The largest solar electric generating plant in the world produces a maximum of 345 megawatts (MW) of electricity and is located at Kramer Junction, California. This solar energy generating facility produces electricity for the Southern California Edison power grid supplying the greater Los Angeles area. The solar collectors concentrate sunlight to heat transfer fluid to a high temperature. The hot heat transferred fluid is then used to generate steam that drives the power conversion subsystem, producing electricity. Thermal energy storage provides heat for operation during periods without adequate sunshine.
Another way to generate electricity from solar energy is to use photovoltaic cells; magic slivers of silicon that converts energy falling on them directly into electricity. Large scale applications of photovoltaic for power generation, either on the rooftops of houses or in large fields connected to the utility grid promising as well to provide clean, safe and strategically sound alternatives to current methods of electricity generation.
The basic principles underlying the design and operation of solar energy conversion systems includes collection of solar energy, either by thermal or photovoltaic process, and integration with energy storage and thermal-to-electric energy conversion to meet a predefined load. Since our emphasis is on the design of entire solar energy conversion systems rather than design of its individual components, both thermal and photovoltaic systems are included.
The purpose of a solar collector is to intercept and convert a reasonably large fraction of the available solar radiation. For solar thermal systems, this energy is converted into thermal energy at some desired temperature and then, maybe, into electricity. For photovoltaic system, intercepted solar energy is converted directly into low voltage direct current (DC).
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