IELTS Reading 練習太陽能創新（含題目+詳解）

Solar Power Innovation

IELTS · 雅思備考 · 11 min read · 2026-04-25

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主題: The rise of solar power and the storage challenge
文章重點: Solar electricity became the cheapest power on Earth through decades of incremental engineering, not a single breakthrough; the remaining challenge is storing energy for after sunset.
難度: 中等 · Intermediate
建議時間: 18 分鐘

重要單字

incremental — happening in small, gradual steps / 漸進式的
cumulative — increasing as more is added / 累積的
utility-scale — large enough to supply the public grid / 公用事業規模
efficiency — how well a device converts input to output / 效率
tandem — arranged together so that they work as one / 串聯、雙層
grid-scale — sized to serve the public electricity grid / 電網規模

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

The 1954 Bell Labs solar cell could only power a toy. Decades of incremental engineering — not one big breakthrough — drove costs down a "learning curve", so by 2023 utility-scale solar was cheaper than coal or gas. Perovskite-on-silicon "tandem" cells now exceed 33 per cent efficiency in the lab. The remaining challenge is storage: solar produces only by day, but demand peaks at night, and no storage option has yet proven decisively cheapest.

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — A niche beginning

When researchers at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey unveiled the first practical silicon solar cell in 1954, they could power only a small toy. The cell converted around six per cent of incoming sunlight into electricity, and at the prevailing manufacturing cost the technology was useful only where no alternative existed at all — most famously, on satellites that could not carry fuel for chemical batteries. For three decades solar power remained a niche technology used by space agencies and a handful of remote off-grid installations.

本段重要單字 (3)

unveiled — showed publicly for the first time / 首次發表
prevailing — most common or current at the time / 當時普遍的
installations — systems set up at a particular place / 設置、裝置

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

Why was solar power a niche technology after 1954?

It was too efficient and produced too much electricity.
High cost and low efficiency made it useful only where no alternative existed.
Governments banned its use until the 1980s.

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答案：B — High cost and low efficiency made it useful only where no alternative existed.

The paragraph says the cell converted only six per cent and "at the prevailing manufacturing cost the technology was useful only where no alternative existed at all" — high cost and low output limited it to satellites.

2 段落 2 — The learning curve

The transformation came not from a single breakthrough but from the steady, almost unglamorous work of incremental engineering. Each doubling of cumulative installed capacity has reduced the average cost per watt by about twenty per cent — a relationship engineers call a "learning curve". By 2010, the panels themselves accounted for less than half the cost of a finished solar installation; mounts, wiring and labour had become the larger expenses. By 2023, utility-scale solar electricity was cheaper than electricity from new coal or gas plants in most of the world.

本段重要單字 (3)

incremental — happening in small, gradual steps / 漸進式的
cumulative — increasing as more is added / 累積的
utility-scale — large enough to supply the public grid / 公用事業規模

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

According to the paragraph, what mainly drove the fall in solar costs?

A single dramatic scientific breakthrough.
Steady, incremental engineering improvements over time.
Government bans on coal-fired power.

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答案：B — Steady, incremental engineering improvements over time.

The paragraph explicitly contrasts a single breakthrough with "the steady, almost unglamorous work of incremental engineering" that drove the learning curve.

3 段落 3 — Tandem cells and higher efficiency

Several technical advances are converging on the next stage. Silicon cell efficiencies, long stuck below 20 per cent for commercial panels, now routinely exceed 22 per cent. Researchers at Oxford and elsewhere have developed perovskite materials that, when layered on top of a conventional silicon cell, can capture additional wavelengths of sunlight and push laboratory efficiencies above 33 per cent. Mass production of these "tandem" cells is expected within the decade, promising another step down the learning curve.

本段重要單字 (3)

efficiency — how well a device converts input to output / 效率
wavelengths — different colours/types of light energy / 波長
tandem — arranged together so they work as one / 串聯、雙層

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What is a "tandem" solar cell?

A cell made entirely of perovskite, with no silicon.
A cell that layers perovskite on top of a silicon cell to capture more wavelengths.
A solar panel mounted on two roofs at once.

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答案：B — A cell that layers perovskite on top of a silicon cell to capture more wavelengths.

The paragraph defines tandem cells as perovskite "layered on top of a conventional silicon cell" to capture additional wavelengths and push efficiency above 33 per cent.

4 段落 4 — The storage challenge

The remaining challenge is no longer the panel itself but the question of timing: solar power produces electricity only when the sun shines, and demand often peaks in the evening. The cost of grid-scale lithium batteries has fallen sharply, but storing several hours of a city's electricity remains expensive. Alternative approaches — pumped hydropower, compressed air, and using surplus solar power to make hydrogen — are all being trialled. None has yet proven decisively cheaper than the others. The fate of solar power may now depend less on the sun than on what happens after it sets.

本段重要單字 (3)

grid-scale — sized to serve the public electricity grid / 電網規模
surplus — an amount more than is needed / 過剩、剩餘
trialled — tested in real-world conditions / 試行、測試

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What does the writer say is now the main challenge for solar power?

Making panels more efficient than 22 per cent.
Storing or shifting electricity so it is available after sunset.
Building more satellites to use solar power.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — Storing or shifting electricity so it is available after sunset.

The paragraph frames the issue as timing — solar produces by day, demand peaks in the evening — and ends "what happens after it sets". Storage and shifting are the central challenge, not panel efficiency.

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閱讀前先看 Before you read

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — A niche beginning

2 段落 2 — The learning curve

3 段落 3 — Tandem cells and higher efficiency

4 段落 4 — The storage challenge

每天 5 分鐘的系統練習

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