So How Do Solar Panels Work?
Posted by Simon Cane in Uncategorized, tags: blog, carbon, Carbon footprint, climate change, energy, environment, green, renewable, solar, solar energy, solar power, UncategorizedSolar power is a good green source of energy and a serious option to consider for your energy needs. Other options such as wind turbines and hydroelectric generator can be used in but for most homes and smaller business solar is one of the most achievable options.
Solar power generates energy from the sun simply by converting sunlight to electricity. This process is done with no moving parts, producing zero emissions, and with very little maintenance. Solar panels are constructed using a series of small and individual silicon cells that generate electricity from sunlight. This sunlight hits the surface of the solar panel and it has the effect to produce an electrical current on the surface of small silicon wafers.
Some of the smaller solar panels you can buy today produce up to 12 volts of energy. Its these smaller solar panels that contain around 36 solar cells. If you look at large solar panels they will produce up to 24 volts of energy. These larger solar panels will contain around 72 solar cells.
To harness the suns energy solar panels can be stand alone or they can be wired together to create bank or array of panels and increase the amount of energy you can harness. There are big advantages of building this type of solar system, it can produce a higher voltage output so the solar panels can use smaller wiring system to deliver the power from the solar panel to the output device.
Solar panels come in different types. One is a Monocrystalline solar panels. These are most efficient but the most expensive solar panels made. The solar cells use very pure type of silicon and use a complicated growth process for the silicon crystals.
The second type of solar panel to consider is Polycrystalline. Polycrystalline solar panels are also known as Multi-crystalline and are made with Polycrystalline cells. This second type of panel is less expensive but it is not as efficient as Monocrystalline cells. This if a result of the cells are not grown in a large block of many crystals.
The Amorphous solar panels are not constructed from crystals like some other types of panel. These Amorphous solar panels have a thin layer of silicon coated on a base material, like metal or like glass. This type of solar panels tends to be less expensive than other market options however they are not so efficient in harnessing the energy from the suns rays.
Solar panels are a real option and a potentially good investment to help save money and energy. After the installation and set up costs that can be expensive and off putting, the payback will work for itself. For homes and small business solar is a real solution to meet the demands of trying to find lower costs energy and reduce your energy bills.
Using renewable energy is key to sustainably fuelling our homes in the future. For expert advice on solar panels and Solar pv East Anglia contact Absolute Solar and Wind.
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