The sun is unlimited source of energy, scientifics describe it as a natural nuclear reactor. Solar energy can be converted to various kinds of energies, such as thermal energy, electrical energy, chemical energy so on. Which are essential to our live, and we cannot live without it.
The sun releases very tiny energy packets called photons. These photons come from the sun to the earth in approx eight-nine minutes. In theory, the number/volume of photons incident on the earth per hour is enough to meet the world's energy needs for one year. Imagine how much energy we get from the sun!
In recent years, solar energy became an important source of generating electricity via photovoltaic system implementation which mainly depend on solar panels. The solar photovoltaic system has become the fast-growing electrical energy source, as its technology is growing quickly in improving the efficiency and reducing the prices.
How does the solar panel work?
The solar panels consist of a number of solar cells. When the sun photons hit the solar cell, the electrons in atoms outer shell will be lost, and there will be abundant of free electrons in each cell. If conductors are connected to negative and positive side of the solar cell, an electrical circuit will be formed, and consequently an electrical current will follow if the circuit is closed (electricity generation).
As mentioned, that number of solar cells connected to each other will form the solar panel power inverter (called module as well). And also, connecting a number of solar panels in series with each other will form solar string, then connecting number of solar stings in parallel will form the solar array which represents final solar panels system. So, the more solar panels we use, the larger solar array we get and of course, the higher electrical energy we can get form the solar system.
Solar Panel efficiency:
It’s the ability of solar panel to convert sun lights to usable electricity, so the higher efficient solar panel will produce more electricity. This efficiency will be affected by solar cells composition, electrical connections, ambient temperatures and many other factors.
If We have two solar panels with the same size, but one has an efficiency of 22% and the other has an efficiency of 13%, this means the 22% efficiency panel will produce approx. 50% increase in electricity generation in comparison to the 13% efficiency one. Thus, choosing the high efficiency solar panel has very significant impact in solar array electricity harvest.
