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A windpump replaced by a solar-powered pump at a water hole in the Augrabies Falls National Park. [Notes 1] This solar water pump up to 3.7 kW is useful for farmers.Solar-powered pumps run on electricity generated by photovoltaic (PV) panels or the radiated thermal energy available from collected sunlight as opposed to grid electricity- or diesel-run water pumps. [1]
The first demonstration of the photovoltaic effect, by Edmond Becquerel in 1839, used an electrochemical cell. He explained his discovery in Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, "the production of an electric current when two plates of platinum or gold immersed in an acid, neutral, or alkaline solution are exposed in an uneven way to solar radiation."
For most crystalline silicon solar cells the change in V OC with temperature is about −0.50%/°C, though the rate for the highest-efficiency crystalline silicon cells is around −0.35%/°C. By way of comparison, the rate for amorphous silicon solar cells is −0.20 to −0.30%/°C, depending on how the cell is made.
Other possible solar cell types are organic solar cells, dye sensitized solar cells, perovskite solar cells, quantum dot solar cells etc. The illuminated side of a solar cell generally has a transparent conducting film for allowing light to enter into the active material and to collect the generated charge carriers.
Solar cells operate by absorbing light, exciting the absorber. This creates electron–hole pairs that must be separated into electrons (negative charge carriers) and holes (positive charge carriers) by asymmetry in the solar cell, provided through chemical gradients [4] or electric fields in semiconducting junctions. [5]
Portable solar chargers are used to charge cell phones and other small electronic devices on the go. Chargers on the market today use various types of solar panels, ranging from thin film panels with efficiencies from 7-15% (amorphous silicon around 7%, CIGS closer to 15%), to the slightly more efficient monocrystalline panels which offer efficiencies up to 18%.
One of the most cost effective solar applications is a solar powered pump, as it is far cheaper to purchase a solar panel than it is to run power lines. [11] [12] [13] They often meet a need for water beyond the reach of power lines, taking the place of a windmill or windpump. One common application is the filling of livestock watering tanks ...
Beattie, Donald A. (1997). History and overview of solar heat technologies.Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-585-37263-1.; Butti, Ken & Perlin, John (1980). A Golden Thread: 2500 years of solar architecture and technology.