What makes solar energy work

Once an electrical current is generated by loose electrons, metal plates on the sides of each solar cell collect those electrons and transfer them to wires. At this point, electrons can flow as electricity through the wiring to a solar inverter and then throughout your home. Two of the most common alternative solar options that work differently than PV panels are solar hot water and concentrated solar power.

Solar hot water systems capture thermal energy from the sun and use it to heat water for your home. These systems are made of a few major components: collectors, a storage tank, a heat exchanger, a controller system, and a backup heater. Instead, the panels transform sunlight into heat. They collect energy very differently than traditional photovoltaic panels — instead of generating electricity, they generate heat. Concentrated solar power also known as concentrating solar power or concentrating solar-thermal power works in a similar way to solar hot water, in that it transforms sunlight into heat.

CSP technology produces electricity by concentrating solar thermal energy using mirrors. At a CSP installation, mirrors reflect the sun to a focal point. At this focal point is an absorber or receiver that collects and stores heat energy. CSP is most often used in utility-scale installations to help provide power to an electricity grid. Any home that is connected to the electrical grid will have something called a utility meter that your utility company uses to measure and supply power to your home.

Most homeowners in the U. If you have net metering, you can send power to the grid when your solar system is overproducing like during the day in sunny summer months in exchange for credits on your electric bill. Then, during hours of low electricity production such as nighttime or overcast days , you can use your credits to draw extra energy from the grid and meet your household electricity demand.

In a sense, net metering offers a free storage solution to property owners who go solar, almost like a battery, making solar an all-in-one energy solution. Aside from their silicon solar cells, a typical solar module includes a glass casing that offers durability and protection for the silicon PV cells. Under the glass exterior, the panel has a layer for insulation and a protective back sheet, which protects against heat dissipation and humidity inside the panel.

This insulation is important because increases in temperature will lead to a decrease in efficiency, resulting in lower solar panel performance. Solar panels have an anti-reflective coating that increases sunlight absorption and allows the silicon cells to receive maximum sunlight exposure.

Silicon solar cells are generally manufactured in two cell formations: monocrystalline or polycrystalline. Monocrystalline cells are made up of a single silicon crystal, whereas polycrystalline cells are made up of fragments or shards of silicon. Mono formats provide more room for electrons to move around and thus offer a higher efficiency solar technology than polycrystalline, though they are typically more expensive. Learning more about how solar panels work can be confusing at times, which is why making it simple and digestible is key.

The electrons move from the negative side of the battery, through the lamp, and return to the positive side of the battery.

Generators create AC electricity when a coil of wire is spun next to a magnet. AC electricity is used for the Australia electrical power grids that operate throughout the country and power thousands of homes. However, solar panels create DC electricity. How do we get DC electricity into the AC grid? We use an inverter. A solar inverter takes the DC electricity from the solar array and uses that to create AC electricity.

Inverters are like the brains of the system. Along with inverting DC to AC power, they also provide ground fault protection and system stats, including voltage and current on AC and DC circuits, energy production and maximum power point tracking. Central inverters have dominated the solar industry since the beginning. The introduction of micro-inverters is one of the biggest technology shifts in the PV industry.

Micro-inverters optimise for each individual solar panel, not for an entire solar system, as central inverters do. This enables every solar panel to perform at maximum potential. Another option to consider is using micro-inverters on each of the panels. If one solar panel has an issue, the rest of the solar array still performs efficiently.

First, sunlight hits a solar panel on the roof. The panels convert the energy to DC current, which flows to an inverter. The inverter converts the electricity from DC to AC, which you can then use to power your home. And what happens at night when your solar system is not generating power in real time?

A typical grid-tied PV system, during peak daylight hours, frequently produces more energy than one customer needs, so that excess energy is fed back into the grid for use elsewhere. The customer gets credit for the excess energy produced, and can use that credit to draw from the conventional grid at night or on cloudy days. But how do solar panels work?

Simply put, a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms , generating a flow of electricity. Solar panels actually comprise many, smaller units called photovoltaic cells. Photovoltaic simply means they convert sunlight into electricity. Many cells linked together make up a solar panel.

Each photovoltaic cell is basically a sandwich made up of two slices of semi-conducting material, usually silicon — the same stuff used in microelectronics. Related: How does an atomic clock work? To work, photovoltaic cells need to establish an electric field.