This is a list of solar energy topics.

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Agrivoltaics Agrivoltaics (agrophotovoltaics, agrisolar, or dual-use solar) is the dual use of land for solar energy and agriculture. The technique was first conceived by Adolf Goetzberger and Armin Zastrow in 1981. Many agricultural activities can be combi ...

* Artificial photosynthesis

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* BP Solar *

BrightSource Energy BrightSource Energy, Inc. is an Oakland, California based, corporation that designs, builds, finances, and operates utility-scale solar power plants. Greentech Media ranked BrightSource as one of the top 10 environmental technology, greentech star ...

* Building-integrated photovoltaics

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Carbon nanotubes in photovoltaics Organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs) are fabricated from thin films of organic semiconductors, such as polymers and small-molecule compounds, and are typically on the order of 100 nm thick. Because polymer based OPVs can be made using a coating ...

* Central solar heating plant *

Community solar farm A community solar project, farm or garden is a solar power installation that accepts capital from and provides output credit and tax benefits to multiple customers, including individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other investors. Participants ...

* Compact linear Fresnel reflector * Concentrating photovoltaics *

Concentrating solar power Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated whe ...

Crookes radiometer The Crookes radiometer (also known as a light mill) consists of an airtight glass bulb containing a partial vacuum, with a set of vanes which are mounted on a spindle inside. The vanes rotate when exposed to light, with faster rotation for more ...

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* Daylighting * Horace de Saussure *

Desertec Desertec (Often: ''DESERTEC'') is a non-profit foundation aimed at sustainably and ecologically producing electricity in sunny regions of the world. Sunny deserts are therefore the focus. The energy is intended to be used locally, but also expor ...

* Drake Landing Solar Community *

Duck curve The duck curve is a graph of power production over the course of a day that shows the timing imbalance between peak demand and solar power generation. The graph resembles a sitting duck, and thus the term was created. Used in utility-scale elect ...

* Dye-sensitized solar cell

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Effect of sun angle on climate The amount of heat energy received at any location on the globe is a direct effect of Sun angle on climate, as the angle of incidence (optics), angle at which sunlight strikes Earth varies by location, time of day, and season due to Earth's orbit a ...

* Energy tower (downdraft) * EURO-SOLAR Programme * European Photovoltaic Industry Association

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Feed-in tariff A feed-in tariff (FIT, FiT, standard offer contract,Couture, T., Cory, K., Kreycik, C., Williams, E., (2010)Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policy Design National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy advanced renewable tariff, ...

First Solar First Solar, Inc. is a publicly traded American manufacturer of solar panels, and provider of utility-scale PV power plants, supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses ...

* Flip Flap * Floating Solar (Floatovoltaics) * Fresnel reflector * Charles Fritts * Calvin Fuller

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Geomagnetic storm A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere that is driven by interactions between the magnetosphere and large-scale transient Plasma (physics), plasma and magnetic field structur ...

Global dimming Global dimming is a decline in the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface. It is caused by atmospheric particulate matter, predominantly sulfate aerosols, which are components of air pollution. Global dimming was observed soon after t ...

Greenhouse A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...

Growth of photovoltaics Between 1992 and 2023, the worldwide usage of photovoltaics (PV) increased exponential growth, exponentially. During this period, it evolved from a niche market of small-scale applications to a mainstream electricity source. From 2016-2022 it ha ...

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Halo (optical phenomenon) A halo () is an optical phenomenon produced by light (typically from the Sun or Moon) interacting with ice crystals suspended in Earth's atmosphere, the atmosphere. Halos can have many forms, ranging from colored or white rings to arcs and spo ...

Helioseismology Helioseismology is the study of the structure and dynamics of the Sun through its oscillations. These are principally caused by sound waves that are continuously driven and damped by convection near the Sun's surface. It is similar to geoseismol ...

Heliostat A heliostat () is a device that reflects sunlight toward a target, turning to compensate for the Sun's apparent motion. The reflector is usually a plane mirror. The target may be a physical object, distant from the heliostat, or a direct ...

* Home Energy Storage

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* Indosolar *

Insolation Solar irradiance is the power per unit area ( surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument. Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre ...

Abram Ioffe Abram Fedorovich Ioffe ( rus, Абра́м Фёдорович Ио́ффе, p=ɐˈbram ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ ɪˈofɛ; – 14 October 1960) was a prominent Soviet Union, Soviet physicist. He received the USSR State Prize, Stalin Prize (1942), the ...

* ISE (Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems) *

Ivanpah Solar Power Facility The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a concentrated solar thermal plant located in the Mojave Desert located at the base of Clark Mountain in California, across the state line from Primm, Nevada. It is slated to close in 2026. The ...

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* Jinko Solar

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Light tube Light tubes (also known as solar pipes, tubular skylights or sun tunnels) are structures that transmit or distribute natural or artificial light for the purpose of illumination and are examples of optical waveguides. In their application to ...

List of photovoltaic power stations The following is a list of photovoltaic power stations that are larger than 500 megawatts (MW) in current net capacity.Note that nominal power may be AC or DC, depending on the plant, and therefore any totals quoted are hybrid. SeAC-DC conundru ...

* List of solar thermal power stations * Loanpal

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* Magnetic sail * Auguste Mouchout * Moura photovoltaic power station

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* Nanocrystal solar cell *

Net metering Net metering (or net energy metering, NEM) is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime, instead of when it is generated. This is particularly impor ...

Nevada Solar One Nevada Solar One is a concentrated solar power plant, with a nominal capacity of 64 Watt, MW and maximum steam turbine power output up to 72 MW net (75 MW gross), spread over an area of . The projected Carbon dioxide, CO2 emissions ...

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Parabolic reflector A parabolic (or paraboloid or paraboloidal) reflector (or dish or mirror) is a Mirror, reflective surface used to collect or project energy such as light, sound, or radio waves. Its shape is part of a circular paraboloid, that is, the surface ge ...

Parabolic trough A parabolic trough collector (PTC) is a type of solar thermal collector that is straight in one dimension and curved as a parabola in the other two, lined with a polished metal mirror. The sunlight which enters the mirror parallel to its plane of ...

* Passive solar *

Passive solar building design In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...

Photoelectric effect The photoelectric effect is the emission of electrons from a material caused by electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light. Electrons emitted in this manner are called photoelectrons. The phenomenon is studied in condensed matter physi ...

Photovoltaic array A photovoltaic system, also called a PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to abso ...

Photovoltaic system A photovoltaic system, also called a PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to abso ...

* Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar collector *

Photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commerciall ...

* Photovoltaics in transport * Polymer solar cell * Polytunnel * PV financial incentives

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* Row cover

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Salt evaporation pond A salt evaporation pond is a shallow artificial salt pan designed to extract salts from sea water or other brines. The salt pans are shallow and expansive, allowing sunlight to penetrate and reach the seawater. Natural salt pans are formed thr ...

Sandia National Laboratories Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), also known as Sandia, is one of three research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Headquartered in Kirtland Air Force B ...

* Wolfgang Scheffler * SEGS *

Seasonal thermal energy storage Seasonal thermal energy storage (STES), also known as inter-seasonal thermal energy storage,is the storage of heat or cold for periods of up to several months. The thermal energy can be collected whenever it is available and be used whenever need ...

(STES) * Soil solarization * Solar air conditioning * Solar and Heliospheric Observatory * Solar azimuth angle * Solar balloon * Solar bowl * Solar box cooker * Solar car * Solar car racing *

Solar cell A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell (PV cell), is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect.

* Solar cell efficiency * Solar cell research * Solar-charged vehicle * Solar chemical * Solar chimney * Solar collector *

Solar combisystem A solar combisystem provides both solar heating, solar space heating and solar cooling, cooling as well as water heating, hot water from a common array of solar thermal collectors, usually backed up by an auxiliary non-solar heat source. Solar ...

Solar constant The solar constant (''GSC'') measures the amount of energy received by a given area one astronomical unit away from the Sun. More specifically, it is a flux density measuring mean solar electromagnetic radiation ( total solar irradiance) per un ...

* Solar cooker * Solar cooling *

Solar cycle The Solar cycle, also known as the solar magnetic activity cycle, sunspot cycle, or Schwabe cycle, is a periodic 11-year change in the Sun's activity measured in terms of Modern Maximum, variations in the number of observed sunspots on the Sun ...

* Solar Decathlon * Solar desalination * Solar easement *

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

Solar Energy Generating Systems Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is a concentrated solar power plant in California, United States. With the combined capacity from three separate locations at 354 megawatt (MW), it was for thirty years the world's largest solar thermal e ...

Solar flare A solar flare is a relatively intense, localized emission of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun's atmosphere. Flares occur in active regions and are often, but not always, accompanied by coronal mass ejections, solar particle events, and ot ...

* Solar fuel *

Solar furnace A solar furnace is a structure that uses concentrated solar power to produce high temperatures, usually for industry. Parabolic mirrors or heliostats concentrate light ( Insolation) onto a focal point. The temperature at the focal point may ...

* Solar greenhouse (technical) *

Solar heating A solar thermal collector collects heat by Absorption (optics), absorbing sunlight. The term "solar collector" commonly refers to a device for solar hot water panel, solar hot water heating, but may refer to large power generating installations ...

* Solar hot water in Australia *

Solar hydrogen panel A solar hydrogen panel is a device for artificial photosynthesis that produces photohydrogen from sunlight and water. The panel uses electrochemical water splitting, where energy captured from Solar panel, solar panels powers Electrolysis of wat ...

Solar lamp A solar lamp, also known as a solar light or solar lantern, is a lighting system composed of an LED lamp, solar panels, battery, charge controller A charge controller, charge regulator or battery regulator limits the rate at which electric c ...

* Solar map *

Solar maximum Solar maximum is the regular period of greatest solar activity during the Sun's 11-year solar cycle. During solar maximum, large numbers of sunspots appear, and the solar irradiance output grows by about 0.07%. On average, the solar cycle take ...

* Solar minimum *

Solar mirror A solar mirror contains a Coating, substrate with a reflective layer for reflecting the solar energy, and in most cases an interference layer. This may be a Plane mirror, planar mirror or Parabola, parabolic arrays of solar mirrors used to achiev ...

Solar nebula There is evidence that the formation of the Solar System began about 4.6 bya, billion years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud. Most of the collapsing mass collected in the center, forming the Sun, whil ...

* Solar neon * Solar Orbiter * Solar oven * Solar pond *

Solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

* Solar power by country * Solar power in Australia * Solar power in Canada *

Solar power in China China is the largest market in the world for both photovoltaics and solar thermal energy. China's photovoltaic industry began by making panels for satellites, and transitioned to the manufacture of domestic panels in the late 1990s. After sub ...

* Solar power in the European Union * Solar power in Germany * Solar power in India *

Solar power in Israel The use of solar energy began in Israel in the 1950s with the development by Levi Yissar of a solar water heater to address the energy shortages that plagued the new country.Petrotyranny by John C. Bacher, David Suzuki, published by Dundurn Pr ...

Solar power in Japan Solar power in Japan has been expanding since the late 1990s. Japan is a large installer of domestic PV systems, with most of them grid connected. The country was a major manufacturer and exporter of photovoltaics (PV), with a global market share ...

* Solar power in Pakistan * Solar power in Portugal * Solar power in Romania *

Solar power in Spain Spain is one of the first countries to deploy large-scale solar photovoltaics, and is the world leader in concentrated solar power (CSP) production. Spain is also one of the European countries with the most hours of sunshine. In 2022, the cu ...

* Solar power in Turkey * Solar power in the United Kingdom * Solar power in the United States * Solar power plants in the Mojave Desert * Solar power satellite * Solar power tower * Solar-powered desalination unit * Solar-powered pump * Solar-powered watch *

The Solar Project The SOLAR Project consists of the Solar One, Solar Two and Solar Tres solar thermal power plants based in the Mojave Desert, United States and Andalucía, Spain. The US Department of Energy (DOE) and a consortium of US utilities built the cou ...

Solar prominence In solar physics, a prominence, sometimes referred to as a filament, is a large Plasma (physics), plasma and magnetic field structure extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in a loop shape. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface ...

* Solar proton event * Solar-pumped laser *

Solar radiation Sunlight is the portion of the electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by the Sun (i.e. solar radiation) and received by the Earth, in particular the visible light perceptible to the human eye as well as invisible infrared (typically p ...

Solar radiation pressure Radiation pressure (also known as light pressure) is mechanical pressure exerted upon a surface due to the exchange of momentum between the object and the electromagnetic field. This includes the momentum of light or electromagnetic radiation of ...

Solar sail Solar sails (also known as lightsails, light sails, and photon sails) are a method of spacecraft propulsion using radiation pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces. A number of spaceflight missions to test solar propulsion and navigati ...

* Solar savings fraction * Solar shingles *

Solar still A solar still distillation, distills water with substances dissolved in it by using the Solar energy, heat of the Sun to evaporate water so that it may be cooled and collected, thereby purifying it. They are used in areas where drinking water is ...

Solar thermal collector A solar thermal collector collects heat by Absorption (optics), absorbing sunlight. The term "solar collector" commonly refers to a device for solar hot water panel, solar hot water heating, but may refer to large power generating installations ...

Solar thermal energy Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in Industrial sector, industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified ...

Solar thermal rocket A solar thermal rocket is a theoretical spacecraft propulsion system that would make use of solar power to directly heat reaction mass, and therefore would not require an electrical generator, like most other forms of solar-powered propulsion do. ...

* Solar Total Energy Project * Solar tracker * Solar updraft tower * Solar variation * Solar variation theory *

Solar vehicle A solar electric vehicle is an electric vehicle powered completely or significantly by direct solar energy. Usually, photovoltaic (PV) cells contained in solar panels convert the sun's energy directly into electric energy. A concentrated ...

* Solar water disinfection *

Solar water heating Solar water heating (SWH) is water heating, heating water by sunlight, using a solar thermal collector. A variety of configurations are available at varying cost to provide solutions in different climates and latitudes. SWHs are widely used for ...

Solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer, the Stellar corona, corona. This Plasma (physics), plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy betwee ...

Solarium Solarium may refer to: * A sunroom, a room built largely of glass to afford exposure to the sun * A terrace (building) or flat housetop * The '' Solarium Augusti'', a monumental meridian line (or perhaps a sundial) erected in Rome by Emperor Aug ...

* SolarPACES * Sopogy *

Space-based solar power Space-based solar power (SBSP or SSP) is the concept of collecting solar power in outer space with solar power satellites (SPS) and distributing it to Earth. Its advantages include a higher collection of energy due to the lack of reflection ...

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

Sun tanning Sun tanning or tanning is the process whereby skin color is darkened or tanned. It is most often a result of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from sunlight or from artificial sources, such as a tanning lamp found in indoor tanning b ...

Sunburn Sunburn is a form of radiation burn that affects living tissue, such as skin, that results from an overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, usually from the Sun. Common symptoms in humans and other animals include red or reddish skin tha ...

Sunscreen Sunscreen, also known as sunblock, sun lotion or sun cream, is a photoprotection, photoprotective topical product for the Human skin, skin that helps protect against sunburn and prevent skin cancer. Sunscreens come as lotions, sprays, gels, fo ...

* Sunshade

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Mária Telkes Mária Telkes (December 12, 1900 – December 2, 1995) was a Hungarian-American Biophysics, biophysicist, engineer, and inventor who worked on solar energy technologies. She moved to the United States in 1925 to work as a Biophysics, biophysicis ...

* Thin-film * Timeline of solar cells * Topaz Solar Farm * Total spectrum solar concentrator * Trombe wall

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See also