It seems like the topic of alternative energy is on everyone’s minds today. Like many people, you may see the benefits of solar panel installation Austin to save money on your electricity bills, but if you haven’t done extensive research, you may not understand the ins and outs of solar power generation. This is what you should know.
Solar Power Components
Each solar power system has several major components. The solar panels themselves have silicon, copper, gallium, selenide or indium in them. Silicon is the most efficient material, but it is an expensive process to create high-quality silicon panels. The panel also has a metal plate that conducts the energy through wires and to an inverter.
Your inverter converts the direct current power your panel creates into alternating current, which is what you use in your home. Without an inverter, you could not use the power your panels produce. You may also have battery systems that store any electricity that you do not use, or you may have your system hooked up to the electrical grid so you can share the power. Some jurisdictions pay you for the extra power you produce while others do not.
How Energy Is Generated and Transferred
Light or solar radiation is electromagnetic radiation, and this radiation covers the entire earth when the sun hits it. However, the amount of this radiation differs based on location and time of the year. Basic photovoltaic cells in solar panels absorb sunlight and build a charge from the radiation. What happens is that the sun produces photons, which when absorbed into the panel, cause the release of electrons. This release creates a charge.
The charge released from the electron is a direct current form of electricity. The panel’s wiring can capture and transport this electrical charge into an inverter that produces alternating current. Then this current runs through your home’s electrical wiring.
How Energy Gets Converted
As you research solar installers near me, they can tell you more about the specifics of energy conversion, but here are the basics. The DC current moves through an inverter. These devices have an H-bridge that changes the voltage polarity of the electrical load. When the DC current flows through this bridge, the bridge causes this power flow to alternate, producing AC.
The inversion process is very fast. It can occur thousands of times every second, so during your panel’s greatest efficiency, when the sun is the most direct and intense, your inverter can handle the conversion efficiently.
How Energy Is Stored
If you can only capture solar energy when the sun is out, you may wonder how you can use what you capture after the sun goes down. In most cases, your inverter gets connected to the grid electrical system, and the energy flows back and forth as you produce and use it. However, you can also store this energy in battery systems made of lead-acid, flow, nickel-cadmium or lithium-ion. The most common battery is a lithium-ion variety.
Now that you understand some of the basics of solar power generation, consider searching for solar installers near me to learn more from experts who work closely with the technology.