Solar Panels

[Zingari]

Just a quick one...

Me and the other half have just come back from Spain on our hols. If solar panel are that good, why are there not more of them around hot sunny countries??

Anyone?? We did see a few but not as many as I would of though..

I think they are compulsory on new buildings in Spain

[Guest]

Not that "sunny" matters. They work just as well with clouds.

[Captain...]

Just a quick one...

Me and the other half have just come back from Spain on our hols. If solar panel are that good, why are there not more of them around hot sunny countries??

Anyone?? We did see a few but not as many as I would of though..

Possibly because you went to touristy areas, where they think solar panels will look ugly, and the touristy areas in the south are notoriously lazy, Spain is actually very progressive when it comes to renewable energies (well it was until the new austerity government came in and cut subsidies, and forced some of the big renewable energy companies into laying off staff, great way to stimulate a recovery, force a progressive modern industry with long term results and numerous international clients to sack a large part of its workforce).

There is also the fact that when they get too hot solar panels are not as efficient, there is an optimum temperature, but probably year round it is just as effective as ones here.

Spain also invest in thermal energy, which is based more around converting heat than sunlight, solar panels do not (I think) convert heat energy.

Spain also has the advantage of not being massively over developed, and has the space to build solar farms, where massive solar panels turn and follow the sun during the day, so there is not the need to convert all available roof space, and this much more efficient than putting them on roofs.

I used to teach English to Spanish business men at Acciona, in Pamplona, which is a huge company dealing in renewable energies, this is the office, it is covered in solar panels and was the first Carbon neutral building in Spain.

The reason why in the UK, companies are looking for roof space to put them on is because land is so expensive that building Solar farms like these ones in Spain would be prohibitively expensive:

[Webbo]

When I went to Turkey even 5 years ago every hotel/apartment/house had a roof top solar water heating system. This year in Greece however they were very rare.

[foz.foz]

I say "Spain", Fuerteventura to be precise.... but still under the Spanish I believe. But even 3 years ago in Majorca, slap bang in the centre out of the tourist locations there wasn't that many.

I guess that in the not too far off future when fossil fuels have been raped, Solar farms will be built in in sunnier countries and the electric sold on.

Foz

[Captain...]

I say "Spain", Fuerteventura to be precise.... but still under the Spanish I believe. But even 3 years ago in Majorca, slap bang in the centre out of the tourist locations there wasn't that many.

I guess that in the not too far off future when fossil fuels have been raped, Solar farms will be built in in sunnier countries and the electric sold on.

Foz

Fuerteventura would be a tricky place to construct solar farms, not least because it is an Island, but also still fairly active volcanically, they would be better off investigating geo thermal energy sources there and Lanzarote due to the heat that can be harvested from the ground and turned into electricity.

As I said solar panels work on light and not heat, and they can overheat and become less efficient.

From Wikipedia:

Spain

Main article: Solar power in Spain

Spain is one of the most advanced countries in the development of solar energy, since it is one of the countries of Europe with more hours of sunshine. The Spanish government committed to achieving a target of 12 percent of primary energy from renewable energy by 2010 with an installed solar generating capacity of 3000 megawatts (MW).[35] Spain is the fourth largest manufacturer in the world of solar power technology and exports 80 percent of this output to Germany.[36] Spain added a record 2.6 GW of solar power in 2008,[37] increasing capacity to 3.5 GW.[38] Total solar power in Spain was 4 GW by the end of 2010 and solar energy produced 6.9 terawatt-hours (TW·h), covering 2.7% of the electricity demand in 2010.

Through a ministerial ruling in March 2004, the Spanish government removed economic barriers to the connection of renewable energy technologies to the electricity grid. The Royal Decree 436/2004 equalized conditions for large-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic plants and guaranteed feed-in tariffs.[39] In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the Spanish government drastically cut its subsidies for solar power and capped future increases in capacity at 500 MW per year, with effects upon the industry worldwide.[40]

United Kingdom

Main article: Solar power in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the second tallest building in Manchester, the CIS Tower, was clad in photovoltaic panels at a cost of £5.5 million and started feeding electricity to the national grid on November 2005.[41]

The lack of net metering delayed the development of the market until the government in the UK agreed in April 2010 to pay for all grid-connected generated electricity at an initial rate of up to 41.3p (US$0.67) per kW·h, whether used locally or exported.[42] The rates proved more attractive than necessary, and in August 2011, were drastically reduced for installations over 50 kW,[43] a policy change criticized as marking "the end of the UK’s solar industry as we know it".[44] This decision was overturned in the courts, with indexation, allowing 39.6p/kWh FIT for systems of up to 4 kW installed through the end of March 2, 2012, and 21p/kWh beginning March 3, 2012.[45]

For larger systems, the FIT of 32.2p/kWh from April 1, 2010 through the end of July, 2011, was limited to systems up to 5 MW, with the result that no systems over 5 MW were constructed. After July, 2011, the FIT for systems over 250 kW dropped to 8.5p, (8.9p after March 31, 2011), with no limitation on system size after March 31, 2012.[46]

Installations jumped from an installed base of 27 MW at the end of 2009 to 77 MW at the end of 2010 and to 1000 MW by February 22, 2012. 22 GW are expected by the end of the decade.[47] Installations dropped 87% since the FIT was reduced.[48]