Solar power is a usable energy source generated from the sun in electric or thermal energy.
Solar energy is captured in various ways, the most common of which is with photovoltaic solar panels, which convert the sun’s rays into usable electricity.
Solar energy is commonly used in thermal applications to heat indoor spaces or fluids. Residential and commercial property owners can install solar hot water systems and design their buildings with passive solar heating to fully take advantage of the sun's energy through solar technology.
Said - Installed panels take the sun's energy and use this beautiful natural energy to create power- MAGIC!
Solar energy is a clean, inexpensive, renewable power source that is harnessable nearly everywhere globally - any point where sunlight hits the earth's surface is a potential location to generate solar power.
Since solar energy comes from the sun, it represents a limitless source of power.
Renewable energy technologies generate electricity from infinite resources. Compare, for instance, producing electricity with renewable resources to doing so with fossil fuels. It took hundreds of thousands of years for oil, gas, and coal to form, so every time one of those resources is burned to create electricity, that finite resource is moved marginally closer to depletion.
Using a renewable resource - such as wind, solar, and hydropower - to generate electricity does not deplete that resource. There will always be consistent sunlight shining on the Earth's surface. After turning sunlight into electricity, there is still an infinite amount of sunlight to turn into electricity in the future. That is what makes solar power such an incredible resource.
While the current electricity mix in the Cayman Islands is still made up largely of fossil fuels like oil and gas, renewable energy sources like solar are steadily becoming a larger part of its energy profile. Camana Bay and CISS are some of the top areas that are proud to be solar-powered.
Your utility rates seem to keep getting higher every year, don’t they? Yet sunlight is free and abundant.
Accessing power straight from the source seems to make more sense than paying for it indirectly.
The sun isn’t going anywhere, and so solar is a renewable resource. It takes a lot of work to produce electricity, but when you set up your very own private power plant on the roof of your house, that is the definition of efficiency. Harnessing the power of the sun directly cuts out the middleman.
In the Cayman Islands:
The initial output to install solar panels may seem like a large financial commitment, but you will see the mass amount of savings you will make in the end if you look at the long-term statistics.
According to a recent article by Carbon Brief, the world’s best solar power schemes now offer the “cheapest…electricity in history” with the technology cheaper than coal and gas in most major countries.
That is according to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2020. The 464-page outlook, published today by the IEA, outlines the “extraordinarily turbulent” impact of coronavirus and the “highly uncertain” future of global energy use over the next two decades.
Reflecting this uncertainty, this year’s version of the highly influential annual outlook offers four “pathways” to 2040, all of which see a major rise in renewables. The IEA’s main scenario has 43% more solar output by 2040 than expected in 2018, partly due to detailed new analysis showing that solar power is 20-50% cheaper than thought.
Despite a more rapid rise for renewables and a “structural” decline for coal, the IEA says it is too soon to declare a peak in global oil use unless there is stronger climate action. Similarly, it says demand for gas could rise 30% by 2040 unless the policy response to global warming steps up.
The Cayman Islands have 325+ days of sunshine available to us each year.
As recently stated on Cayman Resident, "Cayman’s goal of obtaining 25% of its power from renewable resources by 2025 has raised discussion for alternative ways of doing this".
The island sees the direction the world is going and is working on ways every day to bring this to its residents in the most financially sustainable way possible.
Solar is still a growing business here in the Cayman Islands, and there are more and more companies popping up every day offer unique solar offerings.
With the drastic changes happening in the world and the realization shifts that the COVID-19 pandemic has created, the island focuses more on how we can transition to being a sustainable island for our tourists and our locals.
Currently, the Government does not offer subsidies as an incentive when switching to solar power. Still, CUC has an initiative called Distributed Energy Resources Programme, whereby CUC will buy alternative energy from independent sources.
If you have solar panels or other renewable energy sources generating electricity for your home or business and meet program requirements, CUC will buy that power from you at a fair rate.
Another benefit is that renewable energy equipment such as solar panels is, in fact, duty-free for residential homeowners.
The DER Programme will allow for the continued growth and participation of customers in the renewable energy sector, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the country’s carbon footprint.
For more information and details on the program