How Do Solar Panels Work?

You might have heard of Solar “PV” Panels. PV stands for photo-voltaic.

Photo = Light. Voltaic = Electricity.

Solar panels are made up of smaller components called solar cells. Each of these cells is made up of two layers of silicon, one is positively charged and the other is negatively charged.

Each layer of the cell is connected to the ends of a circuit via busbars on the cell. When photons in the suns light hit the top layer, they force electrons to jump out of the negatively charged layer, flow around the circuit and seat into the gaps in the positively charged layer. This causes a current to flow around the circuit, which enables us to power things.

We capture this DC current flow and direct it through an inverter. The inverter inverts the electricity to usable AC electricity.

Photovoltaic systems have no moving parts and operate silently. Even on cloudy days, solar cells can produce energy—as long as sunlight penetrates the atmosphere, the cells can do their job.

The positioning and mounting of solar panels will affect performance more than other factors. This is why contracting qualified professionals to do the job is important. PV cells are sensitive to shading. It’s important that no cells are under shade for the entire panel to work.

We’re never going to run out of the sun’s energy (not for a very long time anyway) and most places on earth have sun for several hours a day at all times of the year. Even in winter, Wanaka and the Otago region get 7-8 hours of daylight every 24 hours. That’s plenty of time for energy production and storage.