Solar Panels Explained: How Do They Work?

While solar panels have become good alternative energy sources used for roadside signs and rooftops, how exactly do they work?

Solar Energy

Solar panels are mainly powered by solar energy, which originates from the sun. Solar energy results from a process known as nuclear fusion, USA Today reports.

The resultant solar energy is released in particle or wave form. This, then, moves across the solar system. According to National Geographic, energy, light, and heat are all kinds of electromagnetic radiation.

The Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy adds that each Earth region receives a varied amount of sunlight in a year. Nevertheless, solar technologies capture the solar radiation and convert it into useful energy.

Solar energy plays a huge role in sustaining various things, from wind to weather to plants to animals. Other kinds of renewable energy include geothermal energy, ocean energy, hydropower, bioenergy, and wind energy, the United Nations notes.

How Solar Panels Work

Moving forward, solar panels, or PV panels, operate by allowing light particles, or photons, to knock electrons free of atoms. This allows electricity to flow. They turn sunlight into electricity.

The Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy also explains that the sunlight that hits the surface of the planet every one and a half hours is sufficient to power the Earth for an entire year.

Per Live Science, solar panels contain tinier units known as photovoltaic cells, or PV cells. With such cells, sunlight is converted into electricity. Each one produces roughly one to two watts worth of power.

Each PV cell contains both positive and negative receptors. The Proceedings National Graduate Conference 2012 also added that PV cells typically consist of silicon, which is also used for microelectronics.

When the PV cells get hit with sunlight, they expel electrons from semiconductors. This results in an electrical current. The cell's negative and positive sides then collect the electricity as it flows out.

The quantity of electricity produced depends on the number of PV cells in each solar panel. When more PV cells are present, more electricity is produced.

According to an Organic Electronics study, researchers were able to make flexible and extremely thin solar cells that have a thickness of 1.3 microns. They are also 20 times lighter compared to a typical sheet of paper. These cells are extremely light, to the point where they can be seated over a bubble of soap and still produce efficient energy amounts. Such flexible and light cells could be applied to aerospace technology, wearable electronics, and architecture.

Live Science adds that there are also different types of solar energy technologies, including concentrated solar power (CSP) and solar thermal power. These technologies could have a different way of operating compared to PV panels. Nevertheless, they still utilize sunlight for electricity generation and heat or air production.

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