Solar

How Solar Works How a PV cell makes electricity, Powering Homes and Businesses with Solar Under the sun, a photovoltaic cell acts as a photosensitive diode that instantaneously converts light but not heat into electricity. Cell Layers A top, phosphorus-diffused silicon layer carries free electrons un-anchored particles with negative charges. A thicker, boron doped bottom layer contains holes, or absences of electrons, that also can move freely. In effect, precise manufacturing has instilled an electronic imbalance between the two layers. Sun Activation

• Photons from the sun bombard and penetrate the cell.
• They activate electrons, knocking them loose in both silicon layers.Some electrons in the bottom layer slingshot to the top of the cell.
• These electrons flow into metal contacts as electricity, moving into a circuit throughout a 60- 72 cell module.
• Electrons flow back into the cell via a solid contact layer at the bottom, creating a closed loop or circuit.
• Current leaving a module, or array of modules, passes through a wire conduit leading to an inverter. This device (about the shape of a waffle iron) inverts direct current, which flows with a fixed current and voltage, into alternating current, which flows with oscillating current and voltage. Appliances worldwide operate on AC.

From the inverter, the solar-generated power feeds into circuitry of a household, business or power plant and onto the region's electrical grid. A remote, or independent, power system also can form a self-contained circuit without connecting to the grid. The off-grid system, however, requires batteries. Inverters are the heart of every PV plant technologically; the inverter is the most important component of a PV plant, because it converts the direct current generated in the photovoltaic cells into alternating current compliant with the grid requirements for self-consumption or feed-in to the power distribution grid. As an intelligent system manager, it also monitors both the PV array and the power distribution grid. SMA inverters already perform important grid management functions, which are becoming increasingly important as electricity production from renewable sources grows. SMA has been developing leading technological solutions and pioneering trends in this area for years and is driving future-oriented topics. For instance, these include intelligent energy management at a household level, grid integration of solar power and connecting storage facilities for more effective use of renewable energy. Contact us for more information on Solar Energy Savings!