History of Solar Power
The history of solar power is not as recent as some may think as the technology has existed since the 19th century and has received substantial government support since at least the
View Details
Menu
Menu
The history of solar power is not as recent as some may think as the technology has existed since the 19th century and has received substantial government support since at least the
View Details
The project established the feasibility of power-tower systems, a solar-thermal electric or concentrating solar power technology. In 1988, the final year of operation, the system could be dispatched 96% of
View Details
Grid 101: How does the electric grid work? The electric grid—an interconnected system illustrated in Figure 1—maintains an instantaneous balance between supply and demand (generation and load)
View Details
The Vanguard 1 satellite, launched in 1958, was among the first to use solar cells and demonstrated the viability of solar power in space. The development of silicon solar cells in 1954
View Details
The Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) pioneered utility-scale solar power generation in 1982. ARCO opened a 1.1 megawatt (MW) operation in Hesperia, California, the first industrial solar
View Details
A complete timeline that shows the astonishing development of solar energy technology since the 1800s!
View Details
That said, anyone familiar with the Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS,) a solar power plant located in California, knows that it didn''t arrive until the early 1980s.
View Details
In 1973, researchers at the University of Delaware built the first house to integrate solar photovoltaic cells. The building, named “Solar One,” used heat and electricity converted from sunlight.
View Details
Four decades after the first grid-connected solar installation, the U.S. solar industry hit a major milestone in 2016 when it surpassed 1 million solar installations.
View Details
In the first half of 2025, solar and wind together accounted for 91% of all new U.S. power generating capacity, continuing solar''s dominance as the largest source of new electricity on the grid.
View DetailsPDF version includes complete article with source references. Suitable for printing and offline reading.