solar panels

Most people are familiar with solar panels and have seen them on the roofs of houses or free standing in open spaces.

Solar panels are often thought of as a modern invention, however the idea was developed in the early 1950s when it was discovered at Bell Telephone that silicon creates an electric charge when exposed to sunlight.  This led to it being used in photovoltaic cells that make up solar panels.

Basically the way it works is the sunlight hits the cells the cells absorb the energy and then the energies drained off through metal contacts on the cell.  This conversion of light into electricity is what gives the photovoltaics (photo meaning light and voltaic meaning energy) its name.  These cells are positioned next to each other and combined on a
support system to make the actual solar panel.  Solar panels with more and better quality cells will produce a higher output of energy.

The size of a solar panel isn’t the only factor that determines how much energy it absorbs.  The insolation or amount of solar radiation it receives will also have an effect on how much energy a panel will produce.  A lot of things can affect the solar insolation that your panel receives.  Does it have an unobstructed view of the sun all day?  Is it situated so that the sun shines on it directly?  How cloudy is it in your area?

All these things have a direct effect on how efficient your solar panels will work.  Even your geographical location can have an effect – for example, the southwestern area of the US has a much higher insolation index in the south eastern or central areas.  This means that solar panels located in the SouthWestern US will work a lot more efficiently than those in the South East.

Solar panels work best when they are pointed directly at the sun and have an unobstructed view.  The angle and position of the panels will have a direct effect on the amount of energy they can collect.  You can optimise efficiency by using rotating mounts that allow your panel to follow the path of the sun so that the sunlight is always shining directly on the face of the panel.

If you are considering installing a solar power system, then you need to consider where you are going to position the solar panels.  The most common place is on the roof which is usually very convenient, however if your roof isn’t South facing then this may not be the best place for them.  An alternative idea is to have pole mounted and ground panels.

The key is to make sure that you face the panels for optimum sunlight so that they are working as efficiently as they can be and collecting as much energy as possible.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 3:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.