According to the International Renewable Energy Association, Solar installations globally produced 710 GW of energy in 2020. The cost of solar cell manufacturing has decreased dramatically over the past few years, making this an accessible renewable source and improving affordability.
Australia has the highest solar radiation of any continent and Queensland (the Sunshine State) is the leading large scale solar state. According to the Department of Energy and Climate has more than 830,000 small scale energy systems in place, largely on domestic rooftops with 1 in 3 homes using solar. The output of all solar is roughly 5GW of clean energy, and during the day is the biggest ease of fossil fuel demand on the grid. 3.1GW of this comes from rooftop solar panels.
In 2023, solar power represented 18% of the total energy supply according to the Clean Energy Council. In total, solar contributed more than 16,5 million MWh of power.
Every hour, the sun generates enough energy to theoretically power the globe for a year and is essentially, a giant (and natural) nuclear reactor. The heart of the sun emits photons, tiny energy particles that are smaller than atoms. It takes about eight minutes for these weightless photons to travel 150 million kilometres to earth in the form of sunlight – and that’s when the process of capturing solar energy begins.
When the photons in sunlight hit solar panels, electricity is produced via the photovoltaic or PV effect. Solar PV panels are made up of many solar cells, each made of silicon. Conductors are attached to the positive and negative sides of these cells, forming an electrical circuit. When the sun’s photons hit the solar cells, subatomic particles known as electrons are knocked loose. These electrons flow through the circuit in one direction, generating an electrical current.
The electrons flow around solar panels in the same direction and form direct current (DC) electricity. Australia’s electricity grid, however, runs on alternating current (AC) electricity and solar energy must therefore flows to a solar inverter to the grid where it can then be supplied to power homes and businesses.
The sun generates enough energy every hour to power the globe for a year, and Australia gets more solar radiation per square metre than any continent on Earth – so you might be wondering, why can’t we rely solely on solar?
30 June 2024
The Clean Energy Regulator expects that solar install rates will remain high for the foreseeable future – but is solar the right choice for you? Here are five things you should consider before you start soaking up the sun.
30 June 2024