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Question

How electricity is generated in solar panels ?

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Solution

Solar-powered photovoltaic (PV) panels convert the sun's rays into electricity by exciting electrons in silicon cells using the photons of light from the sun. This electricity can then be used to supply renewable energy to your home or business.

Solar photovoltaic cells consist of a positive and a negative film of silicon placed under a thin slice of glass. As the photons of the sunlight beat down upon these cells, they knock the electrons off the silicon. The negatively-charged free electrons are preferentially attracted to one side of the silicon cell, which creates an electric voltage that can be collected and channeled. This current is gathered by wiring the individual solar panels together in series to form a solar photovoltaic array. Depending on the size of the installation, multiple strings of solar photovoltaic array cables terminate in one electrical box, called a fused array combiner. Contained within the combiner box are fuses designed to protect the individual module cables, as well as the connections that deliver power to the inverter. The electricity produced at this stage is DC (direct current) and must be converted to AC (alternating current) suitable for use in your home or business.

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Sunlight is a form of energy consisting of invisible particles called photons, that have energy, but zero rest mass. Maybe laying off the coffee for a few days would help. When photons come in contact with other particles, energy expands in several ways depending on the kind of atoms they touch. Most times, heat is generated when this happens. Like Paris would say, “That’s hot!”

On the other hand, electricity is produced when electrons circle atoms2, the reasoning behind why photovoltaic cells contain materials with different electrical charges. See, when the Sun hits a silicon crystal, the electrons inside of it begin to jump up and down. And eventually, some of them become so charged up, they break free and move more freely. The n-type silicon electrons seek out the ones in p-type silicon to replace the missing electrons within their atoms — producing an electrical current from the motion of these electrons.


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