Solar energy has become a powerhouse in the renewable energy landscape, with the U.S. solar industry growing by an impressive 40% annually over the past decade. As solar panels become increasingly common on rooftops and in sprawling solar farms, it&#;s fascinating to look back at their origins. The story of solar panels is one of scientific breakthroughs, technological innovations, and human ingenuity.
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Long before the invention of modern solar panels, humans found clever ways to harness the sun&#;s energy. As far back as the 7th century BC, people used magnifying glasses to concentrate sunlight and start fires. The ancient Greeks and Romans took this concept further, using mirrors to light torches and even experimenting with a &#;death ray&#; that used concentrated sunlight to set fire to enemy ships.
In , Swiss scientist Horace de Saussure created the first solar collector&#;a series of glass boxes nested inside one another. When exposed to sunlight, the innermost box could reach temperatures over 100 degrees Celsius, making it effectively an early solar oven.
French physicist Edmond Becquerel stumbled upon the photovoltaic effect in , creating the foundation for modern solar panels. While experimenting in his father&#;s lab, Becquerel noticed that certain materials generated electricity when exposed to light. This discovery proved crucial in the development of solar cells decades later.
The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a flurry of research and experimentation in solar energy:
While limited in their practical applications, these early innovations laid the groundwork for the solar technology we know today.
The true breakthrough in solar panel technology came in at Bell Laboratories. Scientists Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson developed the first modern solar cell using silicon semiconductors. They demonstrated the cell&#;s ability to generate electricity by powering a toy Ferris wheel and a radio transmitter. This new solar cell achieved an efficiency of 6%&#;a massive improvement over previous attempts.
Practicality drove Bell Labs&#; research. Chapin was searching for a way to power telephones in humid climates where traditional batteries degraded quickly. The team&#;s work with silicon semiconductors proved to be the key to creating a viable solar cell.
Their innovation quickly found its first practical application in an unexpected field: space exploration. Solar panels became an ideal solution for powering satellites, offering a reliable energy source far from earthbound pollution and weather interruptions.
Global efforts to harness solar power saw several milestones around the time of Bell Labs&#; breakthroughs:
Despite leaps in efficiency, early solar cells were cost-prohibitive, and the materials and methods used made widespread adoption challenging. Scientists began efforts to reduce costs while maintaining energy performance, and their work set the stage for future advancements.
The space race of the s and 60s provided the perfect testing ground for solar technology. In , the U.S. launched the Vanguard satellite, which used solar cells as a secondary power source. By , almost every spacecraft was equipped with solar arrays.
Solar panels are ideal for space applications for several reasons:
The demands of space exploration drove rapid improvements in solar cell efficiency and durability. Solar efficiency rose from 8% in to over 14% by . Space exploration achievements paved the way for further research and implementation on Earth.
While solar panels thrived in space, their use on Earth was initially limited. However, the s brought renewed interest in solar energy as concerns about fossil fuel depletion and environmental impact grew.
The push toward adopting solar energy on Earth saw several milestones that shifted perspectives and demonstrated the potential of solar technology:
Despite these advances, many still considered solar energy a fringe technology. It wasn&#;t until the late s and early s that solar started to gain serious traction as a viable alternative energy source.
Various governments introduced clean energy incentives in the s. Many countries offer tax rebates, net metering programs, and other solar incentives to make solar more accessible to homeowners and businesses. Incentives such as the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in the U.S. have historically reduced up-front installation costs and made solar more attractive to consumers.
Subsidies, tax credits, and net metering initiatives encouraged homeowners and businesses to go solar. Public interest in sustainable energy combined with financial benefits led to increased adoption worldwide.
Solar panels are ubiquitous today, adorning residential rooftops, commercial buildings, and vast solar farms. The industry has grown exponentially, driven by technological improvements, cost reductions, and increasing awareness of climate change.
Modern solar panels have come a long way from their early counterparts:
Read also: The Different Types of Solar Panels
The future of solar looks bright. Organizations such as NASA and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are developing ultra-efficient solar cells with over 40% efficiency. Meanwhile, innovations in thin-film technology are making solar panels more versatile and easier to integrate into various applications.
Solar power&#;s role extends beyond traditional uses. Researchers are exploring solar desalination, solar-powered transportation, and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) to expand solar energy&#;s reach. Many expect that advancements in smart grid technology and energy storage solutions will help harmonize renewable energy sources, including solar, into a more resilient and efficient power infrastructure.
The first solar cell was developed by scientists at Bell Labs in . They used the solar cell to power a small toy Ferris wheel and a radio transmitter. Inventor Charles Fritts had developed and installed a rooftop solar array in , but it had an efficiency of just 1% and wasn&#;t practical for real-world applications.
The photovoltaic effect is a property of certain materials to generate an electric charge when exposed to light. It was discovered by French scientist Edmond Becquerel in .
When solar panels were first developed, they were too expensive and impractical for terrestrial applications. At the same time, the Space Race was heating up, and traditional forms of energy were too cumbersome to use in the harsh environment of outer space. Hence, NASA engineers looked toward solar energy as a power source for their spacecraft.
Before the first modern solar panels were invented by Bell Laboratories in , the history of solar energy was one of fits and starts, driven by individual inventors and scientists. Then the space and defense industries recognized its value, and by the late 20th century, solar energy had emerged as a promising but still costly alternative to fossil fuels. In the 21st century, the industry has come of age, developing into a mature and inexpensive technology that is rapidly replacing coal, oil, and natural gas in the energy marketplace. This timeline highlights some of the major pioneers and events in the emergence of solar technology.
The Age of Discovery (19th-early 20th century)
Physics flourishes in the mid-19th century with experiments in electricity, magnetism, and the study of light, among other breakthroughs. The basics of solar energy are part of that discovery, as inventors and scientists lay the groundwork for much of the subsequent history of the technology.
: At the age of 19, Frenchman Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel creates the world's first photovoltaic cell in his father's laboratory. His studies of light and electricity inspire later developments in photovoltaics. Today, the Becquerel Prize is given out annually by the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition.
: Mathematician and physicist Auguste (or Augustin) Mouchout patents a solar-powered motor.
: Electrical engineer Willoughby Smith discovers the photovoltaic effect in selenium.
The photovoltaic effect is the key to solar PV technology. A combination of physics and chemistry, the photovoltaic effect occurs when an electric current is created in a material when it is exposed to light.
: W. G. Adams, professor of Natural Philosophy at King's College, London, discovers &#;the change in the electrical resistance of the selenium due to radiant heat, light, or chemical action.&#;
: Abel Pifre builds a &#;solar engine&#; that generates enough electricity to power his solar printing press, which he displays in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris, France (pictured below).
Auguste Mouchout's solar engine. Oxford Science Archive/Print Collector/Getty Images.
: Inventor Charles Fritts develops the first solar cell using selenium coated with gold. It has less than one percent efficiency in converting solar radiation to electricity.
: Inventor John Ericsson develops a &#;sun motor&#; which uses parabolic trough construction (PTC) to focus solar radiation to run a steam boiler. PTC is still used in solar thermal power stations.
: Charles Fritts installs solar panels on a rooftop in New York City.
: Entrepreneur Aubrey Eneas's Solar Motor Company begins marketing solar-driven steam engines to fuel irrigation projects in Pasadena, California. The company soon fails.
-: Engineer Frank Shuman's Sun Power Company uses PTC to build the world's first solar thermal power plant.
The Age of Understanding (late 19th-early 20th century)
The emergence of modern theoretical physics helps create a foundation for a greater understanding of photovoltaic energy. Quantum physics's descriptions of the subatomic world of photons and electrons unveil the mechanics of how packets of incoming light disrupt electrons in silicon crystals in order to generate electric currents.
: Physicist Wilhelm Hallwachs describes the physics of photovoltaic cells in what is now known as the Hallwachs effect.
: Albert Einstein publishes &#;On a Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light,&#; explaining how light creates an electric current by knocking electrons out of the atoms in certain metals.
: Chemist Jan Czochralski invents a method for creating single crystals of metal. This becomes the basis for creating semiconductor wafers still used in electronics, including solar cells.
: Albert Einstein gives a theoretical foundation to photovoltaics by introducing the notion that lights act as packets carrying electromagnetic force.
: Physicist Gilbert Lewis coins the term "photons" to describe Einstein's packets of electromagnetic energy.
The Age of Development (mid-20th century)
Serious research into the development of solar technology, based on the invention of monocrystalline silicon solar cells, leaves the laboratory. Like many other technologies, it emerges out of research conducted for the U.S. defense and space industries, and its first successful use is in satellites and space exploration. These uses demonstrate the effectiveness of solar energy, though most of the technology is still too expensive to be commercialized.
: Bell Laboratories engineer Russell Ohl files a patent for the first monocrystalline silicon solar cell.
: Passive solar houses become popular due to post-war energy scarcity.
: Solar cells made from germanium are constructed.
: Bell Laboratories produces the first efficient silicon solar cell. While weak compared to current cells, these cells are the first that can generate significant amounts of electricity&#;at about 4% efficiency.
: The first solar-powered call is made.
: General Electric introduces the first solar-powered radio. It can operate during both daylight and darkness.
: Vanguard I is the first spacecraft to be powered by solar panels.
: A car with a solar-panel roof and a 72-volt battery drives around London, England.
: The United Nations sponsors a conference on the use of solar energy in the developing world.
: 3,600 cells from Bell Laboratories power Telstar, the first solar-powered communications satellite.
: The Soviet Union's Soyuz 1 becomes the &#;rst solar-powered spacecraft to carry humans.
: A solar-powered watch, the Synchronar , goes on the market.
Charles Fritts was the first person to generate electricity using solar panels&#;in &#;but it would be another 70 years before they became efficient enough to be useful. The first modern solar panels, with a still-meager 4% efficiency, were developed by three researchers at Bell Laboratories, Daryl Chapin, Gerald Pearson, and Calvin Fuller. Those three pioneers stood on the sometimes-overlooked shoulders of their Bell Labs predecessor Russel Ohl, who discovered how silicon crystals acted as semiconductors when exposed to light.
The Age of Growth (late 20th century)
The energy crisis of the early s spurs the first commercialization of solar technology. Shortages of petroleum in the industrialized world lead to slow economic growth and high oil prices. In response, the U.S. government creates financial incentives for commercial and residential solar systems, research and development institutes, demonstration projects for the use of solar electricity in government buildings, and a regulatory structure that still supports the solar industry today. With these incentives, solar panels go from a cost of $1,865/watt in to $106/watt in (prices adjusted to dollars).
: An oil embargo led by Arab nations drives oil prices up 300%.
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: The University of Delaware constructs Solar One, the first building powered solely by solar energy.
: The Solar Heating and Cooling Demonstration Act calls for the use of solar energy in federal buildings.
: The International Energy Agency is founded to study and forecast energy markets.
: The U.S. Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) is created in order to foster the commercialization of solar energy.
: The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is formed to represent the interests of the solar industry.
: The Solar Energy Research Institute is established by Congress. It is now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
: The world production of photovoltaic cells exceeds 500 kW.
: The U.S. Department of Energy is established.
: The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of lays the foundation for net metering by requiring utilities to purchase electricity from &#;qualifying facilities&#; that meet certain standards on energy source and efficiency.
: The Energy Tax Act creates the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and the Residential Energy Credit to provide incentives to the purchase of solar systems.
: The Iranian Revolution interrupts oil exports from the Middle East, forcing oil prices up.
: U.S. President Jimmy Carter installs solar panels on the White House roof, later dismantled by President Ronald Reagan.
: Funded by the United States and Saudi Arabia, the first concentrating PV system goes into operation.
: Solar Challenger becomes the world's first solar aircraft capable of flying long distances.
: Solar One, a pilot solar thermal project in the Mojave Desert near Barstow, California, is completed by the U.S. Department of Energy.
: The first large-scale solar farm is built near Hesperia, California.
: The Sacramento Municipal Utility District commissions its first solar electricity-generating facility.
: Silicon cells that can reach 20% efficiency are created by the Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
: Lithium-ion batteries, later used to store renewable energy, are developed.
: The first lithium-ion batteries reach commercial production.
: The Investment Tax Credit is made permanent by Congress.
: Germany creates a feed-in-tariff program to stimulate the solar industry.
A feed-in-tariff is a government program that guarantees above-market prices for producers of renewable energy, usually involving long-term contracts to give investors certainty in the early development of new technologies, before they are commercially able to stand on their own.
The Age of Maturity (21st century)
GPA Photo Archive / Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0
From an expensive but scientifically sound technology, solar energy benefits from continued government support to become the lowest-cost energy in history. Its success follows the S-curve, where initial growth of a technology is slow and driven only by early adopters, then experiences explosive growth as economies of scale allow production costs to decline and supply chains to expand. While solar modules cost $106/watt in (in dollars), they drop to just $0.38/watt in , with 89% of that drop happening since .
: Home Depot begins selling residential solar power systems.
: Suntech Power is founded in China and becomes a world leader in solar technology.
: The California Public Utilities Commission approves the California Solar Initiative to provide incentives for solar development.
: NREL sets a world record for solar cell efficiency at 40.8%.
: The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is founded.
: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provides $90 billion in clean energy investments and tax incentives, including subsidies and loan guarantees for solar energy projects.
: China introduces feed-in-tariffs to stimulate growth in the solar industry.
: U.S. President Barack Obama re-install solar panels and a solar water heater at the White House.
: Solyndra bankruptcy and investment fiasco slows solar industry growth.
: World-wide solar PV installations pass 100 gigawatts.
: Tesla introduces the lithium-ion Powerwall battery pack to allow rooftop solar owners to store electricity.
: China becomes the world's leader in installed solar system capacity, surpassing Germany.
: Google launches Project Sunroof to help homeowners judge the feasibility of rooftop solar.
: Solar installations in the United States reach one million.
: Solar Impulse 2 takes the first zero-emissions flight around the world.
: Las Vegas, Nevada, becomes the largest city government in America to be run entirely on renewable energy, including from solar panel trees in front of City Hall.
: The solar industry employs more people in electricity generation in the U.S. than do fossil fuel industries.
: The first offshore floating solar farm is installed in the Dutch North Sea.
: It is cheaper to build a new solar plant than it is to continue operating an existing coal plant.
: California requires all new homes to have solar panels.
: The International Energy Agency states that &#;Solar is the new king of the electricity markets.&#;
: Apple, Inc. announces it was constructing the world's largest lithium-ion battery to stare energy from its 240 megawatt-hour solar farm in California.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did solar power arrive in the U.S.?
Although the world's first official photovoltaic cell was created by a Frenchman, Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel, in , the concept didn't take hold in the U.S. until Bell Laboratories developed the first solar cell capable of converting solar energy into electricity, in .
How was the first solar panel made?
The first object called a solar panel, made in by New York inventor Charles Fritts, was made by coating selenium, a mineral found in soil, with gold.
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