Solar or PV panels and how they work
Every year solar power panels become a more common sight. As the technology
for producing electricity from sunlight matures, it becomes more practical to
generate at least some of our electricity from this clean and unlimited source.
Solar power is most often used in southern areas, but the efficient designs of
modern solar cells make them suitable for northern areas as well.
Solar power panels are made of several different components. The most basic part
is the photovoltaic cell. These cells are made from a semi-conducting material
like silicon and specially treated so that they produce an electric charge when
exposed to the photon particles of sunlight.
Individual photovoltaics provide enough power for small devices like calculators
and watches, but in order to produce the currents necessary for household use
they must be connected together. Solar cells can be wired in parallel or in
series to produce a variety of voltages and currents.
The arrays of solar cells produce DC (direct current) electricity. Since most
household appliances use AC (alternating current) the power must pass through an
inverter. This device takes the DC power and changes it to AC.
Storing solar electricity for night time use is one of the biggest challenges of
solar power. Those who have access to power grids can use solar power panels to
provide electricity during the day and use traditional power sources at night.
Those who live in remote areas must use batteries to store the power.
If batteries are used a charge controller is necessary to prevent the batteries
from becoming overcharged. The charge controller also prevents power from
draining from the batteries back to the solar panels at night.
Deep cycle batteries must be used to store solar power. These are designed to
produce a steady level of current over a relatively long time. They are quite
expensive and have a limited life span, although industrial quality batteries
can last up to 20 years.
Since a battery storage system is usually the only source of electricity for
night time use, many batteries can be wired together to produce enough power.
That way you can build an effective off-grid or stand alone system.
A lot of the solar energy systems however are connected to the utility grid.
They are most often referred to as "grid intertied" systems. They allow "net
metering" which means that you supply the electricity you produce to the grid.
At night the utility grid is your source of energy.
Because these systems shut down during a power failure we often see grid
intertied systems with backup batteries and converters.
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