Solar Jobs

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun. Solar radiation along with secondary solar resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass account for most of the available renewable energy on Earth. Enough solar energy falls on the Earth every 40 minutes to power the entire worlds energy needs for a whole year. Only a minuscule fraction of the available solar energy is used.

Solar power technologies provide electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. Once converted its uses are only limited by human ingenuity. A partial list of solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture, potable water via distillation and disinfection, daylighting, hot water, thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.

Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics (PV) is the type of technology and research related to the application of solar cells for energy by converting sunlight directly into electricity.

Due to the growing demand for green sources of energy, the manufacture of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has expanded dramatically in recent years. Photovoltaic production has been doubling every two years, increasing by an average of 48 percent each year since 2002, making it the world’s fastest-growing energy technology.

At the end of 2007, according to preliminary data, cumulative global production was 12,400 megawatts. Roughly 90% of this generating capacity consists of grid-tied electrical systems. Such installations may be ground-mounted (and sometimes integrated with farming and grazing) or built into the roof or walls of a building, known as Building Integrated Photovoltaic or BIPV for short.

Germany was the fastest growing major PV market in the world during 2006 and 2007. In 2007, over 1.3 GW of PV was installed. The German PV industry generates over 10,000 jobs in production, distribution and installation. By the end of 2006, nearly 88% of all solar PV installations in the EU were in grid-tied applications in Germany. The balance is off-grid (or stand alone) systems. Solar hot water in Germany set record growth in 2008, with over 200,000 systems installed.

In 2008 Spain became the solar photovoltaic market leader, with 2.6 gigawatts of new grid-tied installations.

The concentrating solar power industry saw many new entrants and new manufacturing facilities in 2008. India emerged as a major producer of solar photovoltaics, with new policies leading to $18 billion in new manufacturing investment plans or proposals.

Solar Thermal

Solar thermal energy (STE) is a technology for harnessing solar energy for thermal energy (heat). STE is different from photovoltaics, which convert solar energy directly into electricity.

Passive Solar

Passive solar technologies are a way of using sunlight for useful energy without use of active mechanical systems. Such technologies convert sunlight into usable heat (water, air, thermal mass), cause air-movement for ventilating, or future use, with little use of other energy sources. Passive cooling is the use of the same design principles to reduce summer cooling requirements.

Technologies that use a significant amount of conventional energy to power pumps or fans are active solar technologies. Some passive systems use a small amount of conventional energy to control dampers, shutters, night insulation, and other devices that enhance solar energy collection, storage, use, and reduce undesirable heat transfer.

Passive solar technologies include direct and indirect solar gain for space heating, solar water heating systems based on the thermosiphon, use of thermal mass and phase-change materials for slowing indoor air temperature swings, solar cookers etc

Active Solar

Active solar technologies are employed to convert solar energy into usable light, heat, cause air-movement for ventilation or cooling, or store heat for future use. Active solar uses electrical or mechanical equipment, such as pumps and fans, to increase the usable heat in a system. Solar energy collection and utilization systems that do not use external energy, like a solar chimney, are classified as passive solar technologies.

Solar hot water systems, except those based on the thermosiphon, use pumps or fans to circulate water, an anti-freeze mixture, or air through solar collectors, and are therefore classified under active solar technology. The solar collectors can be 'flat-plate', or of various concentrating designs. Solar trackers, used to orient photovoltaic arrays, may be driven by either passive or active technology.

Concentrated Solar Power

Concentrated solar power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated light is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant or is concentrated onto photovoltaic surfaces.
Concentrating solar power systems are divided into concentrating solar thermal (CST) and concentrating photovoltaics (CPV).

Concentrated Solar Thermal

Concentrated solar thermal (CST) is used to produce renewable heat or electricity (generally, in the latter case, through steam). CST systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated light is then used as heat or as a heat source for a conventional power plant (solar thermoelectricity).

Concentrated Photovoltaics

Concentrated photovoltaics (CPV) systems employ sunlight concentrated onto photovoltaic surfaces for the purpose of electrical power production. Solar concentrators of all varieties may be used, and these are often mounted on a solar tracker in order to keep the focal point upon the cell as the Sun moves across the sky.

Compared to conventional flat panel solar cells, CPV is advantageous because the solar collector is less expensive than an equivalent area of solar cells. CPV operates most effectively in sunny weather since clouds and overcast conditions create diffuse light, which essentially cannot be concentrated.

Concentrating Photovoltaics and Thermal

Concentrating Photovoltaics and Thermal (CPVT) technology produces both electricity and thermal heat in the same module. Thermal heat that can be employed for hot tap water, heating and heat-powered air conditioning (solar cooling), desalination or solar process heat.

Jobs in Solar Power

The growth of the solar power industry creates high-wage, skilled solar jobs anywhere with enough sun, and for individuals with many different types of backgrounds. R&D groups at universities, and private companies develop and continually improve solar products to lower their costs and improve their reliability. For individuals employed in solar R&D generally have professional degrees in electrical, mechanical, and chemical engineering; materials science, and/or physics. Many of the people involved with technologies that are still under development focus on R&D.

As each technology progresses from the R&D phase toward full-scale commercialization, an increasing number of both professional and skilled workers are needed to sell, manufacture, design, install, and maintain equipment. The PV and solar thermal industries currently employ the majority of these workers, including electricians, solar engineers, technicians, and technical managers.

As utility-scale CSP technologies become more commercially viable, the CSP industry requires an increasing number of these workers, as well as engineers and construction workers to design and build solar power plants. The passive solar industry involves many of these professions as well, but also employs architects and builders.

According to a report in 2009 from the Amercian Solar Energy Society renewable energy and energy efficiency currently provide more than 9 million jobs and $1,045 billion in revenue in the U.S. (2007). The previous year (2006) renewable energy and energy efficiency represented 8.5 million jobs and $972 billion in revenue with two of the hottest sectors being solar thermal, solar photovoltaics (in terms of revenue growth) resulting in additional solar jobs.

Research published this year from Clean Edge forcasted solar photovoltaics (including modules, system components, and installation) will grow from a $29.6 billion industry in 2008 to $80.6 billion by 2018. Annual installations reached more than 4 GW worldwide in 2008, four times the total set just four years earlier, when the solar PV market reached the 1 GW milestone for the first time in 2004. They also suggest that the number employed in solar jobs & wind jobs in the US could increase from 600,000 in 2008 to 2.65m by 2018.

Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) President & CEO Rhone Resch stated 67,000 solar jobs in 2009 are expected to be created and a total of 119,000 new solar jobs over the next two years as a result of the US simulas package, putting Americans back to work installing solar panels, manufacturing components and constructing solar farms.

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