How Solar Panels Work: The Mystery Solved!

With all of the information available out there for those of you thinking of investing in a solar panel for your home, you can be forgiven for getting a headache from the whirlwind of phrases and terminology thrown at you. But it is important that you know how exactly solar panels work before you pay out for the technology that will be part of you life for the next decade and more?

The words and phrases used by developers can have your head in a spin but the way in which solar technology works is quite simple.

The most important part of solar technology is silicon, which is used to form the plates that collect the heat from the sun. Silicon is an element which, when it is in its purest form, provides a neutral base for electrons. It is the flow of electrons that creates electricity.

However, another important part of the formula is the charge which the elements have – positive and negative. Without these, there can be no energy from which to draw electricity. Since silicon is neutral, it has no electrical charge and it is for this reason that it’s mixed with other elements, like phosphorous and boron.

When phosphorous is mixed with silicon the chemistry between the two elements creates a negative charge; when silicon is combined with boron, a positive charge is created.

In a solar panel, the positively and negatively charged plates are placed together like bread in a sandwich and are connected together with conducting wires, which carry the electricity out of the panel and into your home (via a battery perhaps).

But of course, this doesn’t explain how electricity is captured from the sun in the first place. Well, amongst the numerous particles that are sent to Earth through sunlight is something called a photon, which bombards the negative solar plates (comprising silicon and phosphorous) and knocks electrons loose. These electrons are then picked up by the positively charged plates (silicon and boron) and all this activity generates electricity.

It’s true that the amount of electricity generated by one plate is small, but as more and more electrons are gathered by the wires and conduct them through the panel, the power level builds up. How many panels you have in your solar system dictates how much power you have. That’s why small electronic devices, like calculators, which need little power to be operated can run on one solar cell. Larger systems, like ventilation or hot water systems, need the power of several panels, each of which could have hundreds of solar cells.

For your home, or your business, the way in which sunlight is converted into electricity is the same but on a bigger scale than your simple calculator. Knowing what your panels are doing for you is a useful thing.

How Solar Panels Work Video

 
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