With the purpose to prevent serious consequences of an energy crisis the world scientific community develops methods of obtaining energy from renewable sources more and more actively. One of the most perspective directions of alternative power engineering is use of energy of sunlight.
Growth of electricity consumption gains steam together with expansion of an industrial complex, increase in population and introduction of the power-intensive industries. At such rates of development the progress will cause inevitable deficiency of energy carriers which in bowels of the earth there is a limited quantity. Solar energy belongs to renewable resources and gives to mankind hope for receiving almost free providing with energy carriers during the whole future time.
As use solar energy
Solar energy is used both in private enterprise, and in industry scales. Very many house owners in east and central part of Europe supply the housing with autonomous power sources, use electric vehicles with a solar batteries charger and receive hot water from heliocollectors. In full view of world community there are hundreds of working projects of the solar power stations developing from several dozen megawatts to hundreds of gigawatts of the electric power within a year. At the moment the solar power is an obligatory component in the industry of study and space exploration. There are no analogs solar panels for production of the electric power in space and in the nearest future is not expected.
Prospects of development of the industry
For the last ten years not only the efficiency of development of solar energy increased, but also its popularity increased. In Germany, for example, due to introduction of complexes of solar power it was succeeded to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 40%. Practically in all countries of tropical and equatorial climatic zones the accelerated increase in production of the net electric power from sunlight is observed. With such rates of development the solar power engineering can occupy up to 45% of the general electricity generation in the world. It meets the main requirements imposed to power sources such: mobility, autonomy, decentralization of infrastructure.
Problems of solar power
Unfortunately, even at obvious pluses of transition to energy from renewable sources, the international community does not hurry to carry out full modernization of power system. Preventing to development of alternative power engineering is the reason for that from the companies occupied in the sphere of production and processing of hydrocarbons. Rates of development of solar power also artificially slow down the certain persons who are not interested in access for mankind to almost inexhaustible energy resource. Besides, the solar power has a number of the specific features which are not allowing to apply it everywhere. It demands the stable year-round level of solar radiation, and production of components of solar power stations at the moment is very expensive. Besides, still it was not succeeded to create a way of accumulation and conservation of energy of the sun in night-time having sufficient efficiency.