more economic independence for energy importing nation and a saving for them. Another benefit of solar power is that it does not create any noise when generating electricity. The machinery needed to pump oil and gas are noisy and these plants need to be located in areas away from residential zones. Lastly, solar energy installations can be located in remote areas where it is too expensive to link these areas to the energy grid. The cost of installing a solar panel for a house or a building is inexpensive and once installed the system can create electricity free of charge. Solar energy installations need very little maintenance and repairs. Solar panels need very little maintenance and repairs. They have no moving parts except for the mounts in solar panel arrays that move with the direction of the sun. Compared to oil, coal, gas and uranium plants there is the need to conduct maintenance and repair because they use machines and turbines and reactors which need regular maintenance and repair. Lastly, it does not produce any harmful detritus nor emit any harmful radiation or fumes.

         Solar energy also has its limitations. First of all, solar energy depends on a reliable climate with a lot of sunshine in order to create sufficient electrical power. Simply put, if there is little or no sunshine then there will be little power created or none at all. Solar power stations lie solar energy farms cannot match the electricity output of coal and nuclear power stations. Solar panels installed as units for houses and businesses can supply a part of the electrical power need of the user. Large solar panel farms can supply small towns only. They cannot supply sufficient power for factories, which need a tremendous volume of electrical power. Solar power uses large batteries that need to be charged so that solar powered devices can be used at night. These batteries are large and heavy and need space and they also need to be replaced periodically due to wear. Solar panels can be expensive to buy and install. The investment in this will see the savings accrued being realized after many years from installing them. Lastly, when solar farms are constructed there are enormous costs involved and a lot of land needs to be procured to make a solar power farm that can supply sufficient electrical power as required. Therefore the electrical requirements are matched to land area and hence the costs in doing so.

         In conclusion, I think that solar energy is a good thing. If a household installs solar panels it eventually realizes savings in its electricity bill. A business will be able bear the costs of investing in solar power as its operating costs. Large scale solar farms will eventually realize a reduction on the dependency on mainstream energy suppliers .i.e. those that supply coal derived electricity, nuclear power generated electricity and gas. Despite the fact that solar energy like its renewable energy counterparts cannot generate the power output of nuclear power stations and coal power stations, they easily contribute to an enormous saving for a country and its people. There are engineering advances that will see large solar arrays in orbit around the planet that can capture sunlight in space and channel it to a station on Earth. Such solar arrays in space and terrestrial based ones can supply at least a part of a country’s energy needs. What is important is that renewable energy sources like solar power in combination with wind power, thermal power and wave power can reduce the dependency on fossil and nuclear fuels. The only drawback is that solar power cannot achieve the electrical output of a coal or nuclear power station. But that does not matter. Heavy and medium industries and hospitals or airports require enormous energy that solar energy cannot supply but households, small businesses are also energy consumers. As long as a reduction on fossil and nuclear fuel is achieved and coupled with engineering advances that can realize greater energy output of solar energy as well as other renewable sources we must use solar power and increase its use.

A total of 1,347 words; excluding the title and story board.
Story board.
Introduction: Description of solar energy.
How it is created.
Its benefits.
Its limitations.
Conclusion.