How Do Solar Panel Fields Work

A solar panel is nothing more than a large group of solar cells made of silicon.

How do solar panel fields work.

First sunlight in the form of photons hit the solar panels on your roof or ground mount. This fully automated process shows how the panels are in a docked. There are essentially five steps in the process of solar energy production beginning when sunlight hits your panels and culminating with feeding excess energy back to the grid. Photovoltaic cells absorb the sun s energy and convert it to dc electricity the solar inverter converts dc electricity from your solar modules to ac electricity which is used by most home.

Simply put a solar panel works by allowing photons or particles of light to knock electrons free from atoms generating a flow of electricity. The solar panels on your roof are owned by the ppa provider not you. Here are the main steps for how solar panels work for your home. Pv cells also all have one or more electric field that acts to force electrons freed by light absorption to flow in a certain direction.

Electricity flows through your home. A solar farm sometimes referred to as a photovoltaic power station is typically a large decentralized solar array supplying electricity to the power grid. Multiple panels are required to generate an appreciable amount of electricity which is why solar farm arrays are so large. Solar panels actually comprise many smaller units.

This flow of electrons is a current and by placing metal contacts on the top and bottom of the pv cell we can draw that current off for external use say to power a calculator. This time lapse animation demonstrates the cycle which thermal solar fields follow on any given day of adequate sunlight exposure. What to watch out for. The majority of these massive arrays are owned by utilities and are merely another asset for the utility to supply power to properties in their coverage area.

This electricity is then used to power your home. Since this process happens at such a small scale it is invisible for humans. First your solar panels collect particles of light called photons which knock electrons free from their atom hosts. But instead of paying for the system you pay a monthly fee for the energy it produces.

Since those contracts usually cover a 25 year period you essentially agree to purchase your energy in advance for a pre negotiated price. The cells are networked into a panel each gathering a small amount of energy from sunlight. When solar cells are struck by light they produce a flow of electrons or electric current.