Solar Power Cells, Hot Water, Energy, Collectors

Empire of the sun

01.01.70

Shortly before dawn, waves of photons, hurled from the surface of the sun in the direction of the earth, complete the 150-million-kilometre voyage in just eight minutes; the stream of light crashes into the silicon wafers on Muhammad Ismail’s roof, sending electrons roaring down a copper wire. The electrons pass through a charge controller, a battery and finally an inverter, which converts the direct current into an alternating current. The neighbourhood thrums with the sound of generators but Muhammad Ismail’s house is eerily quiet save for the noise coming from his television. You see, his house runs on solar power.

Ismail is just one of many who have embraced the marvel that is solar power. What was once merely a plot point in science fiction is now very much a reality. The promise of a solar revolution — the idea that some day the world would rely solely on the sun to generate all its electricity — was being promoted since the 1950s, and it is, at its core, a very reasonable idea since — on an average sunny day — the sun provides approximately 1,000 watts of energy per square metre of the planet’s surface. And Pakistan has one of the highest solar insolation (Incoming Solar Radiation) rates in the world, with the sun shining an average of nine hours every day.

Source: The Express Tribune