A Brief History of Solar Power

By: Adrian Fletcher

The start of modern solar power history can be traced to the middle of the 19th century. During this time the industrial age was beginning to influence much of western Europe. The need for a combustible resources in massive quantities being one of them. This resource was coal and forward thinkers, inventors and scientists began to ponder what might happen to society should this resource run out. The results of this thinking is the modern solar power industry. This article will plot the history of solar power from this time to modernity.

From 1860 to 1880, the French inventor Auguste Mouchout constructed a solar powered engine. The idea behind the engine was to use the sun's heat to create steam. This steam could power other machinery used in many of the new factories that were being built.

The engine was well received by the French government that saw the potential for free energy. They invested money into the project that allowed Mouchout to continue his research and development. However, when coal became cheaper and more plentiful, the government began to lose interest in a solar powered engine and canceled the funding.

During this time, William Adams devised a similar solution that had greater capacity. He built a rack consisting of small mirrors around a boiler. The sun's energy was used to heat water to create steam. This gave hime a 2.5 horsepower output from an engine connected to the boiler.

In 1885 for approximately 4 years, Charles Tellier performed experiments with solar energy. He eventually created solar collectors that were installed on rooftops. The aim of the collectors was to power refrigeration units.

In 1903, Aubrey Eneas began his research into solar power. He was deeply influenced by the work of Auguste Mouchout to the extent that he developed a similar style of solar powered engine. It was a more efficient machine on a larger scale and he managed to sell it. It was sold for around $2000 (a substantial sum in those days) to a Doctor in Arizona. Unfortunately the engine was damaged en route and was never set up and made operational. He made another engine that he sold for a similar sum. This too never made it to fully functional as it was damaged in a hailstorm.

At this time, Henry E. Willsie made two solar plants that collected and stored energy during the day to be used during the night. His innovation was to use flat plate collectors that gave a power rating of approximately 15 horsepower.

In 1906, Frank Shuman improved on Willsies system to create an engine that had a capacity of 33 horsepower. With further enhancements he eventually got his engine to around 55 horsepower.

The solar industry seemed to go into the doldrums during the war years. Not much of note was developed until 1954. Researchers in the Bell laboratories noticed the reaction of silicon with sunlight. The end result was the invention of photovoltaic cells.

A Photovoltaic (PV) cell is the fundamental element that makes up the solar panels that are generally placed on rooftops. Solar panels create direct current from sunlight.

With the crises with oil shortages and massive increases in the cost of gasoline, research into alternative energy sources was renewed. In terms of solar power, much research went into making PV cells more efficient and cheaper.

PV cells have come a long way in terms of cost and efficiency. This will only increase, as will new methods of creating solar power, in the future. Many governments and individuals are looking to embrace the technology and provide grants and subsidies for research and use of solar energy.

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