Solar batteries - 60 years
Exactly 60 years ago, on April 25, 1954, Bell Laboratories specialists announced the creation of the first silicon-based solar cells to produce electrical current.
Photo of the first solar cells in Look magazine in 1956
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This discovery was made by three employees of the company - Calvin Souther Fuller, Daryl Chapin and Gerald Pearson.
Although the path to this discovery began long before 1954. Both the German Heinrich Hertz (the same Hertz ) and the Russian scientist Alexander Stoletov, and even Albert Einstein, were engaged in research in this industry.
The first solar panels in the mid-50s seemed to be just a technological toy, nothing more. After all, the cell of the solar battery, which produced 1 watt of electricity, cost $ 250, and not the current dollars. And electricity was 100 times more expensive than electricity from a conventional CHP. The efficiency of such batteries was about 6%.
It was the time of the space research boom and, of course, the potential of solar cells was rightly appreciated in this industry. Already 4 years later, on March 17, 1958, the first satellite with solar panels, Vanguard 1, was launched in the USA. By the way, it is still in Earth orbit. After just a couple of months, on May 15, 1958, Sputnik-3 was launched in the USSR, also using solar batteries.
But for a long time, solar panels were used only for space and a rather small list of tasks. The energy received in this way was too expensive. After 22 years, in 1977, the cost dropped to $ 76 per watt cell.
But gradually, research in the field of solar cells made it possible to increase the efficiency up to 15% by the middle of the 90s of the last century, and by the beginning of the 21st century the efficiency began to reach 20%. Over the past decade, a big step forward has been made and efficiency values of 26% have been achieved. The cost has fallen below $ 1 and continues to fall.
Now solar cells are used everywhere - in space and on earth, in cheap calculators and cellular repeaters in the Siberian taiga .
Let's hope that solar energy will become even more accessible in the near future.
Links to interesting articles about solar energy:
1. "Solar energy: the hope of mankind?"
2. "Solar" aircraft Solar Impulse 2 will travel around the world
3. Germany set a record for solar energy: 22 GWh
Photo of the first solar cells in Look magazine in 1956
')
This discovery was made by three employees of the company - Calvin Souther Fuller, Daryl Chapin and Gerald Pearson.
Although the path to this discovery began long before 1954. Both the German Heinrich Hertz (the same Hertz ) and the Russian scientist Alexander Stoletov, and even Albert Einstein, were engaged in research in this industry.
The first solar panels in the mid-50s seemed to be just a technological toy, nothing more. After all, the cell of the solar battery, which produced 1 watt of electricity, cost $ 250, and not the current dollars. And electricity was 100 times more expensive than electricity from a conventional CHP. The efficiency of such batteries was about 6%.
It was the time of the space research boom and, of course, the potential of solar cells was rightly appreciated in this industry. Already 4 years later, on March 17, 1958, the first satellite with solar panels, Vanguard 1, was launched in the USA. By the way, it is still in Earth orbit. After just a couple of months, on May 15, 1958, Sputnik-3 was launched in the USSR, also using solar batteries.
But for a long time, solar panels were used only for space and a rather small list of tasks. The energy received in this way was too expensive. After 22 years, in 1977, the cost dropped to $ 76 per watt cell.
But gradually, research in the field of solar cells made it possible to increase the efficiency up to 15% by the middle of the 90s of the last century, and by the beginning of the 21st century the efficiency began to reach 20%. Over the past decade, a big step forward has been made and efficiency values of 26% have been achieved. The cost has fallen below $ 1 and continues to fall.
Now solar cells are used everywhere - in space and on earth, in cheap calculators and cellular repeaters in the Siberian taiga .
Let's hope that solar energy will become even more accessible in the near future.
Links to interesting articles about solar energy:
1. "Solar energy: the hope of mankind?"
2. "Solar" aircraft Solar Impulse 2 will travel around the world
3. Germany set a record for solar energy: 22 GWh
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/220899/
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