Electricity generation photovoltaic panels

DC (direct current) electricity, which powers the electrolyzer, can come from a variety of renewable sources, such as wind generators, photovoltaic panels and small hydro and geothermal systems. Batteries are a common non-renewable source of DC current, as well as AC power supplies with rectifiers that change the AC to DC. 

In contrast, the yield of electricity from photovoltaics (PV) is about 337 500 kWh per ha and year, even if it is assumed that the area of the PV panels cover about one-third of the total plant area. If PV electricity were converted to liquid hydrogen (LH2), stored and then converted back to electricity by a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT, efficiency 57.5%) about 104000 kWh electricity could be generated per ha and year. This yield is still more than three times the yield of the best biomass pathway (upper end of bandwidth electricity from biogas via large gas engine). 

A solar or photovoltaic panel is a solid-state power generation device which uses no fuel or water and produces no effluent. Electricity is produced when sunlight falls upon the devices or cells making up the panel. The sun s energy is absorbed and creates electrical charges, which are separated by the electric field in the device and flow externally as current. Commercially available photovoltaic panels convert between 5 and 15% of the sunlight to electricity. A square meter of photovoltaic panel will produce between 50 and 150 watts of power. A 1000-MW power generation facility would require an area of about 2 miles by 2 miles, which is comparable to the safety zone around a 1000-MW nuclear plant. 

Use of solar panels or photovoltaics (PVs) is another popular way to generate solar electricity. The space program is perhaps the most recognized user of PVs and is responsible for most of the advancements in PVs. Many people are familiar with PVs through small applications such as calculators and perhaps solar water heaters, but early forays in PV experimentation were little more than noted side observations in non-PV experiments. 

A small but growing photovoltaic industry now exists with worldwide sales between 300 million and 400 million. The United States and Japan account for 75% of worldwide sales, but European firms are increasingly active, with over 17% of the market [9]. Panel prices are about 5 per peak watt. With this capital cost and today s attendant equipment costs, electric power can be generated for between 30 and 40 cents per kilowatt-hour. 

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