Electricity generated by solar power systems has always been regarded as a way to return electricity to the grid or it has been used in remote areas where there was no grid. It is usually composed of a solar panel on a roof or in the garden. Such a panel is made up of photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight into direct current and transformed into alternating current through an inverter. The direct current is then stored in batteries. The alternating current is used in the home or returned to the grid. The use of solar power systems is a departure from the traditional power station model for energy, insofar as the house has become autonomous and responsible for its own energy production. Prior to the advent of solar energy, the power station was a central hub which was required to provide thousands of houses and various businesses with centralized power.
As the environment becomes more and more of a concern for people, renewable, environmentally friendly energy production becomes increasingly important and alternatives to the electricity grid, such as solar power, increase in popularity. Does this mean that everyone will have a solar panel on their roof in the coming years? Some people think that nuclear energy will take over fossil fuels as primary use in energy production; while others believe that solar panels will be the future. Yet others believe that solar power systems added onto the traditional power grid could be an alternative. There are articles available that describe a new solar power plant and how the solar tower is a key element.
The solar power plant is a merger of two ideas: the use of solar energy and the idea of a traditional power station to supply thousands of homes with electricity. The solar power plant aims to use solar energy to supply entire cities with their electrical needs.
A Solar power plant is composed of a tower accumulating solar energy surrounded by a large number of mirrors (known as heliostats) following the sun. The heliostats are aligned in a concentric circle around the tower. The heliostats concentrate through reflection all the heat they receive from the sun at the focal point of the solar energy tower. In the tower, the focused energy is used to boil water. This boiled water is called steam and is sent to turbines which are used to produce electricity. The steam can be used to generate electric power. Then there is the other way of using this principle and that is to have the focus point directed at the bottom of the tower. By this method the heat rises and builds up to the top of the tower. During this trip, it turns turbines, hence the creation of power.
Using this model, the current solar power project in southern Spain, outside of Seville, can provide electricity to 6,000 houses. It is hoped that eventually it will provide electricity to the entire city as the number of heliostats are increased. A similar solar power project is in the planning stage in the center of Australia. It is hoped that this solar power plant will provide electrical power for 100,000 to 200,000 houses when it becomes fully operational.
One of the difficulties of creating an efficient source of solar power is the shadow cast by heliostats on other heliostats. Therefore, hinges are used to keep them angled at the sun all day. They can not only rotate up and down but also to the left and right to make sure they are the most directly exposed to sunlight as possible. Another difficulty is determining the height of a solar tower. Since solar energy varies by location, planning an ideal height for optimum power generation becomes cumbersome. But this must be done to determine the amount of power that it is expected to produce and the size of heliostats currently available.
Unfortunately, there are still more problems associated with solar power systems. As illustrated by this article. Solar power systems are climate sensitive. Solar power systems also require a large amount of land that could be costly or simply non-existent in areas with high population density where electricity is needed most.