![\"solar](\"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/1839-Edmond_Becquerel-from-Wikipedia.jpg\")
<\/a>Edmond Becquerel. Source: Wikipedia<\/p><\/div>\n
1839<\/h1>\n
While mirrors and other reflective surfaces have been concentrating solar rays to light fires for centuries, and south-facing sunrooms and bathhouses take advantage of the sun’s natural heating qualities, it isn’t until 1839 that the photovoltaic effect is discovered and using the sun to generate electricity is first considered.<\/p>\n
French scientist Edmond Becquerel<\/a> was experimenting with electrolytic cells when electricity was generated when exposed to light. Becquerel was just 19 when he placed silver chloride in an acidic solution and generated voltage and current.<\/p>\n London professor William Grylls Adams and his student Richard Evans Day witness the photovoltaic effect<\/a> when they expose selenium to light and produce an electrical current. They are unable to convert enough sunlight to power electrical equipment with their selenium solar cells, but it proved that solid materials could produce electricity without moving parts and just using the sun. The idea for a photovoltaic cell is born.<\/p>\n American inventor Charles Fritts<\/a> creates the first working selenium cell. He coats selenium with a thin layer of gold and this first functioning solar cell has a conversion efficiency of 1%. Fritts’ solar cells are used on the world’s first rooftop solar array in New York City in 1884. But the cells’ high material cost prevents widescale adoption.<\/p>\n Albert Einstein receiving his Nobel award. Source: Public Commons<\/p><\/div>\n Gifted mind Albert Einstein finally brings theory explanation to photoelectricity. In the paper<\/a> \u201cConcerning an Heuristic Point of View Toward the Emission and Transformation of Light,\u201d Einstein describes that light contained packets of energy he called “light quanta.” Quanta today are known as photons. Einstein’s theory helped explain how photons, when properly connected in a circuit, could generate electricity. He went on to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 for “his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.”<\/p>\n Gerald Pearson, Daryl Chapin and Calvin Fuller from Bell Labs. Source: Bell Labs<\/p><\/div>\n Concentrated solar power and solar thermal energy applications had been in use for a while, but purely photovoltaic solar isn’t born until U.S. scientists at Bell Labs developed the silicon PV cell<\/a>. This is the first time enough of the sun’s energy is converted to run electrical equipment. Bell Labs scientists Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller and Gerald Pearson achieved 6% efficiency with this first silicon cell, and soon early solar panels were used to power satellites orbiting the earth. In 1958, the Vanguard I was launched with six solar cells producing about 1 W of power.<\/p>\n Sharp’s early solar cell. Source: Sharp<\/p><\/div>\n Research labs continue to improve the efficiency of silicon solar cells, but commercialization is slow to catch on. Sharp begins to successfully mass-produce solar cells<\/a> in 1963, which brings solar practicality down from space shuttles and satellites to the general public.<\/p>\n The effects of the 1973 oil crisis. Source: David Falconer, EPA<\/p><\/div>\n The 1973 oil crisis leads people to invest in solar research. Dr. Elliot Berman<\/a>, with funding from Exxon, designs a cheaper solar panel, bringing the price down from $100 per watt to $20 per watt. Berman found that using silicon from multiple crystals was cheaper than using just one crystal, but efficiency was lost. Still today, poly\/multicrystalline solar panels are cheaper but less efficient than monocrystalline.<\/p>\n The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) first forms<\/a>, working to promote, develop and implement the use of solar energy in the United States. The first order of business was to establish a cohesive, profitable industry to even represent.<\/p>\n The U.S. Department of Energy launches the Solar Energy Research Institute<\/a>, which later becomes known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The government-owned lab receives (fluctuating) funding from Congress each year, which is to be applied toward research and development projects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ARCO solar panels. Source: DOE<\/p><\/div>\n ARCO Solar<\/a> becomes the first panel manufacturer to hit 1 MW of yearly production. Two years later, the solar company installs the first megawatt-scale solar project in California. Through a series of acquisition over decades, ARCO eventually becomes SolarWorld.<\/p>\n ARCO Solar releases the world’s first commercial thin-film<\/a> power module (made of amorphous silicon). Six years later, the University of South Florida hits 15.9% efficiency with cadmium telluride thin-film (the solar makeup First Solar uses today around 22% efficient).<\/p>\n The first utility-supported solar array. Source: NREL<\/p><\/div>\n Pacific Gas & Electric<\/a> becomes the first U.S. utility to support “distributed systems” with a 500-kW PV array in Kerman, California.<\/p>\n Demonstration home with Uni-Solar solar shingles (invented by Guha). Source: DOE<\/p><\/div>\n Inventor and scientist Subhendu Guha<\/a> invents the first flexible thin-film product labeled as a solar shingle for BIPV use.<\/p>\n The First Solar Perrysburg campus after a 2008 R&D addition by Program Solutions Group. Source: PSG<\/p><\/div>\n Worldwide solar PV installations surpass 1 GW<\/a>. The United States alone hits 1 GW in 2008 and surpasses 25 GW in 2015.<\/p>\n First Solar’s production plant in Perrysburg, Ohio, opens as the world’s largest PV manufacturing plant with an estimated annual production capacity of 100 MW<\/a>, although the company only reaches 25 MW each year until 2005.<\/p>\n Transparent PV on canopy at a BP gas station with two members of the development team from NREL. Source: NREL<\/p><\/div>\n BP and BP Solar open the first “BP Connect” store in Indianapolis, a full-service fueling station with a solar canopy over the pumps<\/a>. The canopy uses<\/a> BP Solar’s translucent thin-film modules, and helps usher in the practicality of solar carports and canopies.<\/p>\n Powerlight Corporation (which was acquired by SunPower in 2006) installs a 1.18-MW system on the roof of the Santa Rita Jail<\/a> in Dublin, California\u2014the largest rooftop solar system in the United States and the fourth largest in the world. The system was predicted to supply 30% of the jail’s daytime needs<\/a> and save the county $400,000 in the first year of operation.<\/p>\n The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) formerly establishes<\/a> as a non-profit corporation to support solar accreditation and certification programs. The first NABCEP Solar PV Installation Professional exam was administered the following year.<\/p>\n The Solar Power Conference and Expo (later to be called Solar Power International<\/a>) holds its inaugural event in San Francisco.<\/p>\n The Energy Policy Act of 2005 creates a 30% federal investment tax credit (ITC)<\/a> for residential and commercial solar energy systems. The credit is extended in 2006, 2008 and 2015.<\/p>\n Nanosolar CEO Martin Roscheisen. Source: Nanosolar<\/p><\/div>\n Nanosolar ships the first commercialized CIGS thin-film modules. The company estimated it was the world’s lowest-cost solar panel at the time at $0.99\/W<\/a>.<\/p>\n The first Enphase microinverter. Source: Enphase<\/p><\/div>\n Enphase releases the first commercially successful<\/a> microinverter for the solar industry.<\/p>\n Zep Solar’s rail-less mount. Source: Zep Solar<\/p><\/div>\n The popularity of Zep Solar’s grooved solar panel frame leads the way for rail-less mounting systems. SolarCity acquires Zep Solar in 2013<\/a> to force the innovative installation technique in-house.<\/p>\n The Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative<\/a> sets a goal for solar energy to become market-competitive with traditional forms of electricity by 2020. The goal sets targets at 10-cents\/kWh for residential, 8-cents\/kWh for commercial and 6-cents\/kWh for utility-scale PV.<\/p>\n Project Sunroof example. Source: Google<\/p><\/div>\n The U.S. residential solar market installs over 2 GW in one year for the first time<\/a>. The total U.S. installed market surpasses 20 GW<\/a>.<\/p>\n Google launches Project Sunroof<\/a>, which uses Google Earth imagery to analyze roofs and local weather patterns to create quick solar plans for homeowners. This tool is an easy first introduction to the solar potential across the country.<\/p>\n In April 2016, the United States installs its one-millionth array<\/a>. We’re expected to reach 2 million by 2018.<\/p>\n
\n1876<\/h1>\n
\n1883<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>1905<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>1954<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>1963<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>1970s<\/h1>\n
\n1974<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>1977<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>1980<\/h1>\n
\n1986<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>1993<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>1998<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>2000<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>2001<\/h1>\n
\n2002<\/h1>\n
\n2004<\/h1>\n
\n2005<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>2007<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>2008<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>2010<\/h1>\n
\n2011<\/h1>\n
\n<\/a>2015<\/h1>\n
\n2016<\/h1>\n