Difference Between Wind Power and Solar Power
Wind Power and Solar Power are natural sources of energy. Worried about the rapid rate of depletion of non renewable sources of energy such as coal and oil, humanity has looked to renewable and constant energy. Another cause for concern is global warming and pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. Two such sources of energy are wind power and solar energy. Energy derived from the sun known as solar power while the electricity produced with the help of wind is known as the power of wind. There are many similarities and differences between the power of wind and solar power.
Not many people know that wind power is really solar power in a different way. The wind is caused by the sun’s heat. The warm sunlight each part of the land surface, but not consistently. At some places it is hotter than other places. Also, the Earth is warmer during the day and cools during the night. Due to this the air at the surface of the earth cools and warms due to radiation. When hot air rises, the land area pulls cooler air to replace warm air. This movement of air produces wind. This wind is of advantage during the generation of electricity.
Both the solar power & wind power are stable sources of energy and also the cleanest sources of energy. Yet there are differences in the two which are as follows.
Solar energy is present on all parts of the earth and the wind too. But the sun’s rays are not quite hot as at all locations and thus the generation of solar power is not feasible in locations where there are not enough bright sunny days and warm. So the fact is that sunlight is present only during the day and it is not possible to provide solar energy to the committees set up to generate power during the night. In comparison, the wind does not depend on the day and flew 24 hours a day. The rainy season or even the winters do not make a difference for the production of winds.
But the wind is not blowing too with the same speed at all locations. The places that are considered ideal for generating wind power are near the coastal areas but the installation of large turbines to produce power from wind in the way of other uses such areas for development goals urban, tourism, agriculture and fisheries. Because of such priorities, the generation of wind power should be in places where wind currents are not very high with the result that not enough wind power can be produced. Large turbines also have editions noisy and noise pollution is a major concern today.
One difference between the power of wind and solar power is cost of installation. The committees are always costlier than solar installations of wind power. Yet there is maintenance and maintenance requirements in case of wind power generators with moving parts that is not there in the solar committees.
While solar power can sometimes be questionable when the weather is cloudy during the day to the extent, wind power is more secure as time has no part to play in the generation of wind.