• Question: Did you invent the Solar power systems or are you improving them?

    Asked by liv to Pete on 8 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Peter Burgess

      Peter Burgess answered on 8 Nov 2015:


      No, I didn’t invent solar power systems. They’re probably older than you might think.
      I just look for signs that systems (or parts of them) aren’t working as well as they should, trying to figure out why, and sending people to fix the problems I have found.

      The kind of solar panels you are thinking of right now were originally invented in America in the 1950s. I did get to meet one of the earliest NASA scientists who worked on solar panels.
      He used to carry around an exact copy of America’s first satellite (Vanguard 5) in his suitcase. It was the first ever use of solar panels in space.
      Like most technologies, solar was really expensive at first and so it was restricted to a few narrow uses (space, remote power at sea…) and as the cost came down it became possible to use it for more and more things, until now it makes financial sense almost anywhere.

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