Solar Power as a Renewable Energy Source - How Do Solar Panels Work?

Solar Energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources that can be used for many things: producing chemical reactions, producing heat and generating electricity. Learn more about renewable solar energy and how solar panels work
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Solar Power as a Renewable Energy Source - How Do Solar Panels Work?

Overview
The world's energy demand is growing rapidly, due to population explosion and technological advances. Therefore, it is important for humanity to adopt a reliable energy source based on these two characteristics, a cost-effective and sustainable source of renewable energy, for the increasing demand for energy in the future.

Solar energy is a renewable energy source and a promising source for addressing problems related to the future energy crisis.
Due to high energy demand, the solar industry is evolving steadily all over the world. The main energy source (fossil fuels) is limited, and other sources are expensive; therefore, solar power panels emitting solar energy is the best tool for economic development.

What is Solar Energy?

Solar Energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources in the world. 
Solar energy is solar radiation that can be used for many things: producing chemical reactions, producing heat and generating electricity, in addition to the fact that solar energy is spread throughout the world.

Solar energy is a clean, non-polluting source, so if properly utilized, it will meet a large proportion of the world's energy needs in the future.

Solar energy works by absorbing solar light from sunlight - most of the light spectrum, plus half of the ultraviolet and infrared radiation - and converting it into electrical energy for use in homes or workplaces. 

Our sun is a massive natural nuclear reactor, which releases tiny beams of energy called photons. Every hour, photons collide with our planet enough to generate solar power to meet global energy needs for a year.

Currently, solar uses are very limited. In the United States, for example, only five-tenths of one percent of energy is consumed. But solar technology is improving, and the cost associated with its production continues to decline.

How Does a Solar Power Work to Produce Electricity?

When photons collide with a solar cell, the atoms lose their electrons in a mechanism called a photovoltaic effect. 
It is known that if the positive side is coupled with the negative in the conductors with an electrical source, it forms an electrical circuit. 
When electrons flow through this circuit, they are known as multiple electric cells to form a solar panel.
Multiple panels (units) can be connected together to form a solar array, and the more panels, the more energy they can generate.

How Do Solar Panels Work?

When solar panels are installed in homes, the sun's rays fall on the panels and then convert the sunlight into direct current (DC), then the current flows to the inverter which in turn, converts electricity from DC to alternating current (AC), then electricity can be used in homes.

The solar panels are simple to install and beautiful in appearance, and they give high efficiency and are easy to produce electric power most of the time.
But what will happen if you are not in your home to make use of the electricity generated by solar panels, or when solar panels cannot generate electricity at night?

Don't worry, you can still, benefit from electricity through a system called the “Net metering,” a model that connects the PV system with the public electricity grid. 
Solar-plus-storage technology (a battery system charged by a connected solar system) also helps store energy produced by solar panels and stores it for later use.

Solar panels, especially on sunny days, often produce more energy than individual needs, where excess energy goes to the public grid for use elsewhere. 
On the other hand, an individual receives a credit from the public grid, which can be used when the panels cannot generate electricity at night, or on cloudy days. 
Each time the smart grid records the energy sent from the solar panels and compares it to the energy coming from the grid.

What are Solar Panels Made of?
Photovoltaic solar panels are made up of many solar cells. These cells are made of semiconductors such as silicon and are designed in two layers; a positive layer and a negative layer, they are known as the electric field as in batteries.
The battery operates a light bulb, where electrons move through the lamp from the negative side of the battery and then return to the positive side of the battery.

In alternating current, electrons are pushed and pulled, reflecting their direction periodically as in a car engine cylinder. 

Electricity is generated in alternating current generators when the coil winds several times around a magnet to create an electric field.

Many power sources can run these generators such as gas, diesel, hydropower, nuclear, and solar. 
Alternating current (AC) has been chosen for use in most of the world's electrical networks, mainly because it is less expensive when transported over long distances, but solar panels generate Direct current (DC). 
To convert DC to AC for input into the network, we use solar inverters.

What is the Role of Solar Inverters?
The solar inverter takes DC power from the solar system and converts it to AC power. These inverters resemble the brains of the system, they also provide protection against ground errors and make statistics on the system including voltage and current in both AC and DC, as well as track power output and maximum power point. 

Solar inverters have dominated the solar energy industry from the start and the introduction of micro-inverters is one of the biggest technological shifts in photovoltaic solar energy production.

Microinverters improve the performance of each solar panel individually, enabling each solar panel to do its utmost.
The central inverter is used when there is a problem with a solar panel - perhaps because it is in the shade, or its surface is dirty - which reduces the efficiency of the entire solar system, but micro-inverters such as those in a home solar system, avoid these problems.

Read more: 

Conclusion
Most scientists believe that increasing carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels is responsible for global warming and climate change.

The solar industries will surely be the best choice for future energy demand due to their high quality in terms of availability, clean and environmentally friendly, cost-effective, accessible, and high efficiency compared to other renewable energy sources.

The Scientific World

The Scientific World is a Scientific and Technical Information Network that provides readers with informative & educational blogs and articles. Site Admin: Mahtab Alam Quddusi - Blogger, writer and digital publisher.

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