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Solar Technology

Solar technology was pioneered largely by the space agencies of the United States and the U.S.S.R during their space race. Both countries were searching for a power source that could be used in space, one that was light weight and wouldn’t need to be constantly refilled. The answer was obvious, use the sun for power. The technology was already there to do so, the first photovoltaic cells were discovered before 1900. What the agencies needed to do was improve the technology to a usable state.

The original photovoltaic cells operated at a mere 1% efficiency rating. That meant that they wasted the vast majority of the energy they absorbed. It also meant that a cell would have to run for over a century to recoup the construction cost. NASA needed to improve that rate of return to something the government would approve.

The transition to silicon as a solar material was the first step down that road. Silicon solar cells are much less expensive to make, which is already a step in the right direction. Even better, they had a theoretical maximum efficiency of 33%, which meant they would only need to run for 10 years (back when they were first introduced) to recoup costs. Well, more than 50 years later we still haven’t hit the theoretical maximum for the cells, but the costs have dropped so far that we can run a 25% efficient array for 5 years and recoup our cost. Everything after that is pure profit.

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