A History Of Solar Power

A History of Solar Power

Adrian Fletcher

The history of modern solar power goes back further than you might think. It can be traced back to the middle of the 19th century when scientists, engineers and inventors begin thinking about alternatives to coal. The growing belief that coal was a finite resource that would either run out or lead to political problems seemed to inspire many to start looking at solar energy. This article will detail the history of solar power from this period through to modern times.

>From 1860 to 1880, Auguste Mouchout, a French engineer devised and developed a solar powered engine. The purpose of the engine was to convert solar heat into steam power. He saw the increased need for an energy resource given the sudden expansion of factories and railway lines during the early industrial revolution.

The French Emperor was so impressed with the device that he gave Mouchout a state subsidy to continue developing the engine. The subsidy eventually lapsed without much headway and cheaper coal resources were negotiated putting an end to the solar powered engine in France.

Around this time, William Adams, an Englishman living in India, devised another solution. He built a rack with many small mirrors around a stationary boiler. This allowed him to get 2.5 horsepower out of the engine.

In 1885 for approximately 4 years, Charles Tellier performed experiments with solar energy. He eventually created solar collectors that were installed on rooftops. The aim of the collectors was to power refrigeration units.

In 1903, Aubrey Eneas began investigating solar power. He drew his inspiration from the ideas of Mouchout but increased the scale of Mouchout's work. He created a solar power engine that could be sold to the public. In fact he made a sale of one engine to a doctor in Arizona. For around $2000 it was dispatched to Arizona but became damaged soon after and was never operational. Eneas went on to sell one more engine for around the same sum but this was also never operated because it was damaged soon after set up by a hailstorm.

At the same time, Henry E. Willsie developed 2 solar plants that collected energy during the day for use at night. The plants used flat plate collectors that produced an output of around 15 horsepower.

In 1906, Frank Shuman improved on Willsies system to create an engine that had a capacity of 33 horsepower. With further enhancements he eventually got his engine to around 55 horsepower.

The solar industry seemed to go into the doldrums during the war years. Not much of note was developed until 1954. Researchers in the Bell laboratories noticed the reaction of silicon with sunlight. The end result was the invention of photovoltaic cells.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells are the key technology that allows sunlight to be turned into electricity. A series of PV cells is called a solar panel.

When the energy crises hit in the 1970's, it caused many people to look at how they got there energy resources. This increased the thinking that alternatives to fossil fuels had to be found so that the energy resources couldn't be used as a political bargaining chip again. This increased the interest in solar power. Research went into improving PV cells.

PV cells are now far more efficient and cheaper than they used to be. Given the numerous government incentives, solar panels are within the reach of the average household. Funding has also been increased to make solar power research more successful.

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