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What are Photovoltaics or PV’s? – From MySolarPower

Solar electricity is, in simple terms, produced from the sunlight via a process which we call solar photovoltaics or PV’s. The term Photovoltaic is a combination of photo which means light, and voltaic refers to the production of electricity – electricity from light.

Photovoltaics or PV’s are arrays (or multiples) of cells containing solar photovoltaic materials (such as monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon’s, cadmium telluride etc), and these cells convert solar power into electricity in the form of DC (direct current) – The system will consist of components designed to regulate and/or modify the electrical output.

Electricity is formed from the existence of electrons (negatively charged particles), and semi-conductors can be adapted to release these electrons when they are exposed to light – as seen above, silicon is one of the commonest semi-conductor hence their use in PV arrays.

All PV cells have a minimum of two semiconductor layers, at least one is negatively charged and at least one is positively charged and once light falls on the semi-conductor the electricity flows between the two layers – the more light – the greater the flow. The electricity may be used directly, stored, or fed back into the National Grid. As the technology and awareness increases there is also now a growing trend to venture into hybrid systems which connect also with other sources of power.

PV cells come in many shapes, sizes and colours, from grey solar tiles, to the common solar panels, to transparent solar cells that can be used on conservatories and glass.

With the ever increasing interest and demand for renewable energy so too has risen the demand for photovoltaic arrays – up by at least 20% year on year since 2002 which actually brings it to the level of the worlds fastest growing energy technology. As the volume and advances in understanding has increased, the cost has declined, and the incentives to install are the greater since government support has been demonstrated with schemes such as feed-in tariffs.

An important factor when considering Photovoltaic installations has to be site location, which will require as much light as possible and as little shading as possible – simply – the more light – the greater the level of solar energy generated. Even minor shading results in significant energy losses, so if shading is unavoidable then the best PV types to use are amorphous thin-film or multi-crystalline thick film.

Even if the sun is not out PV can still generate a certain amount of electricity, because they are also capable of diffusing solar radiation - light that has been scattered by dust and water particles into the atmosphere, however all it can do at night is store the energy but not produce it.

Benefits of PV systems

Reducing your carbon footprint
Reduction in fuel bills
Sell electricity back to the grid
Store power to use later
Systems can be designed
Can be used for either centralised or distributed power generation
Low maintenance
Modular
Energy independent

Possible disadvantages

Initial set up costs can still be high
Requires capital investment where linking to conventional energy often does not
Can be a long capital recovery rate
Surface area requirements for PV arrays may be too limiting
Location of property can be a problem
Can be problematic if in listed buildings, conservation areas etc

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