The world has been growing increasingly energy
hungry due to host of reasons like
advancement in consumer electronics and smart lifestyle utilising monstrous
amount of energy. while we consider all these as a boon to the society,
the majority of the world's current
energy supply is still generated from fossil fuels such as oil ,coal and
natural gas. These traditional energy sources pose a number of challenges
including rising prices, Financial security concerns over ultra dependence on
imports from a limited number of fossil rich countries, and ever growing
environmental concerns over the green house effect causing adverse climate associated
with power generation using fossil fuels.
The cumulative effect of these and
other challenges of using traditional energy sources, consumers, businesses and
governments are increasingly supporting the development of alternative and
renewable and non-polluting energy sources and new technologies for power
generation.
Potential alternatives such as such as solar, wind
power, hydroelectric biomass and geothermal have emerged in order to address
some of these concerns. But the question here is which one is best suited to us
and in what proportion should all these alternative energy sources be developed
to reap maximum benefits ?
The two main choices for renewable energy
are wind and solar if we consider an off grid or grid connect power system.
So which is best suited
for you? wind or solar ?
It really depends on your energy requirements and geographical location. For most urban, suburban and rural areas and applications; solar power is usually the best choice.
Before discussing the reasons behind the superiority of solar power over all other renewable energy sources lets use an informatics to establish that the best way forward is SOLAR.
The single most
dominating factor behind solar's superiority is it abundance. Figure 1: clearly
illustrates that solar energy has huge reserve that dwarfs all other energy
sources including the fossils that is dominating currently and its perpetual
too.
Following are some
other reasons establishing solar energy superiority over all other sources:
Reduced Dependence on Fossil
Fuels. Solar energy power production is free
from fossil fuel requirement and is therefore less dependent on this limited
and increasingly expensive natural resource. Although the solar radiation is
variable in amount and timing throughout the day, season and year, a properly configured and sized solar system can be designed to be
highly reliable while providing fixed price electricity supply for long term.
Environmental Advantages. Solar
technology using Photo Voltaic arrays generates electricity with a very less
impact on the environment as compared to other forms of electric power production.
The first and the second points are perfectly illustrated by
Figure 2.
Modularity and Scalability. The
size and the power generating capacity of a photo voltaic (PV) solar system are
a function of the number of solar panels installed, thus applications of solar
technology are readily scalable and versatile.
Flexible Locations. Solar
electricity production facilities can be installed at the customer site which
lowers the required capital investments in production and transportation
infrastructure.
Other reasons to choose
solar over other energy sources are:
- Is
totally silent in operation
- installation
is quick with less cable requirement
- Is
less susceptible to lightning damage
- Has
no moving parts
- Highly
reliable and a 25 year warranty
- less
susceptible to high wind damage.
- Requires
less space in most cases as the panels can be installed on a roof.
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Written By : Suresh Kumar
About the Author : Suresh Kumar is blogger by hobby and Managing Director at Erigeron Energy Private Limited by profession. He has a deep interest in exploring renewable energy opportunities and a perfect solutions for the same.
