Solar Farming

11 avril 2010

· Introduction to Solar farming :

To watch the video : click here

Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies.

Only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used so it is a huge opportunity for human evolution!

Solar powered electrical generation relies on heat engines and photovoltaic. Solar energy's uses are limited only by human ingenuity.

A solar farm is an expression used to describe a large place composed by lots of solar panels. The biggest farm in the world counts around 200 000 solar panels.

The cost of production is between 3 and 10$ per watt. It is an important but worthwhile cost.

Some standards like ISO 9488 exist for solar energy. Companies investing in solar farming should respect this standard.

At the moment, many solar farms exist in the world, some are huge, others smaller, and many others are being on project. Projects are different in term of size and deadline. They are more or less advanced but the will to invest and to use the sun as a power source is here.

The most advanced project takes place in California where the largest solar farm with a total respect of environment is getting built. It will be finished next year. It will allow supplying a large part of California’s need of electricity.

But now we are already talking about largest projects to supply in electricity a large part of a continent consumption: Mediterranean Solar Project or Desertec.

However, there are there limits to the expansion of these solar farms. What are these LIMITS?

- Environmental impacts:

ü Huge amount of trees were killed to install solar farms

ü Some environmental groups, like defenders of wildlife, are voicing concerns that some solar study zone would fragment wildlife habitat.

- Costs

ü Costs are not yet competitive with those of conventional power sources compared to the number of sunshine hours per day.

As a conclusion we can say that :

Solar energy is inexhaustible. As a result, humans are exploring all the ways to develop this energy. For instance, Space Solar Power could provide large quantities of energy available 24h a day/ 7 days a week with very little environmental impacts.

· Team members :

Thanks to Dorian A, Camille C and Lorine C, we have learned more about solar farming and its concepts.

· Bibliography :

If you are curious and if you want to go further on this subject have a look to these links

- www.lefigaro.fr

- www.youtube.fr

- http://developpement-durable.gouv.fr

- http://euro-mediterranee.blogspot.com

- http://heloim.sinclair.over-blog.com/article-34494226.html

- http://blog.lefigaro.fr/green-business/2010/03/plan-solaire-mediterraneen-le-vent-en-poupe-des-startup-ecolos-francaises.html

- http://www.desertec.org/

- http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/