You don’t need to be an expert in energy to know that traditional fossil fuels are a real problem for the earth. These old-fashioned methods of energy production are limited, but they cause pollution and damage the planet in other ways.
Many governments and environmental groups are encouraging people to consider other alternative energy options to overcome this. PV panels and solar energy offer a cleaner method of energy generation, designed to help us protect the planet.
However, though many homeowners and governments are becoming more interested in the potential of rooftop solar these days, there are still many individuals out there who don’t fully understand how solar panels work and what they can do.
How Do Solar Panels Work? A Step-by-Step Guide
A solar power system works by leveraging the sun as a renewable energy source. These panels can capture the sun’s energy, in the form of light and heat, and transform it into electricity that you can use in your home, or feed it back to the grid.
The sun that lights planet earth is an organic nuclear reactor, constantly releasing small packets of energy known as photons, which travel around 93 million miles from the sun to the earth. Every hour, a considerable number of protons impact our planet, generating enough solar energy to satisfy our needs for clean energy for an entire 365 days.
Currently, solar technology throughout the US only accounts for a small portion of the country’s energy consumption. However, as the solar industry continues to evolve, and the prices of solar panels drop, we see an increased demand for solar solutions.
According to one report from the International Energy Agency, the number of people installing solar panels worldwide means that solar PV is now the most rapidly growing source of power.
So, how does this technology work to produce electricity?
When photons from the sun hit solar polycrystalline or monocrystalline panels, they remove spare electrons from their atoms. If you have a conductor attaching to the negative and positive sides of your solar cell, this creates a new electrical circuit. When the electrons move through the electrical circuit, electricity is generated.
Multiple cells are making up an entire solar panel, and various solar panels or modules for different kinds of solar panels can be combined to create a full solar array.
PV cells or photovoltaic cells can be made of various semiconductor material options, like silicon. They’re constructed using both a negative charge and positive layer, which binds to create an electric field – similar to a typical battery. That electric field is how you can power your home and feed energy back to the grid.
How Does A Solar Panel Generate Electricity?
Let’s take a closer look at the process that solar cells go through to generate electricity. As noted above, solar energy systems absorb sunlight using a photovoltaic cell, which creates direct current electricity (DC). The system then uses central inverters and other technology to convert that DC electricity into a usable alternating current (AC energy)
AC electricity then flows through the electrical panels into a home and is distributed throughout your property. You need a system to convert the DC electricity that you collect into an electrical current that your home can use. That’s where a solar inverter becomes essential.
A standard solar panel, or solar module, consists of a layer of silicon cells creating an electric field, a metal frame, glass casing, and wiring that allows currents to flow through those silicon cells. When light interacts with a silicon solar cell, it pushes the electrons into motion, which initiates your original current.
Some people refer to the electrical performance of solar cells as the photovoltaic effect. This concept was initially discovered a long time ago, in 1839, by a man called Edmond Becquerel. The photovoltaic process works as follows:
- Silicon monocrystalline or polycrystalline cells absorb solar radiation or photons.
- When the solar radiation photon interacts with a silicon cell, the electron moves.
- An electric current appears.
- Wires capture the current and feed the direct current into a solar inverter.
- The solar inverter converts the positive charge into AC electricity.
- You can store your electricity in a solar battery, or use it throughout your home.
Understanding How You Connect To The Grid
Many people can feel confused about how the electrical grid enters the picture when they’re learning how solar panels work.
Any home that’s connected to the electricity grid comes with something called a utility meter. That’s the tool that your energy provider uses to track how much energy you use in your home. When you install solar PV panels on your roof or mount them around the grounds of your property, they eventually connect to your utility meter. This has an impact on your electricity costs.
The meter measures the amount of electricity the solar panels on your property create. This makes it easier to determine how much energy you don’t need to draw from the grid anymore. Most homeowners throughout the US will have access to a significant solar incentive when they start to generate electricity this way. Net metering is a concept that allows you to send excess energy to the grid.
Through net metering, you can provide the power grid with some of the excess electricity you generate, in exchange for credits that reduce your electric bill. You can also use your credits to draw extra energy from the grid during times of peak demand.
In a sense, your net metering strategy can provide you with a free storage solution for your solar energy. With net metering, you can create an all-in-one electrical solution with your solar cells to improve your overall home efficiency.
Essential Parts To Consider In Your Solar Panels
When asking the question “how do solar panels work?” it’s crucial to remember that there’s more to creating energy with your polycrystalline solar cells, or monocrystalline solar panels than most people think.
Aside from silicon cells, most solar energy installations will come with a glass casing that protects your PV cell, a layer of insulation to protect from heat dissipation, and more. Remember that proper insulation for your solar cells is critical because it ensures that your solar solution can last longer. What’s more, the right parts also improve efficiency.
Another essential component of your solar energy set-up is a solar inverter. A solar inverter takes the DC electricity you create with your solar array and uses it to create an AC electrical charge. Inverters are essentially the brains of your solar energy strategy. Along with converting one charge to another, inverters also protect from various common system faults.
The central inverter market has dominated the field of solar energy creation since the beginning. In recent years, we’ve also seen the arrival of more advanced forms of the inverter, such as the introduction of the microinverter. Microinverters are optimized to support each solar panel. This enables every PV panel to perform at its maximum potential.
When a single central inverter is at the heart of your solar system, a problem with one solar panel can easily drag down the performance of your entire solar array. On the other hand, micro-inverters make this less of an issue. With this kind of energy production, if one panel has a problem, you’ll still be able to produce usable electricity.
Remember, if you want to ensure that you always have access to excess energy when you need it, you’ll need to either use a net metering system or a solar battery.
How Is Solar Power Stored?
One possible downside of relying on solar electricity is that the sun can’t provide a consistent stream of energy at all times. When it’s cloudy, or night-time, your photovoltaic solar panels will produce much lower electricity. Unfortunately, you can’t just wait for the sun to come out whenever you want to access your appliances.
Most solar panel arrays come with access to something called solar storage to overcome this problem. These PV systems include things like battery banks, or they interact with the grid, using the net metering strategy discussed above.
If you’re using your own battery to reduce your reliance on the grid, then you’ll have some extra components to your solar strategy. These include:
- Charge controllers: A charge controller prevents your battery bank from overcharging. The flow of electricity from your panels will stop when the battery can’t take any more energy.
- Battery banks: These are groups of batteries bundled together to help you store more energy. The solar batteries are very similar in style to car batteries. However, in most cases, these products are specifically designed to endure the impact of charging and discharging for a solar panel system.
- Meter: A meter measures and displays the performance and status of your solar array. If you’re linking your system to your utility grid, you’ll use the standard meter in your home. If you’re staying off the grid, then you may need a separate meter.
Another way to store electrical energy is through something called solar thermal storage. Aside from producing basic electricity, your solar strategy can also deliver heating for your spaces, water, or pool. Each of these applications uses its own plans for solar thermal energy storage. Usually, you’ll either rely on a water tank or a thermal mass system.
A thermal mass system is ideal for active and passive space heating systems. The strategy involves absorbing heat during the day and releasing it slowly throughout the evening. On the other hand, a water tank is usually for active liquid systems. The system uses a heat exchange network to transfer the heat from a special fluid into the water in your container.
Do Solar Panels Work on Cloudy Days?
One of the biggest concerns that homeowners have when it comes to using solar panels is that they’re worried they won’t work on cloudy or overcast days. If you live in a cloudy region, then you don’t want to spend a fortune on your solar electricity system to find that it occasionally won’t work.
Some critics of solar panels say that their panels can’t produce electricity on cloudy days, or even during the evening. However, this isn’t the case. Solar panels can still deliver up to 25% of their typical output when it’s cloudy. Although the amount of energy that a solar panel can create on cloudy days isn’t as significant as what you can get on a sunny day, that doesn’t mean that electricity production stops.
One of the cities with the most frequent cloudy days in the United States is Seattle. However, the location is quickly becoming one of the most popular places to get a solar panel installation. The excellent selection of payback incentives and net metering options means that Seattle homeowners can save a lot of money on their investment.
In Portland, another very cloudy city, there has also been a boom in the number of people using solar electricity. This location is a leader among American cities when it comes to solar power.
Even if you live in a particularly cloudy region, you can still discover the benefits of solar power for your household. Look today and see if solar panels are a good fit for you in the area you live in and begin to take advantage of the benefits of solar energy.