History of solar power:

Above - The sun dial uses the sun's position to tell the time.

People have always appreciated the sun's life-giving qualities and some civilisations have worshipped it. For thousands of years, the sun has been used as a heat source by mankind. For example, many families in ancient Greece built their homes to “capture” the most sunlight and warmth during the cold winter months (known as “solar passive homes”).


Above - The Nordic Solvognen (The Sun Carriage) from the Bronze Age - The Sun has held a great deal of prominence to ancient civilisations even to this day.

In the 1830s, the British astronomer and explorer John Herschel used a “solar collector” to cook food during an adventure in Africa. You can even try to make your own solar oven at home. In more recent times, scientists and engineers have focused on developing solar technology for electricity production and hot water use and this was largely spurred along by the soaring price of fossil fuels, particularly diesel oil, during the mid-1970s world energy crisis.

The term “crisis” was used when certain oil-producing and exporting countries (known as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC) cut down their petroleum exports and increased prices. A crisis occurred for those countries which depended on OPEC for their petroleum imports. As Australia supplies much of its own petroleum needs, its economy was not as severely affected as some other countries. However since then, countries that cannot supply all their own needs have been actively developing alternative forms of energy. Solar energy research began in earnest during this period.

The main challenge has been to find how to make use of solar energy in practical and economical ways. For example, solar water heating units are already viable and economic in many situations. Of course, the sun's energy is highly dependent on daylight hours and weather conditions. Therefore, it is very important to develop cost-effective methods to store solar energy if it is to play a significant role in displacing fossil fuel energy sources. Water, which is heated by the sun, can be stored economically and used in the home and small-scale industry. But there is not yet an economic way to store large quantities of solar energy.

Western Australia is in a fortunate position to develop renewable energy because we receive a high level of sunshine and experience economically usable wind con­ditions in many coastal locations. Additionally, our state’s remote areas would benefit greatly by lessening their dependence on expensive diesel fuel and developing more clean, renewable energy resources. A number of organisations, including Verve Energy, are involved in a wide range of experimental programs in the hope of finding cheaper and more efficient ways to generate electricity from the sun's heat and light.

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