Factors Affecting the Emergence of the Solar Power Industry - Essay Example

Solar Power Industry Introduction Solar power in U.S. is one of the fast growing industries that are helping many current developments. The production involves the local distribution using photovoltaic and the solar energy plants. As at the end of the year 2014, U.S was able to have installed solar panels enough to produce over eighteen gigawatts. United States has been conducting vast research in photovoltaics and how to concentrate solar power and harness it for purposeful use in various ways. America is one of the nations that have the greatest amount of solar energy that is harnessed from the sun from the installations that are located in the Southwest Desert (Boxwell, 2012). The power plant that was installed a long time ago was situated in California, which is capable of producing over three hundred megawatts. In 2013, a nearly three hundred megawatt Solana power plant was completed in Arizona. This plant is the largest parabolic trough in the world and the first one in U.S that has molten salt as the thermal storage. In America has an underway plan to start many other major solar plants. Almost all the states have an operational solar plant that they rely on to produce power for various uses. For instance in California, Governor Jerry Brown has signed an agreement to ensure that by 2020, the state should be using over thirty-three percent of their energy from the renewable sources (Enteria & Akbarzadeh, 2013). The state has over four thousand megawatt power plant that is under construction and another twenty-five thousand-megawatt power plant that is under development. Prove of Emergence Solar energy is one of the reliable, clean and affordable which is experiencing a significant growth across U.S and transforming where and how people use the electricity in the modern society. Currently power firms have been suffering serious problems related to health and environmental effects of burning and extracting fossil fuels like coal and natural gas and the fluctuation of the fossil fuels (Imtiaz, Khan & Kamath, 2013). U.Ss environmental and economic well-being relies on substantial shift to the electricity generated by sources that are reliable and abundant and having relatively little pollution to the environment. Solar power gives the potential to produce electricity with less global warming, with no fuel costs, with no other emissions and risks of fuel price spikes. Solar energy is to an enormous extent, an equivalent renewable energy given the sufficient sunshine across the country to make solar energy an attractive option of the power source to every state. The options for power generation from solar include an array of merits with many properties for homeowners, utilities and businesses. The small-scale solar power installations, while large-scale power plants constitute the majority of the electricity generating ability overall. These aspects help to be stable in using the solar energy that is more resilient to both economy and environment. In America, solar power is undergoing an enormous growth. The number of solar photovoltaic installed in U.S grew by over four hundred percent from 2010 to 2013. Solar power accounted for the sixteen percent of electricity installed in each year in U.S from 2010 to 2013 and close to thirty percent in 2013. By the start of 2014, U.S has established over four thousand solar systems, which resulted to up to over thirteen thousand megawatts, which is sufficient to cater for over two million households. Solar is still a small electricity generating system with the states of California, Arizona, and Nevada leading with solar power generation, which offer about two percent of the electricity. In 2014 June, California set a world record for solar power production of eight percent of the overall power that was utilized in a day. Since the country experiences extensive sunshine within a day, the nation has the capacity to produce and cater for the rapidly growing demand for the electricity in U.S. In a study that was conducted, more than three-quarters of Americans said that they would emphasize the use of the solar energy (Johansson, Patwardhan, Nakićenović & Gomez-Echeverri, 2012). Many innovations are underway improving the efficiency, component costs and the expanding job market opportunities for the solar power industry. The ever increasing appeals for the economic are attracting people to venture to solar energy investment. Minimizing, avoiding and mitigation of the environmental effects are helping in maximizing the solar benefits. The U.S policy for the reduction of the over-reliance on fossil fuels and the power diversification of the electricity supply is supporting solar energy industry growth in the United States energy mixture to grow continually. Retrieved from < https://www.google.com/search?q=FIGURE+1.1+Annual+U.S+Solar+PV+Installation,+2000-2014&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Y3JwVevZO4HzUrr1gdgG&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=891> Retrieved from < https://www.google.com/search?q=FIGURE+1.1+Annual+U.S+Solar+PV+Installation,+2000-2014&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Y3JwVevZO4HzUrr1gdgG&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=891> Factors Affecting the Emergence of the Solar Power Industry Technology Today solar power accounts for about one percent of the power that is generated in the U.S. With the recent development of techniques of the cheap silicon panels, there has been a significant boost in the industry. New designs and advanced solar materials have set the new improved efficiency of solar cells, which has increased its reliability (Kennedy, 2012). The most promising technology is the multi-million cells that are laid of light harvesters and gather energy individually. There has been the development of super-efficient semi-conductors such as the gallium arsenide and perovskite and other cells that are made with very fine solar-absorbing discretely. There are technical hurdles that are making materials that can withstand elements. The greater achievement that has been achieved by the current technology is the improvement of the solar cells efficiency. The cosmic evolution for over the past decade has been stunning as the prices are going down as the demand for the photovoltaic solar cells is growing exponentially. Markets Solar power energy demand in United States has been growing to a significant degree. For instance in 2014, U.S installed over six thousand megawatts of solar power cells and concentrating over seven hundred megawatts to reach twenty gigawatts of the total installed power. This power has been able to serve over four million homes. This solar power industry has managed to employment over one hundred thousand workers in the process. This number of the employee is too big compared to the giant companies like Facebook, Twitter; Apple and Google combined. As at late 2014, more than two hundred thousand homes have installed and operational solar energy equipment and over six states have more than five hundred megawatts of direct current operating at solar capacity (Kleissl, 2013). In U.S, there has been the consistent growth of solar energy use. The market for solar energy that has been on significant growth is the domestic compared to the commercial. Retrieved from< https://www.google.com/search?q=FIGURE+1.1+Annual+U.S+Solar+PV+Installation,+2000-2014&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Y3JwVevZO4HzUrr1gdgG&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=891> Investment The U.S Federal government has invested heavily in the renewable energy use in U.S. The solar industry has benefited from the thirty percent of the federal government investment of Tax Credit and many of the state policies are reasonably visible and evident. This aspect has the lead for the industry to strategize well and has come up with good plans for expansion venturing to great heights. Many of the states are giving incentives to the companies that are investing in the solar power. These incentives include tax credit and capital investment in the research and innovations (Palz, 2013). The national government has spent dearly in the industry as is projects to have a greater portion of the renewable energy as it reaches 2020. Many companies in use are investing considerably in research to improve the efficiency and reliability of the solar energy. These companies are also trying to cater for the increasing demand of the solar energy in the current word. Boston and Washington are the cities that have significantly invested in solar industry. Firms Many companies have cropped up that are producing solar equipment and have made the industry grow significantly. The oldest and largest solar power plant was established in California, which produces over three hundred megawatts of electricity power. In Nevada, there is also a biggest trough-shaped solar plant that generates up to sixty-four megawatts. In Arizona, there is a solar energy plant called the Solana Generating power about seventy miles from Phoenix that was completed in 2013. In Mojave Desert, there is another power plant that is capable of production of close to three hundred megawatts (Palz, 2013). These firms have influenced the growth of the solar energy in the country over the last few years. Many other companies are under construction, and others are under development. These companies are competing in making the best facilities for solar power harnessing, and this is significantly influencing the industry growth. Government The American government has extended the tax credit for the solar power industry for over eight years. This aspect has led to enormous growth and investment in the industry. This extension is due to close of 2016, where it is approximated to create over four hundred thousand job opportunities while generating around thirty gigawatts of the solar energy and result to three billion dollars market for solar facilities (Enteria & Akbarzadeh, 2013). The government of U.S stated that it would invest close to twenty million dollars in the solar industry relative the annual approximations. The government spent that amount of money to various firms where they were supposed produce well and quality solar equipment. This project formed the greatest solar incentive avenues that have significantly contributed towards the growth of the industry in the recent past. The government has kept close supervision so that the companies that benefited with the incentive to produce quality products. Production The photovoltaic systems were previously undertaken by the small firms but currently is maturing to be a stable and global industry that is dominated by a fewer number of the producers. The producers have been trying to produce cells that can concentrate sunlight and give out electric energy. The productions of modern cells that are more efficient and reliable have made many people turn to solar energy since it is cheaper and easier to maintain after installation. Companies are competing in producing the best and reliable solar facilities that can be provided at low cost. This aspect is making the industry growth to be moving in the right direction since the market is looking for the devices that can be of great help to them. The materials that are used in production are locally available making the industry grow due to the availability of the resources. Retrieved from < https://www.google.com/search?q=FIGURE+1.1+Annual+U.S+Solar+PV+Installation,+2000-2014&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Y3JwVevZO4HzUrr1gdgG&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=891> Supply Networks Solar power has been provided in various categories that make the solar energy to reach many of the homes in U.S. There are community solar projects that provide electricity to a certain number of households where people jointly and they utilize the power as a group. There are interconnection standards where the sun energy is connected to the national grid and transmitted to all individuals. The local permitting supply is streamlined such that the solar energy is distributed to the homes and other businesses at reduced cost and without the need to install power generators (Boxwell, 2012). The net metering is another supply mechanism where the power is credited to the owners from the energy that is transmitted to the grid system. There is the property clean energy that allows families or communities to finance the power from the private owners that are usually repaid via the property taxes. Solar Tech distributes the solar energy equipment where it helps in reducing the cost and supports the inventiveness in the solar energy. Future prospects of solar power industry Inventors There is a lot of the research that is underway which when the new developments will be made will result in an elaborate solar facility that will be able to generate electric power to the consumers and offer a reliable source with high efficiency (Palz, 2013). The more the sensitive the cells that will be produced will provide better solar energy generators that can be relied upon. Many technological pieces of research are in the solar power industry, and the success of the studies will result in a lasting solution of the electric energy. Retrieved from < https://www.google.com/search?q=FIGURE+1.1+Annual+U.S+Solar+PV+Installation,+2000-2014&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Y3JwVevZO4HzUrr1gdgG&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=891> Companies Many companies are investing in the solar power industry, which suggests the future of the sector looks better as there will be stronger backing that will withstand competition from the competitors. Government The U.S government has handsomely invested in the solar power industry. The government has even credited tax on the investment in the solar energy industry. There are also project incentives that the government has put in place to help the industry to grow. The future of the industry seems to be better the government is fully supporting the idea. Investors Many investors are using their money in the solar power energy. For instance Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Boone Pickens, who are the United States richest people, are investing their cash in the alternative sources of generating power rather than the fossil fuel sources. These investments will give the clean energy that is reliable to the people (Reddy, 2012). Pickens is planning to invest into wind power in Texas that can be the world largest wind energy plant. This idea may lead to competition the solar power industry and result in its collapse. Entrepreneurs Many entrepreneurs from Europe have invested heavily in the solar power industry, and many are planning to venture their business in this industry that is a significant boost to the industry. Other entrepreneurs like China are planning to invest heavily in the coal industry that may trigger a stiff competition from these alternative sources in the end. Thus, the solar power industry may face some challenge as time goes as new and improved alternative electricity sources may be developed with time (Prasad & Snow, 2014). In U.S, many states are developing their solar power to ensure there guaranteed the reliability of the energy in future. References Boxwell, M. (2012). Solar electricity handbook. Ryton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire, U.K.: Greenstream Publishing. Enteria, N., & Akbarzadeh, A. (2013). Solar energy sciences and engineering applications. Imtiaz, A., Khan, F., & Kamath, H. (2013). All-in-One Photovoltaic Power System: Features and Challenges Involved in Cell-Level Power Conversion in ac Solar Cells. IEEE Ind. Appl. Mag., 19(4), 12-23. Johansson, T., Patwardhan, A., Nakic. N., & Gomez-Echeverri, L. (2012). Global Energy Assessment (GEA). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kennedy, D. (2012). Rooftop Revolution. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kleissl, J. (2013). Solar energy forecasting and resource assessment. One-component silicone is targeted at applications in the solar-power industry. (2011). Sealing Technology, 2011(4), 3. Palz, W. (2013). Solar power for the world. Boca Raton, FL: Pan Stanford Pub., an imprint of Taylor & Francis. Prasad, D., & Snow, M. (2014). Designing with solar power. Reddy, P. (2012). Solar Power Generation. Read More