Solar Thermal vs. Photovoltaic
It is important to understand that solar thermal
technology is not the same as solar panel, or
photovoltaic, technology. Solar thermal electric
energy generation concentrates the light from the
sun to create heat, and that heat is used to run a
heat engine, which turns a generator to make
electricity. The working fluid that is heated by the
concentrated sunlight can be a liquid or a gas.
Different working fluids include water, oil, salts, air,
nitrogen, helium, etc. Different engine types include
steam engines, gas turbines, Stirling engines, etc.
All of these engines can be quite efficient, often
between 30% and 40%, and are capable of
producing 10’s to 100’s of megawatts of power.
Photovoltaic, or PV energy conversion, on the other
hand, directly converts the sun’s light into electricity.
This means that solar panels are only effective
during daylight hours because storing electricity is
not a particularly efficient process. Heat storage is a
far easier and efficient method, which is what
makes solar thermal so attractive for large-scale
energy production. Heat can be stored during the
day and then converted into electricity at night.
Solar thermal plants that have storage capacities
can drastically improve both the economics and the
dispatchability of solar electricity
.
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