History of Solar Power

7th Century B.C.: Magnifying glass used to concentrate sun’s rays to make fire and to burn ants.

3rd Century B.C.: Greeks and Romans use burning mirrors to light torches for religious purposes.

2nd Century B.C.: As early as 212 BC, Archimedes, used the reflective properties of bronze shields to focus sunlight and to set fire to wooden ships from the Roman Empire which were besieging Syracuse. (Although no proof of such a feat exists, the Greek navy recreated the experiment in 1973 and successfully set fire to a wooden boat at a distance of 50 meters.)

1st to 4th Century A.D.: The famous Roman bathhouses in the first to fourth centuries A.D. had large south facing windows to let in the sun’s warmth.

1200s: Ancestors of Pueblo people called Anasazi in North America live in south-facing cliff dwellings that capture the winter sun.

1767: Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure was credited with building the world’s first solar collector, later used by Sir John Herschel to cook food during his South Africa expedition in the 1830s.

1816: Robert Stirling applied for a patent for his economizer at the Chancery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Lord Kelvin used one of the working models during some of his university classes. This engine was later used in the dish/Stirling system, a solar thermal electric technology that concentrates the sun’s thermal energy in order to produce power.

1839: French scientist Edmond Becquerel discovers the photovoltaic effect while experimenting with an electrolytic cell made up of two metal electrodes placed in an electricity-conducting solution—electricity-generation increased when exposed to light.

1860s: French mathematician August Mouchet proposed an idea for solar-powered steam engines. In the following two decades, he and his assistant, Abel Pifre, constructed the first solar powered engines and used them for a variety of applications. These engines became the predecessors of modern parabolic dish collectors.

1873: Willoughby Smith discovered the photoconductivity of selenium.

1876: William Grylls Adams and Richard Evans Day discover that selenium produces electricity when exposed to light. Although selenium solar cells failed to convert enough sunlight to power electrical equipment, they proved that a solid material could change light into electricity without heat or moving parts.

1883: Charles Fritts, an American inventor, described the first solar cells made from selenium wafers.

1891: Baltimore inventor Clarence Kemp patented the first commercial solar water heater.

1905: Albert Einstein published his paper on the photoelectric effect (along with a paper on his theory of relativity).

1918: Polish scientist Jan Czochralski developed a way to grow single-crystal silicon.

1947: Passive solar buildings in the United States were in high demand as a result of scarce energy during the prolonged WW II.

1954: Photovoltaic technology is born in the United States when Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson develop the silicon photovoltaic (PV) cell at Bell Labs.

Mid-1950s: Architect Frank Bridgers designed the world’s first commercial office building using solar water heating and passive design.

1958: The Vanguard I space satellite used a small (less than one watt) array to power its radios.

1960: Silicon Sensors, Inc., of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, is founded. It starts producing selenium and silicon photovoltaic cells.

1963: Japan installs a 242-watt, photovoltaic array on a lighthouse, the world’s largest array at that time.

1966: NASA launches the first Orbiting Astronomical Observatory, powered by a 1-kilowatt photovoltaic array, to provide astronomical data in the ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths filtered out by the earth’s atmosphere.

1970s: Dr. 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. Solar cells begin to power navigation warning lights and horns on many offshore gas and oilrigs, lighthouses, and railroad crossings.

1973: The University of Delaware builds “Solar One,” one of the world’s first photovoltaic (PV) powered residences. The system is a PV/thermal hybrid.

1976: David Carlson and Christopher Wronski, RCA Laboratories, fabricate first amorphous silicon photovoltaic cells.

1981: Paul MacCready builds the first solar-powered aircraft—the Solar Challenger— and flies it from France to England across the English Channel.

1982: The first, photovoltaic megawatt-scale power station goes on-line in Hisperia, California. It has a 1-megawatt capacity system, developed by ARCO Solar, with modules on 108 dual-axis trackers.

1982: Australian Hans Tholstrup drives the first solar-powered car—the Quiet Achiever—almost 2,800 miles between Sydney and Perth in 20 days—10 days faster than the first gasoline-powered car to do so.

1985: The University of South Wales breaks the 20% efficiency barrier for silicon solar cells under 1-sun conditions.

1986: The world’s largest solar thermal facility, located in Kramer Junction, California, was commissioned. The solar field contained rows of mirrors that concentrated the sun’s energy onto a system of pipes circulating a heat transfer fluid.

1993: Pacific Gas & Electric completes installation of the first grid-supported photovoltaic system in Kerman, California. The 500-kilowatt system was the first “distributed power” effort.

2000: At the International Space Station, astronauts begin installing solar panels on what will be the largest solar power array deployed in space. Each “wing” of the array consists of 32,800 solar cells.

2001: NASA’s solar-powered aircraft—Helios sets a new world record for non rocket- powered aircraft: 96,863 feet, more than 18 miles high.

2001: The National Space Development Agency of Japan, or NASDA, announces plans to develop a satellite-based solar power system that would beam energy back to Earth.

2010: Tûranor PlanetSolar completed a round the world voyage in 2012 after 584 days. The 31-meter trimaran is covered by 537 m2 of solar panels rated at 93 kW.

[https://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/solar_timeline.pdf]

Photovoltaic technology The history of photovoltaic energy (aka. solar cells) started way back in 1876. William Grylls Adams along with a student of his, Richard Day, discovered that when selenium was exposed to light, it produced electricity. An electricity expert, Werner von Siemens, stated that the discovery was “scientifically of the most far-reaching importance”. The selenium cells were not efficient, but it was proved that light, without heat or moving parts, could be converted into electricity.

In 1953, Calvin Fuller, Gerald Pearson, and Daryl Chapin, discovered the silicon solar cell. This cell actually produced enough electricity and was efficient enough to run small electrical devices. The New York Times stated that this discovery was “the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the realization of harnessing the almost limitless energy of the sun for the uses of civilization.”

The year is 1956, and the first solar cells are available commercially. The cost however is far from the reach of everyday people. At $300 for a 1-watt solar cell, the expense was far beyond anyone’s means. 1956 started showing us the first solar cells used in toys and radios. These novelty items were the first item to have solar cells available to consumers.

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s satellites in the USA’s and Soviet’s space program were powered by solar cells and in the late 1960’s solar power was basically the standard for powering space bound satellites.

In the early 1970’s a way to lower to cost of solar cells was discovered. This brought the price down from $100 per watt to around $20 per watt. This research was spearheaded by Exxon. Most offshore oil rigs used the solar cells to power the waning lights on the top of the rigs.

The period from the 1970’s to the 1990’s saw quite a change in the usage of solar cells. They began showing up on railroad crossings, in remote places to power homes, Australia used solar cells in their microwave towers to expand their telecommunication capabilities. Even desert regions saw solar power bring water to the soil where line fed power was not an option!

Today we see solar cells in a wide variety of places. You may see solar powered cars. There is even a solar powered aircraft that has flown higher than any other aircraft with the exception of the Blackbird. With the cost of solar cells well within everyone’s budget, solar power has never looked so tempting.

Recently new technology has given us screen printed solar cells, and a solar fabric that can be used to side a house, even solar shingles that install on our roofs. International markets have opened up and solar panel manufacturers are now playing a key role in the solar power industry.

[https://www.experience.com/advice/careers/ideas/the-history-of-solar-power/]

A Greek scientist, Dr. Ioannis Sakkas, curious about whether Archimedes could really have used a “burning glass” to destroy the Roman fleet in 212 BC lined up nearly 60 Greek sailors, each holding an oblong mirror tipped to catch the Sun’s rays and direct them at a wooden ship 160 feet away and the stationary boat caught fire. [https://skullsinthestars.com/2010/02/07/mythbusters-were-scooped-by-130-years- archimedes-death-ray/]

Mummy Cave Ruin in Canyon del Muerto, seen from Mummy Cave Overlook [http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/canyon_de_chelly/mummy-cave-ruin_l.html]

The hot box of Horace de Saussure [http://energyprofessionalsymposium.com/?p=5693]

The Stirling engine (1816) was patented after the Scottish clergyman Rev. Robert Stirling made significant improvements to earlier designs by Sir George Caley [http://e-ducation.datapeak.net/industrialrevolution.htm]

Augustin Mouchot used a large parabolic mirror at the 1878 Paris Exhibition to collect and focus the sun's rays on a boiler that drove a steam engine. [http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi2871.htm]

Clarence M. Kemp patented the worlds first commercial solar water heater in 1891 [https://solarwaterheaters02.weebly.com/the-history-of-solar-water-heaters.html]

The desire for houses that would use less energy in the postwar years, can be seen in a cover story of Popular Science in 1949. Unfortunately, the system lasted only two years, due to the sedimentation of the solid and liquid salt and the corrosive effects of the element on the bins. [http://www.greenhomeguide.com/know-how/article/a-history-of-the-solar-house]

In 1954 Bell Laboratories, Daryl Chapin, Gerald Pearson and Calvin Fuller invented a silicon photovoltaic cell capable of converting enough of the sun’s energy into power to run everyday electronic equipment. [https://solarassemblage.com/2012/04/10/76/]

In 1958, the United States Navy Vanguard Program registered its first success with the orbiting of the Vanguard 1 satellite using a solar array of less than one watt. [http://www.whiteeagleaerospace.com/the-grapefruit-satellite/]

With support from Delmarva Power and Light, IEC built Solar One, a thin-film solar cell demonstration project, in 1973. It was the first experimental house to convert sunlight into both heat and electricity for domestic use and drew thousands of visitors. [http://research.udel.edu/2015/10/12/solar-strong/]

[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_Achiever#/media/File:BP_Solar_Trek.jpg]

In 1982, Hans Tholstrup and Larry Perkins successfully completed the 4000 kilometer BP Solar Trek across Australia. [http://www.snooksmotorsport.com.au/solartrek/Solar_Trek/bp_solar_car_crossing_of_a ustral.htm]

With 16,128 solar cells, the Solar Challenger flew across the English Channel in 1981, a distance of 163 miles. [http://www.sailingtexas.com/SPEV/Planes/SolarChallenger/solarchallenger.html]

Tûranor PlanetSolar completed a round the world voyage in 2012 after 584 days. The 31- meter trimaran is covered by 537 m2 of solar panels rated at 93 kW. [https://inhabitat.com/tag/turanor-planetsolar/]