Solar Background
Solar Energy Potential Vs. Energy Potential From Other Resources
The sun is the most abundant, reliable, safe, and secure source of energy known to man. Inexhaustible, the sun’s energy potential dwarfs all other sources of energy.
The worldwide usage of solar energy has increased dramatically over the years, with worldwide installed capacity skyrocketing from just 51 Gigawatts (GW, or 1 billion Watts) in 2015 to over 590 GW in 2019. Even though solar energy accounts for just nearly 2% of electricity produced in the U.S., solar energy usage will continue to increase rapidly in the future. The question is: who will benefit from this development, and will Illinois be one of the beneficiaries?
The worldwide usage of solar energy has increased dramatically over the years, with worldwide installed capacity skyrocketing from just 51 Gigawatts (GW, or 1 billion Watts) in 2015 to over 590 GW in 2019. Even though solar energy accounts for just nearly 2% of electricity produced in the U.S., solar energy usage will continue to increase rapidly in the future. The question is: who will benefit from this development, and will Illinois be one of the beneficiaries?
Scientific Approach
The most promising advances in solar technology lie in the realm of solar photovoltaics (PV); that is, the conversion of sunlight to electrical energy. The field of solar PV is dominated by the physics of semiconductors, which are materials that create electric currents when exposed to light. The key to making solar energy more competitive as a power source is lowering its cost. Fortunately, the cost of solar power has declined rapidly, as over the past 25 years, the average cost of a solar module has declined from approximately $7 per Watt to almost $1 per Watt.
One of the reasons for the ever-declining cost of solar technology is the increase in the efficiency of solar cells over time. In other words, it is an increase in the amount of solar energy generated by each solar cell (expressed as a percentage of the available energy from sunlight transformed into useful electrical energy). When the efficiency of solar cells increases, the cost of solar energy systems decreases because it takes fewer cells to generate energy for any given application.
The chart to the right indicates, as the Solar PV price per watt decreases, the installed capacity increases. In order to continue these favorable trends, we must continue to increase the efficiency of solar cells. For instance, one of the most promising approaches to accomplishing this goal is creating materials that will maximize the likelihood that sunlight, when it strikes solar cells, will be transformed into useful electrical energy as opposed to wasted heat or some other by-product. Solar cells comprised of materials where the electrical current is highly sensitive to defects are sub-optimal because too much energy is wasted. On the other hand, materials where the passage of electrical current is less sensitive to defects are more optimal since more sunlight is converted to useful energy. In other words, these “defect insensitive” materials will increase the efficiency of solar cells. Thus, it is important to create and exploit materials with low defect-sensitivity to maximize the efficiency of solar cells.
One of the reasons for the ever-declining cost of solar technology is the increase in the efficiency of solar cells over time. In other words, it is an increase in the amount of solar energy generated by each solar cell (expressed as a percentage of the available energy from sunlight transformed into useful electrical energy). When the efficiency of solar cells increases, the cost of solar energy systems decreases because it takes fewer cells to generate energy for any given application.
The chart to the right indicates, as the Solar PV price per watt decreases, the installed capacity increases. In order to continue these favorable trends, we must continue to increase the efficiency of solar cells. For instance, one of the most promising approaches to accomplishing this goal is creating materials that will maximize the likelihood that sunlight, when it strikes solar cells, will be transformed into useful electrical energy as opposed to wasted heat or some other by-product. Solar cells comprised of materials where the electrical current is highly sensitive to defects are sub-optimal because too much energy is wasted. On the other hand, materials where the passage of electrical current is less sensitive to defects are more optimal since more sunlight is converted to useful energy. In other words, these “defect insensitive” materials will increase the efficiency of solar cells. Thus, it is important to create and exploit materials with low defect-sensitivity to maximize the efficiency of solar cells.
"Solar energy is the conversion of sunlight into usable energy forms. Solar Photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal electricity and solar heating and cooling are well-established solar technologies. Solar PV combines two advantages: module manufacturing can be done in large plants, which allows for economies of scale, and it is also a very modular technology and can be deployed in very small quantities at a time. This allows for a wider range of applications, varying from small, personal electronics to utility-scale power generation facilities." (International Energy Association)