Years ago this editor paid bills working a second job as a caretaker on a friend's horse ranch near Lake Conroe, Tex. As horse breeders know, the breeding and selling of horses is to be undertaken only by those with a love of the animal and another, preferably large, source of income.
As such, one tends to become extremely creative (read "stingy") with resources wherever possible. One of the most creative methods of reducing expenses on the ranch was its solar-powered electric fence. With the use of a single solar panel and a 6-volt gel cell battery, it worked great and lasted a long time. With advanced technology, today's electric fence gel cell batteries will hold a charge for 21 days without sunlight.
Since that time, I tend to take notice, and cheer, the practical use of solar-powered anything. In terms of an energy source, why pay for it when you can get it for free?
Not just for fences
On June 29, the World Renewable Energy Congress VII was held in Cologne, Germany.
The delegates discussed renewable fuels as nontraditional sources of energy, such as solar, or photovoltaic (PV), power, along with geothermal, hydro, wind, biomass, and nuclear power. PV application papers were presented by delegates from Russia, Peru, Brazil, and Germany with topics ranging from alternate energy market barriers to the new PV roof at the Munich Trade Fair Center.
Industry conventions such as this one hope to promote the commercialization of one of the most interesting forms of alternate energy.
PV technology is a viable power source for harsh-environment, remote, off-grid facilities in the oil and gas industry that require electricity.
For example, solar-powered radios, in the form of self-contained communications systems, are designed specifically for the petroleum industry's communications requirements and remote data acquisitions for both onshore and offshore installations.
In addition, PVs provide steady power for a variety of telemetry systems, such as wellhead, oil field, and pipeline monitoring sites or natural gas automation projects.
As a secondary energy source, uninterruptible solar-powered units are designed to provide backup power and surge protection for conventional electrical equipment in the field.
In the offshore sector, solar systems provide helicopter landing pad lighting and navigation warning lights.
In the downstream energy industry, PV technology is used to prevent metal corrosion of pipelines. In fact, in terms of cathodic protection, PV-generated electricity can prevent electrolytic corrosion of pipes, tanks, wellheads, bridges, and buildings almost anywhere.
Elsewhere, the Daoud Abdel Latif Group, Sudan, in conjunction with Shell Solar South Africa, installed solar-powered external lighting at its Coca Cola plant. Shell Sudan is in discussions with Khartoum officials, in the Wilayat district, to conduct tests of solar-powered street lights and traffic signals.
Recently named by Research & Development magazine as one of this year's 100 most significant technical innovations is a semitransparent PV module, codeveloped by the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and BP PLC unit BP Solar. The module allows sunlight to pass through and can serve as a roof or window, while creating power for a building. The system has been incorporated in more than 150 BP service stations. Envisioned future use may be as a functional replacement for conventional glass in walls, canopies, atriums, entrances, and facades in commercial and residential architecture.
Standards and codes
According to the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA), the cost of PV technology has fallen by 90% since the early 1970s, making it more attractive as a power source. But there is still work to be done. One of the major obstacles left in marketing solar power is the lack of standards.
One of SEPA's goals is to encourage the widespread adoption of uniform interconnection standards and to create certification programs and solar-friendly design codes.
DOE is working with the US national laboratories, the Solar Energy Industries Association, the Utility PhotoVoltaic Group, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, and others to reduce barriers to the use of solar energy systems.
According to Mark Fitzgerald, Science Communications Inc., Highlands Ranch, Colo., the energy of the sunlight falling on the earth each day is the equivalent of all the energy used worldwide in 27 years at the 1995 consumption level.
And it doesn't take much of that energy to charge my trusty amorphous silicon solar-power-cell calculator, which is always close at hand.
