How Do Solar Panels Work?

Are you wondering how solar panels can supply your energy and save you money? Here’s the rundown of how solar energy works to power solar panels.

What is Solar Energy?

The sun produces photons, which are tiny packets of energy that travel to the Earth. Photons generate solar energy, which is then turned into electricity by solar panels.

The sun produces an abundance of energy, in fact every hour of photons generated can satisfy our global energy needs for an entire year.

How Do Solar Panels Work?

The positioning of solar panels must be facing the sun to receive all the photons possible. The photons that reach solar panels knock out electrons from their atoms. The electrons then flow through a circuit to generate electricity. The more solar panels a home or business has, the more electricity that will be produced.

What Are Solar Panels Made Of?

Solar panels are composed of solar cells, which are made from silicon. They have a positive layer and a negative layer that work like a battery.

How Do Solar Panels Generate Electricity?

Electrons flow from the negative layer to the positive layer, which generates electricity. This process is called direct current electricity and is similar to how a light bulb is powered.

When electrons are pushed and pulled from layer to layer, it is called alternating current electricity. This process is used similarly by a cylinder in a car’s engine.

Alternating current electricity powers electric power grids and is the most cost-effective way of transmitting electricity over long distances.

Solar panels create direct current electricity, but use an inverter to move it into the alternating current power grid.

What Does An Inverter Do?

The inverter takes the direct current electricity and uses it to create alternating current electricity. Inverters have ground fault protection and system stats, such as voltage, energy production and maximum power point tracking.