It’s been twenty years, I went to visit Nayachar (Near Haldia) along with my mother, uncle and aunty, when I saw some rectangular plate like structure (slightly tilted towards some direction) were attached at the top of a pole and those poles were decorated beside the road. Firstly I couldn’t understand what those things were. I asked my uncle about those things, it was that time I first heard about the thing called solar panel. It seems very interesting to me, because I was surprised by the fact that one can get light without the service line (because at that time in my village, though it is not so interior we only get electricity 6 to 8 hours a day.). Many years gone but that specific scene of the solar panel at the top of the pole beside the road still come to my mind.
After completing my M.Sc. in Physics now I started working with solar energy. Many research in going on to make solar cell better and even better. Now I know that the present energy requirements of the world, make energy production industries to release more and more CO2 in the atmosphere, which are warming the earth’s atmosphere and increases the natural temperature of the earth as a result some dangerous phenomenon like global warming, increasing of sea water level, drought, heavy rainfall are occurring. The raw materials for those industries are coal and petroleum which are extracted from the mines. These process of extracting in turn disbalances the Earth’s natural equilibrium and as a result, often earthquake, land slide are occurring. If this scenario continue to go on for next few years the earth’s atmosphere may not be remain sustainable. So, this is high time to think about this. Only adaptation and relying on clean form of energy which we can harvest from air flow, geothermal energy, sun etc. can save this world.
Now from the above sources only sun is available to the most of the people of the earth, as sun is giving energy to the almost every parts of the world without any discrimination. When taking about solar energy the very first thing come to one’s mind is the area it requires to harvest energy is very large compared to the other sources of clean or green energy. In the recent years so much research have been done to increase its efficiency and now the efficiency of a solar cell has actually been increased. That ensures that to harvest a certain amount of energy now we need a lesser area. But if we plant a solar system on water surface that will come up with some advantages. There is plenty of water surfaces in the country and in the world. So recent idea is to set up a solar plant on the water surface, as the land surfaces is decreasing day byday. As per experimental data the solar cell works better at a particular temperature. But in the tropical climate like India often the temperature is higher than that particular temperature, so water surface reduces that temperature and encourage solar cell to work better. One pilot project has been done in the Sitiban, Rajarhat, New Town. A 10 kW solar system has been planted there on the lake. Another places to put solar system is on the roof of the houses, commercial building, schools, colleges, factories, housing complexes, park poles etc. For urban areas rooftop solar system is the solution, as there is plenty of houses. Solar panels may be installed in the decorative structures also. A recent trend in the foreign countries is to build solar trees in the park, lawn etc. One solar tree can hold a number of solar panels and can generate much more power than any conventional method of installing solar panels.
These are some methods of installing solar systems. These things proves that solar panels not only increases the energy security it also increases the beauty and cleanliness of a place. Solar system installed in a decorated way can push the beauty of a road or park to a different level. Solar panels on a roof of a building can also increase the total look of the building. It also lower the temperature of a building as it absorb the most energy from the sun preventing them to fall on the roof. So come together to promote this new clean form of energy, and make the world a better place to live.
Anirban Samanta
Co-founder & CTO, AlienSolar
He did his M.Sc. in Physics from IIT Madras, Chennai. Being passionate about solar energy he wanted to pursue it as his career and co-founded AlienSolar to make it affordable in a better way.
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