SA: Can solar power ease our energy crunch?
Thématique :
sud afrique
SAPA, 24/01/2008
Developments in solar power technology make it an economically viable energy solution for power crisis-ridden South Africa, said the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Wednesday.
New very thin film materials have been discovered which can be used to make panels which directly convert sunlight into electricity (called the photovoltaic (PV) effect), said the university.
"A move to radically different thin-film PV materials has changed the picture entirely," said the university.
Old solar panels used silicon as the active PV material.
"[However], the import price of silicon-based solar panels still renders them far too expensive as a viable alternative to coal, gas and nuclear power.
"A new material - copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) - offers a drastically reduced manufacturing cost."
Panels created with CIGS are extremely thin, flexible and bendable instead of the old bulky glass ones
They are also highly efficient and stable sources of power.
UJ said these solar materials could deliver any desired amount of electricity.
"Therefore, single houses, small villages, towns and cities can be equally well served by local PV installations."
Advantages of this power source were that no long-distance distribution grid was required, no greenhouse gases emitted and no hazardous wastes released into the environment.
Solar power was an attractive option for South Africa because it offered relatively quick access to an independent electricity supply, said UJ.
South Africa is currently undergoing a nationwide schedule of deliberate power cuts.
The country's electricity facilitator Eskom says this is because South Africa has run out of reserve capacity.
The situation is apparently expected to last for the next five to eight years.
Developments in solar power technology make it an economically viable energy solution for power crisis-ridden South Africa, said the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Wednesday.
New very thin film materials have been discovered which can be used to make panels which directly convert sunlight into electricity (called the photovoltaic (PV) effect), said the university.
"A move to radically different thin-film PV materials has changed the picture entirely," said the university.
Old solar panels used silicon as the active PV material.
"[However], the import price of silicon-based solar panels still renders them far too expensive as a viable alternative to coal, gas and nuclear power.
"A new material - copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) - offers a drastically reduced manufacturing cost."
Panels created with CIGS are extremely thin, flexible and bendable instead of the old bulky glass ones
They are also highly efficient and stable sources of power.
UJ said these solar materials could deliver any desired amount of electricity.
"Therefore, single houses, small villages, towns and cities can be equally well served by local PV installations."
Advantages of this power source were that no long-distance distribution grid was required, no greenhouse gases emitted and no hazardous wastes released into the environment.
Solar power was an attractive option for South Africa because it offered relatively quick access to an independent electricity supply, said UJ.
South Africa is currently undergoing a nationwide schedule of deliberate power cuts.
The country's electricity facilitator Eskom says this is because South Africa has run out of reserve capacity.
The situation is apparently expected to last for the next five to eight years.
