What was the year Solar Energy was invented?
The year that Solar Energy was invented?
The history of solar power began in 1954 with just a handful of steps inspired by scientists and inventors. In the 20th century{,|| it was the time that} the space and defense industries realized the value in solar power. In the early days it was an attractive, but still expensive, alternative to fossil fuels. The industry has matured and is now a viable and affordable technology that is quickly replacing coal, oil, as well as natural gas, in today’s energy market. This timeline highlights the key people and events that contributed to the development of solar technology.
The Age of Discovery (19th-20th century)
The 19th century was the birth of physics with discoveries in the fields of electricity, magnetism as well as the research of light. Scientists and inventors laid the basis for much of the history of solar energy.
1839: 19-year-old Frenchman Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel builds one of the first solar cells to be built anywhere in the world.1 His studies on electricity and light influenced later photovoltaics developments. It is the European Photovoltaic Sun Energy Conference and Exhibition awards the Becquerel prize each year.
The year is 1861. Auguste (or Augustin), a mathematician and physicist patents an electric motor for solar power.
1873: Willoughby Smith an electrical engineer, discovers photovoltaic effects in selenium.
1876: W. G. Adams (professor of Natural Philosophy, King’s College London) discovers that the resistance to electricity of selenium can change due to radiation heat, light or chemical action. “2
1882: Abel Pifre creates a “solar engine” which produces enough electricity for the solar printer. (pictured below)
The year is 1883. Charles Fritts, an inventor, designs the first solar cell using selenium and gold. It converts solar radiation into electricity with a mere one percent efficiency.
1883: John Ericsson, an inventor, designs the sun motor, which uses the parabolic tube (PTC) to focus solar radiation to power a boiler steam. PTC is still being employed in solar thermal power plants.
1884. Charles Fritts places solar panels on the roof of a New York City rooftop.
1903: Aubrey Eneas, a Pasadena-based businessman, establishes 1903: The Solar Motor Company to market solar-powered steam engines for irrigation projects. The company soon fails.
1912-1913: Frank Shuman, an engineer from Sun Power Company, uses PTC to build the first solar thermal power plant anywhere in the world.
The Age of Understanding Solar Panels (late-19th-early-20th centuries)
Modern theoretical physics has assisted in gaining a better understanding of photovoltaic electricity. Quantum Physics’ description of the subatomic realms of electrons and photons provides the mechanism through which light particles can cause electrons to be sucked out of silicon crystals and create electrical currents.
1888: Wilhelm Hallwachs, a physicist, describes the physics of photovoltaic cells. This is what we now call”the” Hallwachs Effect.
1905: Albert Einstein publishes, “On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning The Creation as well as the Transformation of Light,” which explains how light creates an electrical current through knocking electrons out of certain metal atoms.
1916: Jan Czochralski, a chemist, invents a way to make single crystals out of metal. This is the foundation for the creation of semiconductor wafers. They are still used in electronic devices or solar cells.
1917. Albert Einstein provides a theoretical foundation for photovoltaics. Einstein introduces the concept that light acts as an electromagnetic force-carrying packet.
1929 Gilbert Lewis, a scientist and physicist, invented the term “photons”, to describe Einstein’s electromagnetic energy packets.
Age of Solar Technology Development (mid-20th Century)
The laboratory does not serve as the best place to conduct serious research into the advancement technologies for solar power based upon the development of monocrystalline silicon cells. It’s like other technologies. It was developed from research done by the U.S. defense and aerospace industries. The first major application of this technology was satellites and space exploration. While solar energy is highly effective but the majority of the technology cannot be commercialized.
1941: Russell Ohl, a Bell Laboratories engineer, files an application for patents for the first silicon-based monocrystalline solar cell.
1947: Post-war energy scarcity is what makes passive solar houses so popular.
1951: The first solar cells made from germanium are constructed.
1954: The first silicon solar cell was produced in 1954 by Bell Laboratories. These cells, while weaker than modern cells, produce significant quantities of electricity at around 4% efficiency.
1955: First solar-powered phone call made.
1956: The first solar-powered radio was introduced in 1956 by General Electric. It can be used in both daylight and dark.
1958: Vanguard I, the first spacecraft powered by solar energy, is launched.
1960: A car equipped with a solar-panel roof that was powered with a 72-volt battery. It was driven through London, England.
1961: A conference organized by the United Nations on solar energy for the developing world.
1962: Telstar 1962: Telstar, which was the very first satellite-powered solar communications satellite is powered by 3,600 solar cells that were manufactured at Bell Laboratories.
1967: Soviet Union’s Soyuz 1 is the first spacecraft that is powered by solar energy to carry people.
1972 1972: The Synchronar 2100 solar-powered watch goes for sale.
The Age of Solar Power Growth (late-20th century)
The first commercializations of solar technology were brought on through the economic crisis of the 1970s. The low prices for oil and the slow economic growth are a result of the shortage of crude oil within industrialized countries. The U.S. government provides financial incentives to commercial and residential solar panels as well as research and development institutes and demonstration projects that utilize solar electricity in government buildings, as in regulatory structures that help the current solar industry. Solar panels are currently cheaper than ever, from $1,865 for a watt in 1956, to $106 per watt in the year 1976 (prices are adjusted to reflect 2019 dollars).
1973: An embargo on crude oil by Arab nations drives prices for oil up by 300%
1973: Solar One is built by the University of Delaware, which is the first building that is completely powered by solar energy.
1974 The Solar Heating and Cooling Demonstration Act allows the utilization of solar energy in federal buildings.
1974: In order to research and forecast the market for energy in order to study and forecast energy markets, in 1974, the International Energy Agency was established.
1974: U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration is established to encourage the commercialization and advancement for solar power.
1974: 1974: Solar Energy Industries Association is established to represent the interests and requirements for the solar energy industry.
1977: Congress establishes the Solar Energy Research Institute. It’s now called”the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
1977 The photovoltaic cell is produced at a rate of more than 500 kW across the globe.
1977: The establishment of the U.S. Department of Energy.
1978{:|| 1977:} 1978: The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), which established net metering, obliges utilities to purchase electricity through “qualifying institutions” that meet certain standards for energy source and efficiency.
1978: The Energy Tax Act created the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and the Residential Energy Credit in order to promote the purchase of solar panels.
1979: Oil exports from the Middle East are interrupted by the Iranian Revolution, which forces oil prices up.
1979: U.S. President Jimmy Carter installs solar cells onto the White House roof. The panels were later removed by President Ronald Reagan.
1981: The very first concentrated PV system is put into operation, financed by Saudi Arabia and the United States of America and Saudi Arabia.
1981 1981: The Solar Challenger is the first solar-powered plane capable of flying over large distances.
1981: 1981: The U.S. Department of Energy completes Solar One, a pilot project to harness renewable energy from solar within the Mojave Desert, near Barstow.
1982: Construction of the first large-scale solar power plant close to Hesperia located in California.
1982 1983: The Sacramento Municipal Utility District appointed its first solar power plant.
1985: Cells made of silicon that had a efficiency of 20% were created at the University of New South Wales which is the country’s Center for Photovoltaic Engineering.
1985: Development of lithium-ion batteries that can be used later for storage of renewable power.
1991 Commercial manufacturing of the very first lithium-ion batteries.
1991: Congress makes the Investment Tax Credit permanent.
2000: Germany establishes a feed in tariff program to help the solar industry.
Time of Solar Cells Maturity (21st Century)
It is a complicated but reliable technology that is backed by the government to make it the most affordable source of energy in history. Its success is due to the S-curve. This means that while initial growth in a technology is slow, driven by a small number of the early adopters, it sees rapid growth as economies scale allows production costs to drop and supply chains to grow. In 2019, solar panels were priced at $106/watt. They are currently $0.38/watt. 89% of this decrease is since 2010.
2001: Home Depot starts selling residential solar power systems.
2001: Suntech Power, a Chinese company that was founded in China and then becomes a global leading solar company.
2006: California Public Utilities Commission approves California Solar Initiative, which provides incentives for solar development.
2008: NREL sets a record for the first time in world record for solar cell efficiency, with 40.8 percent.
2009: Inauguration of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
2009: 2009: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides $90 billion for green energy projects as well as tax incentives. The legislation includes guarantees for loans and subsidies.
2009: China introduces tariffs on feed-ins in order to promote growth in the renewable energy sector.
2010 The former Obama was President. Obama put up solar panels as well as an energy-efficient solar water heater at the White House.
2011: Solyndra collapse, and investment crisis slows solar growth
2013 The world’s largest 100 solar PV installations surpasses 100 gigawatts.
2015. Tesla unveils the lithium-ion Powerwall Battery Pack to enable rooftop solar homeowners to save their electric power.
2015: China beats Germany to become the world’s top country in solar system capacity.
The year 2015 is here: Google Launches Project Sunroof to help homeowners evaluate the viability for rooftop solar.
2016 1 million solar installations in the United States.
2016: Solar Impulse 2 makes the first flight with zero emissions around the globe.
2016, Las Vegas (Nevada) is the first American city government to run completely on renewable energy. The solar power system includes trees in the city’s City Hall.
2017 In the United States, solar energy employs more people than any other fossil fuel industry.
2019: Installation of the first floating solar farm off the coast of the Dutch North Sea.
2020: Building a brand new solar power plant is less expensive than maintaining an existing coal power plant.
2020: California requires all homes built in 2020 to include solar panels by 2020.
2020 2020: According the International Energy Agency, “Solar is now the most powerful of the electricity market.”
2021 Apple, Inc. announced that it would be developing the biggest lithium-ion battery ever built to produce energy from its California solar farm of 250 megawatts.
