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Year 11 energy presentations

Solar Power Plants The sun’s light contains energy. When this light hit’s certain materials, the energy turns into an electric current instead which we can the trap and use. This works with materials like silicon crystals because when struck by light it produces an electrical current. This is because electrons in the crystal get up and move when struck by light instead of making heat by moving in place. The energy is obtained from high concentration solar radiation and is the converted into high-temperature steam or gas to turn a turbine.  One Example Somewhere on Earth: The Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert is home to Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) which is the name given to the nine solar power plants in the desert which were built in the 1980s. When combined, these plants have the capacity of 354 megawatts, which makes them the largest solar power plant in the world. There are plans to build other larger plants in the desert. As of 2009 the Mojave Solar Park is not fully operational, but when it is it will have a capacity of 553 megawatts this is due to happen in 2011. The energy changes involved: Light energy into electrical energy Facts and Figures about the Source:  -  If a solar thermal power plant was built on approx. 1% of the surface of the Sahara Desert it would create enough power to satisfy the entire world’s electricity needs.  -  Solar thermal power plants reduce air pollution: the solar energy falling on an area the size of a basketball court is equal to 650 barrels of oil a year.  -  Although solar thermal power plants are big, they are very space efficient relative to other types of power plants.  -  Solar power plants can be completely built in a few years and can follow demands with more precision than most conventional power plants.  -  Solar thermal power can be used with energy storage systems or combined with other energy sources to provide power.  -  The prices of electricity produced by solar thermal power plants are known for the present and the future with certainty, as it is a fix-cost generation source and it’s sold through long term (20-30 years) and power purchase agreements are known in advance.  -  Solar thermal power is cheaper than power from fossil fuels o  Today, the cost for solar thermal energy is about 12 cents (US) per k/Wh. But many people say that this price will drop by 50% because of technology improvements and volume production. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-NZ; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"> - <span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; text-decoration: none;">  Solar thermal power is mainly used in Germany and Spain Environmental Effects: Solar power is very popular since it’s very clean (doesn’t cause any sort of pollution) and there is an endless amount of it. The damage in solar power comes from creating the solar cells, mainly made of silicon, and the extraction of silicon requires fossil fuels and the storage of the energy once it’s collected which requires Lead-Acid batteries. Although making the cell is damaging to the environment, it is efficient at creating power for its life span.