We are all made of stardust. It sounds like a line from a poem, but there is some solid science behind this statement too: almost every element on Earth was formed at the heart of a star. Stars owe their light to the vast amount energy released by the nuclear fusion reaction that occurs in its core. When the universe started, there was just hydrogen a little helium and very little of anything else. Stars are like nuclear reactors. They take in fuel and convert it into something else. Hydrogen is formed into helium, and helium is built into carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and iron-everything we are made of! From the beginning, the sun our nearest star has been personified and worshiped for the light and heat it provides. Eventually the heliolatry was replaced with a more practical approach.
The first recorded use of utilizing the sun’s power was in the 7th century BC when magnifying glasses or crystals were used to light fire. 400 hundred years later in Egypt, mirrors were used to reflect light to illuminate entrances and corridors. In 1767 Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure was credited with building the world’s first solar collector. Later, in 1839 French scientist Edmond Becquerel discovers the photo voltaic 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. In 1954, Photo voltaic technology was born in the United States when Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson developed the silicon photo voltaic (PV) cell at Bell Labs—the first solar cell which had an efficiency of 4% and later achieved up to 11%. Their discoveries have provided the foothold for the modern photo voltaic systems that now power wrist watches to satellites and more recently complete cities!
India is facing an acute energy crisis which is hampering its industrial growth and economic progress. Setting up of new power plants is inevitably dependent on the import of volatile fossil fuels. Thus it is essential to tackle the energy scarcity through judicious use of the abundant renewable sources of energy. India has a great potential to generate electricity from solar energy and the Country is on course to emerge as a solar energy hub. The techno-commercial potential of photovoltaic in India is enormous. With GDP growing in excess of 8%, the energy ‘gap’ between supply and demand will only widen. Solar PV is a renewable energy resource capable of bridging this ‘gap’. Most parts of India have 300 – 330 sunny days in a year, which is equivalent to over 5000 trillion kWh per year – more than India’s total energy consumption per year. Average solar incidence stands at a robust 4 – 7 kWh/sq.meter/day. The India Energy Portal estimates that if 10% of the land were used for harnessing solar energy, the installed solar capacity would be at 8,000GW. For example, even assuming 10% conversion efficiency for PV modules, it would still be much more that the peak demand of 164GW as of 2015.
The electricity sector of India has an installed capacity of 303GW as of 31th may 2016. The solar energy sector accounts for a staggering 6.763 GW of installed capacity. The Jawaharlal Nehru national solar mission is a major initiative of the government of India and the state government to promote ecologically sustainable growth while addressing the India’s energy security challenges. The program was flagged off by the then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on 11th January 2010 with a target 100GW by 2022. The mission aims at reaching this through a combination of rooftop solar projects and ground mounted solar projects. One of the key contributors to the solar mission of India is the establishment of solar cities. The Indian government lead by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is central to the solar energy drive. The conformation of the international solar alliance has hugely leveraged the potential solar energy market. A few triumphs of the government are, highest ever addition of solar power capacity of 3019MW in a year , a total installation of 31,472 solar pumps, introduction of solar cities, establishment of Akshay Urja shops which provide solar technology services and installation in districts and towns, dedicated online facilities for installation of rooftop solar panels for consumers. India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has sanctioned INR 50 billion funding for 30% capital subsidy for residential, government, social and institutional rooftop solar installations.
The need for energy is ever increasing and will continue to do so in the future. The increasing demand for energy and constantly depleting non-renewable energy sources is what drives the RVCE Solar Car Team to celebrate this day, the 21st of June every year as “The World Solar Day”. The World Solar Day is an international day of recognition of solar energy, clean technology, sustainability and protection of the planet. It was founded in 2009 and has now grown into a world-wide event with enormous popularity across the US, Canada, Europe and India.
The main objective of our team is to constantly promote the use of solar energy in the transportation sector and drive research and innovation into solar technology. We design, build and race highly efficient solar cars, in Solar Challenges held across the globe. We also conduct various events that apprise the cause to school students and local communities. We are also in talks with Agastya foundation to form a collaboration that allows us to reach out to multiple school students and teach them
We wish all the readers a happy World Solar Day! Go solar, Go green!
Vaibhav A R
RVCE Solar Car Team
RVCE Solar Car Team 