Going Solar

With over 300 days of sunshine per year in Spain, its no wonder so many households are taking a shine to solar energy. With the country’s photovoltaic power capacity growing steadily, there’s hope for a more eco-friendly future.

Already thousands of Spanish homes are powered by solar energy and it’s not difficult to see why. Not only is it the cleanest form of energy, but unlike other sources, it’s renewable and there’s no danger of it ever running out.

Watt’s going on?

Solar panels are made up of cells each containing a special material that absorbs the sun’s rays then transforms them into direct current electricity – a process known as photovoltaics.

Since the beginning of this year, over 100 countries have begun generating electricity through photovoltaics, making it the fastest growing power-generation technology in the world, despite only comprising a tiny fraction of the total global capacity from all sources (4800 GW).

Catch the sun

It’s estimated that 7,300 MW of new solar photovoltaic power capacity was installed globally last year – a 20 per cent increase on 2008. Thanks to this, total installed photovoltaic capacity reached a record 21,000 MW, producing enough to power 5.5 million households on the planet.
As well as this, 127 MW of solar thermal energy plants opened in 2009, bringing the total operating capacity to 613 MW.

Ray of light

In terms of development of solar energy, Spain is one of the most advanced countries in Europe. The government are working hard to promote its advantages and continue to export 80 per cent of solar output to Germany. It’s not surprising then that photovoltaics and thermal generated solar energy now counts for around 1 per cent of electricity demand in Germany and more than 2 per cent of the demand here in Spain.

Advances in technology and increases in manufacturing sophistication have steadily brought down the cost of converting light into direct current electricity since the very first solar cells were made therefore, the future’s looking bright for those who choose to go solar!