General info
One of the international top priorities is the fight against the climate change (heating up of the globe).
Everyone is becoming more and more aware that:
- Actions are urgently required to keep the globe still liveable for future generations
- Fossil energy becomes scarce and priceless.
As a consequence, internationally, an activity plan -known as the Kyoto protocol- was agreed in order to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
The European objectives are:
- To stop the heating up of the globe.
- By 2020, 20% of the total energy consumption must originate from renewable sources.
The sun is the outstanding source of renewable energy: The quantity sun energy which reaches the earth each day, is 27 times larger than the annual energy need of all 6.1 billion earthlings! The sunbeams contain warmth: (infra-red rays) and light (UV and visible light). The solar energy which reaches our earth can perfectly be converted into warmth or electricity by means of solar modules. In Belgium, the conversion is maximal if the panels are oriented between south East and south West and are placed under an angle of 36°.
The advantages of solar energy are:
- It reduces drastically the need of fossil fuels or nuclear power
- A tremendous reduction of the harmful CO2 emission
- The supply is guaranteed for the following 4 billion year
- Modules can easily and nearly everywhere been installed
- The long life time of the panels (25 to 30 years)
- Entirely soundproof and nearly total maintenance free (only cleaning if necessary)
There are 2 distinguished ways to use this solar energy:
To convert the solar (light) energy into electricity: photovoltaic (PV) energy
In Europe the solar modules are mostly installed on roofs. Such a panel has photosensitive material. This material can be a very thin layer between 2 plates glass: (thin film panels) or rectangular slices of crystalline material (PV cells) welded to each other, and are stuck onto a plate of glass: (the crystalline solar modules).
In both cases this photosensitive material supplies, when supposed to daylight, direct current (DC: just like a battery). The panels are series connected, and all direct current is converted, into alternating current (AC) by means of an inverter. This AC current flows through a green flow meter to the fuse box connected with the grid.
When this current is put into the grid the electricity meter is turns reverse. With a minimum of adaptations, an installation can be done on almost every roof, conditionally its orientation is between southeast to southwest.
Also during cloudy days electricity is produced, as the solar PV modules react to light (also diffuse light as we often have in Belgium). The electricity output is at maximum during long bright days. (Not necessary warm days, as generally is misunderstood!).
Photovoltaic solar modules produce certainly during 25 to 30 years electricity, have no moving (wear) parts and require almost no maintenance (only cleaning when dirty: birds…). There is an abundance of sunlight. In Belgium the sun provides to 90 times more energy than we consume. Solar energy is perfectly environmentally-friendly and reduces the CO2 emission considerably
The capacity of solar modules is expressed in Wp (Watt peak). In Belgium an installation of 1000 Wp produces approximately 850 kWh. E.g. a system with 10 m² crystalline solar modules provides approximately 1200 to 1300 kWh per year