How Solar Panels Work: Turning Sunlight Into Electricity
Learn how solar panels work, from silicon cells and the photovoltaic effect to battery storage, and why renewable energy can lower your power bill.
Because people know that the most widely used power generation systems rely on non-renewable energy, research into renewable power generation began quite a while ago. Today, solar panels, which run on renewable energy, are already in wide use. So how do they work? Here is the full explanation.
Generating Electricity From Solar Panels
Solar panels produce electricity for the everyday needs of households and communities, and any power that goes unused is stored in batteries first. That way the system can keep meeting demand in the evening, at night, and on cloudy or rainy days.
A solar panel generates this electricity during peak sunlight. In practice, a panel can produce energy for roughly 5 hours a day, with a variation of about 30 percent. The variation depends on several factors, such as the local climate and where the panels are installed.
How Solar Panels Work, in Simple Terms
In practice, the way solar panels work is fairly simple. The system is made up of a collection of solar cells, and each cell has two layers of silicon pressed together: p-type silicon and n-type silicon. Both layers are made from pure silicon, commonly called an intrinsic semiconductor.
An intrinsic semiconductor consists of atomic bonds, and electrons are the basic building blocks of those atoms. The p-type semiconductor carries a positive charge in its atomic structure, while the n-type semiconductor carries more negative charge.
When p-type and n-type silicon are joined, the negative and positive charges attract each other and form an electric field. That field pushes electrons so they can be put to work as electricity. Sunlight strikes the stacked p-type and n-type layers.
The light drives electrons to move from the semiconductor toward the negative contact, while the holes move toward the positive contact and wait for electrons to arrive. This is how solar panels create electricity from sunlight.
In short, a solar panel works through a photovoltaic system, a phenomenon that converts solar energy into electric current. The electricity a panel produces can be used directly for many needs. The panel system delivers AC power, the type normally used at home.
Because renewable energy is the source, there is no trouble finding fuel for solar panels to generate electricity. That should help you save on your power bill. Sun Energy is one provider that supplies high-quality solar panels to the public.
