The History Of Solar Panels

Since the beginning of life on earth the sun has been the ultimate source of all energy.

The history of solar panels.

In 1956 solar panels cost roughly 300 per watt. A pv module is an assembly of photo voltaic cells mounted in a framework for installation. Today a solar panel can cost as little as 0 50 a watt. The term solar panel is used colloquially for a photo voltaic pv module.

Let s look at the longer than you think history of this critical energy source for our future. But the story is much larger than just that. A brief history of solar panels inventors have been advancing solar technology for more than a century and a half and improvements in efficiency and aesthetics keep on coming. But as high tech as it seems the history of solar power goes back to the 19th century.

Since the year 1980 solar panel prices have dropped by at least 10 percent every single year. By 1975 that figure had dropped to just over 100 a watt. Despite vast amounts of subsidies solar power comprises less than 1 percent of us electricity generation. The odeillo solar furnace located in odeillo france was constructed.

It s almost hard to believe it s taken us this long to turn solar panels into a mainstream technology but there have been a few twists and turns along the way. Elliot berman with help from exxon corporation designs a significantly less costly solar cell bringing price down from 100 a watt to 20 a watt. Photo voltaic cells use sunlight as a source of energy and generate direct current electricity a collection of pv modules is called a pv panel and a system of panels is an array. The history of solar panels can be described by becquerel s discovery of photovoltaic effect or the invention of first solar cell by chapin fuller and pearson in bell labs.