Solar Photovoltaic

Solar photovoltaic (PV) cells directly convert solar energy to electricity. Solar PV is presently ideal for smaller applications such as a house or office, thus reducing transmission losses and energy costs.

Available energy: If 1.5 KW solar panels were installed on just a quarter of the WA homes currently supplied by Synergy, 230 MW of peak electricity capacity would be created – comparable to a typical WA coal-fired power station.

"If only 1% of the Suns energy falling on Earth were converted to electricity at 10% efficiency, it would provide 3-4 times the amount of energy that the world would need in 2050." [1]

Solar Thermal

First developed in the 1970s, solar thermal/concentrated solar power uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s thermal energy, heating water, oil or molten salt, which is used to make steam for powering an electrical generator. Solar thermal technologies include the parabolic trough, power tower/heliostat reflectors and linear fresnel reflectors. Storage technology, currently operating at small scales, enables thermal energy to provide ‘baseload’ or ‘dispatchable’ power.

It is estimated that all electricity demand on the SWIS could be supplied by just 200 sq km (14 km by 14 km) of solar thermal collectors in sunny, clear-sky areas.

1. Kreith F. & Goswami. D. Handbook of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. CRC Press, 2007.

2. Office of Energy, Government of WA. Energy WA: Electricity Generation from Renewable Energy, 2006.

3. Lovegrove, K, & Dennis, M. "Solar thermal energy systems in Australia". International Journal of Environmental Studies. 63:6, Dec 2006, 791-802.

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