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WHAT ARE SOLAR PANELS? HOW DO THEY WORK'?'

Solar panels, also known as photovoltaic (light electricity) systems or PV’s, are designed simply to convert sunlight (and in some cases, daylight also) into electrical energy through the photovoltaic effect. Solar panels are a clean and very environmentally sound method of collecting and utilising solar energy.

Each solar panel (PV panel) comprises of a group of solar cells made from semi- conductive materials, such as crystalline silicon, and subsequently layered which is designed to efficiently absorb light energy (photons). If crystalline silicon is not used then it is likely to be a thin film cell based on cadmium telluride or silicon, a commonly used semi-conductor. Lots of small solar cells spread over a large area can work together to provide enough power to be useful. The more light that hits a cell, the more electricity it produces.

Most solar panels have a clear protective layer on top, a few conductive cell layers, and on the bottom, a layer of polymer backing.

The top layers are treated to be electrically negative and the bottom to be positively charged which causes electrons to travel from the bottom to the top layer. When they pass through electrical contact in the top layer a full circuit is created and power is made.

Solar panels are place on the side of your home which receives the most sunlight for the most consistent amount of time. 6 hours of exposure is the minimum you would want to have, but for the actual transfer of energy, solar panels are greatly effective and can really save you a lot of money.

In order to maximise the effects the solar panels should be:

• Well protected against handling damage during installation
• Protected against hail and high wind impact and snow loads
• Moisture protected to avoid corrosion which would decrease performance

Diodes are included to avoid overheating of cells in case of partial shading (See installation tips page). Cell heating reduces the operating efficiency, so good installers try to provide good ventilation behind the module.

What are solar hot water panels?

Some systems are designed to create electricity whilst others may be function specific.

Solar hot water panels are still usually roof mounted in order to attract direct sunlight but harness the suns energy is a slightly different way. They each have a darkly coated absorber plate and have small water circulation tubes.

The solar hot water heater (solar array) uses solar energy to heat a fluid which moves the heat generated to heat a storage tank.

A heat exchanger released heat and circulates the cooled water back to the solar hot water array to be reheated. This cycle of heating, energy utilization, and cooling is begun anew with each sunrise and lasts throughout the day for the effective life of the solar hot water heater.

Solar hot water heaters are composed of a several hot water panel units, and can be fully automated systems.

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