Solar Energy and Solar Cells

Solar Energy and Solar Cells

In the 21st century, mankind faces major challenges in achieving sustainable economic and social development. The following energy issues are becoming hot spots and difficulties in global economic development.
(1) Energy shortage: According to scientific analysis, the world's proven oil reserves can only be used until 2020, and coal and natural gas can only last more than 200 years.
(2) The shortage of petroleum and other energy resources: has led to many wars in human history. Especially now, it is a major threat to human peace.
(3) Environmental pollution: it is becoming increasingly serious. The burning of fossil fuels releases hundreds of thousands of tons of sulfur and other harmful substances into space every year. The atmospheric pollution and global warming caused by this are attracting close attention from countries around the world. In 2008, the International Olympic Committee emphasized that The Green Olympics has illustrated this.
 
To solve energy problems and achieve sustainable development, mankind can only rely on scientific and technological progress and large-scale development of renewable energy. Silicon photovoltaic power supply has unique advantages and is an ideal alternative energy source for mankind. In recent years, the international photovoltaic market, also known as the solar power generation market, has been booming and developing fast. It has become the most promising green and clean alternative energy for mankind. Energy issues have always been a hot and difficult issue that has attracted much attention in China and other countries around the world. Accelerating the development of renewable energy sources such as wind energy, solar energy, and biomass energy is a clear task set in the 11th Five-Year Plan. The National Renewable Energy Law lists the development and utilization of renewable energy as a priority area of energy development. As existing energy prices continue to rise, renewable energy has obvious comparative advantages and better potential advantages. China is a developing country, and its economic strength is not yet good, and its per capita resources are very limited. The relative shortage of energy resources per capita has become a constraint on the sustainable development of China's economy and society. The fossil energy used in the current world energy structure is mainly coal, petroleum and natural gas. According to internationally accepted energy forecasts, petroleum will be exhausted in 40 years and natural gas will be used up in 60 years. Therefore, humans must start looking for a new generation of alternative energy sources as early as possible from now on. According to predictions from world authoritative departments, the proportion of new energy and renewable energy will account for more than 50% of the energy structure by 2060. Renewable energy has the advantage of not being replaced by petroleum, coal and other energy sources. Therefore, to fundamentally solve the problem of China's insufficient energy supply, developing China's abundant new and renewable energy is the only way to go in line with international development trends and China's national conditions.
 
Solar energy is a huge non-polluting energy source on the earth. The solar energy available on the earth every second is equivalent to the heat emitted by burning 5 million tons of high-quality coal. Among them, China's solar energy resources are equivalent to 1.9 trillion tons of standard coal, and the power generation capacity can reach 960 million kilowatts; the current installed capacity is only 6,000 kilowatts. Solar energy can be used to build greenhouses, solar collectors, solar water heaters and solar cookers. It can also be used to desalinate seawater, refrigeration, make solar cells and generate electricity. Solar energy utilization has broad prospects and will be one of the directions for the development of energy science in the next century.
 
Solar energy is one of the rapidly developing renewable energy sources. The importance and strategic nature of photovoltaic energy have been further highlighted, and major countries in the world have introduced relevant incentive policies and laws. Although the current cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation in the world is less than one percent of the world's installed electricity capacity. However, as a renewable and clean energy source, photovoltaic power generation is predicted to surpass nuclear power and become one of the most important basic energy sources in the first half of the 21st century. Whether it will be in the last few years of 2030 or 2050, is just a matter of time. Solar cells are the main tool for utilizing solar energy, and their function is to directly convert solar energy into electrical energy. Grid-connected solar power stations will alleviate the problem of human energy shortage to a great extent. Human beings use renewable energy sources such as solar energy and wind energy will account for an increasing proportion and are estimated to account for 5 to 10% of total human energy use by 2012. In the utilization of solar energy, solar power stations will be connected to the existing power grid to generate electricity, directly converting solar energy into electrical energy and transmitting it to the power grid. Among them, the power quality of the solar power station will directly affect the performance and use of the entire power grid.
 
The conversion efficiency of a solar cell is the ratio of the power generated by the cell to the incident light power. Since the material can only absorb solar radiation of a certain wavelength to the maximum extent, the solar spectrum is a broad continuous spectrum, and there must be lattice thermal vibration at room temperature; the maximum conversion efficiency of solar cells has an upper limit. We should be committed to improving solar cell shading loss, optical loss of the spectral response characteristics of the battery material itself, carrier loss (recombination) and ohmic loss (electrode-crystal contact) and other electrical energy conversion losses. Factors affecting the conversion efficiency of solar cells are oxygen and carbon content, thickness of silicon wafer and non-equilibrium minority carrier lifetime.
 
After the solar power station is connected to the grid, it will be greatly affected by the conversion efficiency of the solar cell silicon wafer. The conversion efficiency of the solar cell silicon wafer not only affects its electrical energy output but is also an important performance parameter. It will affect various power quality parameters after solar energy is connected to the grid. In the process of developing solar energy as the basic energy source for mankind in the future, the quality of solar grid-connected power will also be an important basic condition.
 

Nickname*:
E-mail*:
Rate*:
Comments*:


About the author
Teresa
Teresa
Teresa is a skilled author specializing in industrial technical articles with over eight years of experience. She has a deep understanding of manufacturing processes, material science, and technological advancements. Her work includes detailed analyses, process optimization techniques, and quality control methods that aim to enhance production efficiency and product quality across various industries. Teresa's articles are well-researched, clear, and informative, making complex industrial concepts accessible to professionals and stakeholders.