Solar Power Plants

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Solar Energy and Its Uses

Three Ways to be More Eco Friendly in 2012 More and more people are wondering about solar energy and its uses these days. That is because the economy has gone down and people have a lot less money than they did a few years ago. Naturally, most are looking for ways to cut expenses, especially [...]

Solar Lanterns

Solar lanterns use solar energy to produce light. They are environment friendly as the light is not produced by burning a fuel like kerosene or by burning candles. These days they are widely being used in rural villages and other such places where there is no electricity or people cannot afford the electricity cost. In [...]

Solar Cooker

Solar Cooker is a device that uses natural energy of sunlight to cook or heat food. Contrary to other forms of cookers wherein they use either electricity or fuel, solar cooker uses natural form of energy that is sunlight, which incurs no cost. Thus, solar cooker helps in saving money as well as in protecting [...]

Sun is the ultimate source of energy for each and every living thing on earth. Harnessing sun’s unbound energy to the best of its ability is done in solar power plants. There are many ways to get the power from the sun through solar panels in solar power plants. There are direct as well as indirect ways to convert the sun’s heat into power. Directly, the heat from sun is converted into electricity using photovoltaic. Indirectly, the sun’s heat is converted into power by concentrating the heat of the sun to boil the water and then the steam from it is used for electricity generation.

The construction of solar power plants is the best thing that is happening right now for the future generations. With each passing day, the consumption of power, which is produced by burning of the fossil fuels, is increasing at a very high rate. Fossil fuels are getting depleted at a much faster rate than they are being produced. If things keep on going the way they are right now, that time is not far away when there’ll be no energy or power to consume. To prevent this dreadful day from coming into being, solar power plants are being set up around the globe. These solar power plants have proved to be and still are a boon to mankind.

Sun’s radiations are intermittent and to get a continuous supply of power various methods are adopted at the solar power plants. One of such ways taken on at the solar power plants is storage. The solar power is produced by concentrating the sun’s radiations, with the help of mirrors and lenses, into a single beam and that beam is used to heat the water. The steam from the hot water is then used in a conventional power plant to generate electricity. This produced electricity is then stored so that it can be utilized when the sun is not there outside, shining in its full glory. Although the solar power plants are expensive to install, in spite of that, countries around the globe are opting for solar power plants instead of other power plants because solar energy is a renewable source of energy. This solar energy when combined with the other sources of energy such as the wind, biomass and hydro power, results in 100% renewable energy. This has been accomplished in a large combined power plant, which is bigger than any of the solar power plants, set up in Germany.

Solar power plants are the best source of power supply not only for the humans but for the environment as well. Solar energy is very eco-friendly and it doesn’t contribute towards global warming at all as the other fossil fuel power plants do. Solar power plants make the ideal utilization of sun’s energy and are helping the future generations from being powerless. Solar power plants are a like a ray of hope for the human race to survive when all the fossil fuels will get exhausted and there’ll be nothing left to produce power from anymore.

Apart from the solar power plants, there are a lot of products which have become very popular overs the years like solar ingots, solar refrigerators, solar televisions, cells, air conditioners, lights, lanterns, lighting systems etc.

Solar Power Plants in India

India is one of the nations across the world that receives the maximum solar insulation which makes it a highly potential contender of growing in solar power harnessing. Solar insulation is basically the intensity of solar energy that falls on a particular location on the earth’s surface. This is recorded and thus decides how much power can be generated by this solar energy.

In most nations, mainly developing nations, there are several remote areas that are not equipped with the proper electric infrastructure. Due to this reason, these nations keep surviving without the supply of electricity while in some villages and rural areas where electricity has reached, the power outages are so frequent that it becomes very difficult for people to live their lives. Despite of advancement in the modern science and technology, we have still not been able to provide a decent living to our countrymen, which is a big disappointment. This is where solar power can do wonders to light up the nook and cranny of the nations without any humongous capital being involved.

So far, India is leading rest all nations that are playing major roles in harnessing solar power; however, still there is a lot to be done to spread the light to various dark corners. At present, whatever power is being produced by harnessing solar energy is being utilized to satiate energy requirements of the big cities. This is making it difficult to supply power to the parts that are living under stark darkness after sunset. For reaching out to these rural areas, it will require a helping hand of all the Indians who can afford to employ solar appliances at their homes, so that they power their own homes and do not depend upon government for their energy needs. This will also reduce the burden on the government by bringing down the energy dependence on foreign nations.

The first commercial solar power plants were made during 1980s. They were 354 mega watt of concentrated solar power plants remain to be the largest solar power plants across the world which are located at California. Some of the other big names in solar power plants include Solnova Solar Power Plant and Andasol Solar Power Station, both of which at located in Spain. The Golmud Solar Park located in China also registers its name among the largest photovoltaic plants.

In India, the government of Gujarat had agreed to build world’s biggest solar power plant in India. Another major solar power plant India is soon to be erected in the Thar desert where approximately 35,000 square kilometer of land has been kept aside in order to build solar power plants in India.

Solar power plants in India can help a great deal in the development process of the nation. Rural electrification being just one of the benefits of the solar power plants, there are many more benefits that one can reap out of installation of solar plants. Some of the major industries in India, including the paper industry, sugar and dairy industry can be integrated with the solar power plants. Solar energy can replace the steam turbines that are still put to use for power requirements. This shall also bring down the steam turbine capital investments and other power house infrastructures which shall help cut down the cost of energy generation with some amount of solar power plant cost involved. Several studies show that during high insulation times, one can so saving of more than 24 percent.

The first ever solar power plant in India was of 50 kilo watt in capacity and was installed by MNES by employing the parabolic trough collector technology. This was installed in Gurgaon in the year 1989. However, it only operated for about two years because of spares’ deprivation. This solar power plant is likely to be revived in the times to come. Another solar power plant is in the pipeline to be installed at Mathania, Rajasthan. Proposed by government of Rajasthan, the plant is 140mega watt in capacity which involves 105 MW of conventional power and 35 MW of solar power.

Besides, Rajasthan also housed a solar chimney technology based solar plant in the north western region. This project is to be accomplished in five stages. In addition to this, BHEL, a major power manufacturing company had also installed a solar dish run solar power plant during 1990s. A part of the payment for this solar project was paid by US and there were in total six dishes that were used for harnessing the power. Apart from Rajasthan, the other states that are ahead in the solar power harnessing are Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

The benefits of solar power plants in India are aplenty and cannot be overlooked for anything. Solar power plants can help speed up the process of development by several notches. With the help of power generated by these polar plants, we as a nation would not have to depend upon other nations for our energy requirements. So far, the energy produced comes from the fossil fuels and the coal mines. However, since India is not rich in both of these resources, we need to import these resources from the other nations that have rich reserves. Besides, since fossil fuels are limited in quantity and coal mines are not plenty either, these resources are only a handful and thus there demand always exceeds their supply. This further adds to the increased price of these resources, making the import a difficult thing for many nations. If India becomes self sufficient in terms of generation of these resources, with the help of installation of solar power plants, it would help us save a lot of money and time at the same time. In addition, excess energy produced can also be supplied to the other nations in return of the foreign currency. Thus, solar power is one of the golden resources that can really bring a change in the way India’s economy while helping environment heal, for harnessing of solar energy does not emit any greenhouse gases.