Solar energy is first and foremost an opportunity. And for each area of application it is different.
For private use, this is the use of cheap electricity, which can be generated using your own solar power plant. For commercial enterprises, this is primarily an opportunity to significantly reduce fixed energy costs. For other areas, this opportunity involves obtaining electricity where it is, in principle, impossible to obtain.
Solar energy is gaining popularity as the availability of equipment to convert solar energy into household electricity increases. Solar energy can be used absolutely everywhere where there is a need for electricity. For example, some remote regions where there is no centralized power supply line. This could be in the mountains, deep in the forests, or in other areas remote from civilization.
Application segments
The main segments of application of solar power plants can be distinguished: domestic, commercial and industrial.
On an industrial scale, large fields of solar power plants are being built, which supply electricity to cities/towns, or stand-alone facilities with high energy consumption.
For private homeowners, a solar power plant can bring a lot of advantages in terms of obtaining cheap electricity and replacing grid electricity with it, which is becoming more expensive from year to year. By adding battery energy storage to the solar station, the user receives a full-fledged uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for a private home, which is charged from solar energy and is capable of providing backup power to the entire house in case of an emergency shutdown of the main power line.
On a commercial scale, grid-tied solar power plants without electricity storage are used. Their main task is to reduce energy costs. As a rule, they do not use rechargeable batteries, which ensures a very quick payback. Partial replacement of network electricity with energy obtained from the sun leads to a significant reduction in electricity costs.
If we are talking about an industrial scale, the use of solar energy provides additional power to cities, villages and towns that lack basic electricity. The construction of a solar power plant with a capacity of several megawatts will provide the populated area with additional energy, which can already be supplied to a certain territorial area or to a large industrial facility, depending on their needs.
Converting solar energy into electrical energy
It is worth considering the equipment that is used to convert solar energy into electricity. Solar power plants consist of photovoltaic solar modules (or solar panels) and an inverter.
The resulting electricity can be accumulated in special batteries. As a rule, either lead-acid batteries or (now very popular) lithium batteries are used. The latter have an advantage over lead-acid batteries, particularly in terms of charge-discharge characteristics.
Lithium storage devices charge in just a few hours and are already capable of providing any object with stored electricity. Unlike lead-acid batteries, lithium batteries have a longer service life. They can be discharged much deeper than lead-acid batteries, and this type of operation does not affect their service life. Lithium batteries have become more popular because their prices are gradually decreasing and they are becoming profitable for use in the household and commercial segment.
As for equipment, it is gradually developing: new types of products appear in the inverter class. However, experts have not yet noted any breakthrough changes. If we are talking about batteries, then there is a trend towards wider use of lithium iron phosphate batteries, which are made using non-flammable technology and have good performance characteristics.
Promising developments
Technologies in solar energy are indeed developing very quickly. This can be seen in the cost of components; every year the equipment supplied as part of solar power plants becomes more affordable: inverters, solar panels and batteries. At the same time, we get more modern technologies at a more affordable price. In particular, solar panels are constantly increasing their coefficient of performance (efficiency).
In the near future, most likely, solar panels will appear that have even higher efficiency, while having a small weight and size indicator. Some exhibitions are already presenting all sorts of breakthrough new products such as tiled solar panels that can be used instead of roofing materials.
