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How do solar panels work?
Now, it’s not often seen this way but our beautiful sun is actually just one massive ball of energy. It is constantly releasing photons which are tiny particles of electromagnetic radiation. This is known as Solar Radiation or often, solar for short. Solar panels are made to harness this energy and turn it into electricity for us to use.
While your solar panels are just taking it easy up on your roof, minding their own business the minute the sun comes out, they are ready to rock and roll. These panels are made from silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells. When sunlight hits the panels it razzes these cells up, exciting them which then in turn creates electricity.
This is known as the Photovoltaic Effect. The Photovoltaic Effect is the generation of electricity when something is exposed to sunlight.
That is what your panels do every day. They have sunlight hit them, then the cells they are made of get excited and the by-product is electricity.
However, at this stage you have useless electricity. The electricity created by your panels is known as DC or direct current. The electricity everything needs to work in your home is AC or alternating current, so in steps the solar inverter.
The solar inverter attached to your panel takes in DC current and converts it into AC current that can then power your home and feed back into the grid.
And that’s it. The simple beauty of renewable energy.
How do solar panels save you money?
Solar saves you money by generating energy from the sun which in turn can be used by you in your home. Any additional energy can be sold back into the grid and you will receive a feed in tariff for every kW you produce, or you can opt to store in a solar battery.
