By Ray Boreham
The principles of solar energy start with the sun. The sun has been around at least as long as the earth and has been supplying solar energy to the earth all that time. The sun is the basis for all life here on earth and man has devised many ingenious ways over the centuries to take advantage of the free energy supplied by the sun.
Today solar energy is front and centre in the battle being waged to combat the effects of carbon emissions in particular and global warming in general.
Here is a guide to understanding the principles of solar energy.
1. Collect Sunlight And Convert to DC Electricity
Solar panels are used to collect the sun’s light, which is then converted to DC (direct current) electricity via the photovoltaic (PV) effect. The PV effect involves a small amount of silicon reacting with sunlight to create a small electrical charge. In solar panels, cells made up of silicon and electrical components are wired together to produce a pre-determined amount of DC electricity.
2. Convert DC Electricity to AC Electricity
Since DC electricity is not usable for household appliances, it must be converted to AC (alternating current). The piece of equipment used to do this is known as an inverter. An inverter consists of integrated circuits, transistors and transformers that use a multi-step process to convert the electricity. There are various types of inverter, but the one most commonly used is the sine wave inverter since this produces a waveform that can be used to operate sensitive electronic equipment.
3. Off-grid or Grid-tied?
The location determines the type of solar electric system needed. If the location is remote, an off-grid system is needed, which needs to supply electricity constantly, which means that a battery or battery bank is needed to store electricity to be used at night or when the cloud cover is thick.
A grid-tied system is, as the name suggests, integrated with the utility grid, and electricity from the inverter is fed into the grid and either pulled back into the home to power appliances or sold back to the utility. This is known as net-metering.
4. Grid-tied with Battery Backup
In order to achieve energy independence, a grid-tied system would need to include a battery backup to store electricity to provide power at night and in times of power outages. The drawback to this type of system is that the battery adds considerably to the cost of the system, but, on the other hand, the opportunity to reduce one’s electricity bill to zero offsets that substantially.
Understanding the principles of solar energy is an important step to take for anyone considering going solar or for anyone interested in learning more about solar energy in general. There is huge interest in solar energy these days, and a massive push to make it more affordable so more people will invest in solar energy as part of the ongoing war to fight the devastating effects of greenhouse gases and global warming on the planet.
Hopefully, this article went some way to helping you understand the principles of solar energy.
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