Solar Power Station Provides Pollution Free Electricity
Throughout the world, especially in desert areas the use of a solar power station is able to provide pollution free, cheap electricity for many areas. With these arrangements, solar towers are used to provide a maximum number of solar panels that will fit into a specific land area, often covering several acres. The towers stack the panels to provide the maximum number and use automatic motors to adjust the height and angle of the panels to keep them in direct sunlight throughout the day.
Another method used in a solar power station involves parabolic dishes with the sun's light reflected into the center of the dish, in much the same way as a satellite television antenna gathers the signal and focuses it on the receiver. The center of the dish transfers the sun's energy to photovoltaic cells to covert it into electricity. This power can then be used to turn turbines to generate electricity for distribution to a local or long-distance distribution grid.
The size of the towers or the dishes used at a solar power station will determine the amount of power generated, but one such station covering under 20 acres of land provides enough power for about 10,000 homes. Even though they require a large area of land, this is land in the desert that is currently not usable to most other uses.
With Solar Power Silence Is Golden
Even though there are usually no houses in the desert, a solar power station is much quieter than a traditional power generating plant and the towers or dishes have fewer moving parts requiring daily maintenance. Making sure the cells are clean and free of dirt and sand are about the only thing operators of a solar power station have to worry about.
Power plants that rely on coal or oil to fire their turbines also have the threat of fire and explosions, things that are not involved at a solar power station. About the worst safety issue they may have is from electric shock or sunburn. Building a solar power station on the edge of a desert also requires less infrastructure to move the power into the grid for nearby communities.
A thermal solar power station uses liquid, typically salt-laden water to provide heat to turn lighter water into steam to turn turbine generators, but they have not been shown to be as efficient to operate as a solar power station and their use is currently still in its infancy as a commercial generating alternative.
