Solar Power & Energy

Solar power is the direct or indirect conversion of sunshine energy into electricity using photovoltaics (PV) or concentrated solar power. Using the photovoltaic effect, photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current. [2] Concentrated solar power systems focus a vast area of sunlight to a hot spot using lenses or mirrors and solar tracking devices, which is commonly used to power a steam turbine.
Initially, photovoltaics were only utilised to power tiny and medium-sized applications, ranging from a calculator powered by a single solar cell to isolated dwellings powered by an off-grid rooftop PV system. The first commercial concentrated solar power facilities were built in the 1980s. Grid-connected solar PV systems have increased more or less exponentially since then, as the cost of solar electricity has decreased. Millions of installations and gigawatt-scale photovoltaic power plants are still being erected, with solar accounting for half of new generation capacity in 2021.