How Do Solar Panels Work?

Compare 3 Competitive Quotes From Our Solar Experts

Name

Phone

Building Type

State

Size kW

Postcode

Promocode

You probably already know what solar panels do – but do you know how they work?

The process of turning sunshine into electricity might seem complicated at first, but it’s actually relatively simple when you break the technology down.

The Solar Energy Industries Institute claims that the solar energy industry is expected to double in size in the next five years. Thanks to this growing popularity, we’ve found that more and more people are interested in a detailed breakdown of the process behind this incredible renewable energy source.

Today, we’re going to explain in detail how solar panels work. We’ll start with the actual science behind it (how they convert sunlight into electricity) and then explain what to expect in your home solar setup.

How Does a Solar Panel Work – The Science

What Is Solar Energy?

Solar energy is energy that’s produced from the sun.

The sun is a natural source of energy, through a variety of processes, most notable nuclear fusion. It’s been producing this energy for billions of years.

Even before humans figured out how to harness this energy through solar energy systems, we’ve been reaping its rewards. In fact, solar energy is the original energy source, allowing us to stay warm, grow crops, and so much more.

The invention of solar panels and the associated solar energy systems have simply given us the ability to capture this same solar energy, in the form of sunlight and solar warmth, but this time convert it into electricity.

Although such technologies were first experimented with as long ago as the 1830s, by famous solar physicist John Herschel, it’s only been in the past few decades that solar energy has been truly refined into an incredibly useful product.

What Is a Solar Panel Made of?

A solar cell is also known as a photovoltaic solar cell (sometimes shortened to PV cell).

A photovoltaic solar panel is made up of hundreds and hundreds of photovoltaic solar cells.

These photovoltaic cells are typically constructed from silicone. They contain both a positive and a negative layer.

In this way, these cells are similar in their construction to semiconductors, including their creation of an electric field thanks to the positive and negative layers.

The electric field is created in much the same way as a magnetic field, such as the large magnetic field that spans the earth between the two poles.

To create the positive and negative layer required to create an electric field, most solar cells contain a variety of other materials in addition to silicone. These materials include phosphorus for the positive layer and boron for the negative layer.

Although silicone, phosphorus, and boron are largely responsible for converting sunlight into electricity, a variety of other materials are used in the construction of a solar panel to help make this energy usable.

Metal conductive plates surrounding the solar panels help capture this newly created electricity before transferring it to electrical wires. This solar electricity can now be used in the same way as any other electricity source.

Solar Cells and Electrical Circuit

So, how does a solar panel collect the energy from the sun, create an electrical field, and convert this into usable electricity?

It starts with photons from the sun entering the atmosphere and hitting the photovoltaic cells. As each photon hits the cells, they knock electrons loose from their respective atoms.

These loose electrons then create an electrical field thanks to the positive (phosphorous) and negative (boron) layers in the solar panel.

The electrons flowing through this electrical field enable the solar panel to act similarly to a semiconductor. The flow of the electrons through the newly established electrical circuit begin to generate electricity.

This electricity is then captured by the conductive components in the solar panel before they’re routed into the rest of the solar energy system.

Solar Cell Cross Section

Generating Electricity

The electricity created by a solar cell is direct current (DC) electricity.

However the homes and businesses in Australia (and all other countries) are wired for alternating current AC electricity.

For this reason, the DC electricity originally created in a solar cell must be turned into AC electricity through the use of a solar inverter.

To learn about the science behind how solar panels work, take a look at the video below. This will give you a good idea of the physics behind how the panels’ components and construction converts sunlight into electrical energy.

The video below gives great insight into the science behind the properties of a solar panel and how it converts sunlight into electricity.

The Role of a Solar Inverter

A solar inverter is the piece of your solar energy system that converts the DC electricity into AC electricity.

Not only does a solar inverter convert DC into AC, but it also keeps track of all the important information related to the solar system, including voltage, current, power production, and more.

For this reason, most experts consider the solar inverter as the brain of the solar energy system.

Traditional solar energy systems used a single central solar inverter. This inverter converted all the electricity passing through the entirety of the solar system at a single point.

Today, many of the newest solar energy systems utilise an Optimiser on every individual solar panel. Optimisers regulate the voltage of each solar panel to increase the output of the solar energy system.

With individual micro-inverters, an entire solar panel can stop functioning without interrupting the rest of the system.

Storage in Solar Batteries

Batteries to store solar energy aren’t as popular as you might think.

By December 2018 there were over 2 million homes and businesses in Australia with solar panels but only 12,700 had battery storage. That means approximately 1 in 5 homes have solar panels but only 1 in 750 have battery storage.

The majority of solar energy systems in Australia are connected to the normal electricity grid.

This has two benefits. First, it enables excess solar electricity to feed back into the power grid, often for a credit on your energy bill. Second, it enables you to draw electricity from the grid when you need more electricity than your solar panels are able to produce.

This process of giving away extra electricity and taking needed electricity from the power grid is billed through a process known as net metering.

An alternative to net metering is to use your own battery. This is most common for households with solar energy systems in remote areas or that are attempting to live “off the grid.”

With the price of battery storage falling it won’t be long before anyone installing solar panels will also install battery storage.

When a solar battery i