PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR ENERGY

Solar energy is the most abundant renewable energy in the world. The sun is the prime source of
the energy. The energy is produced in the nucleus of the sun through the process of nuclear
fusion. Where two atoms collide to produce huge amount of energy.
The energy generation from the sun is done in five ways; one photovoltaic solar energy, two
concentrated solar energy, three water heating solar energy, four solar pool heating and five is
thermal solar energy.
Will have an in-depth study of how the photovoltaic cell generates energy from the sunlight
energy through semiconducting materials and converts it to power and it is used by homes,
offices etc…
A single photovoltaic panel is called a solar cell. A solar cell is very small, it converts solar
radiation in to electrical energy and produces about 1 or 2 watts of power. The sunlight that is
received varies in different parts of planet earth according to geographic location, time of day,
season, local landscape and weather. Since earth is spherical in shape, the sun hits the surface of
the planet at different angles, ranging from 0 degree (just above the horizon) to 90 degree
(directly overhead). At 90 degree the surface of the planet gets the maximum energy form the
sun.
The shape of the planet is spherical, along the middle part of it sticks out and going towards the
north and south pole it goes inwards. This affects the even distribution of the sunlight across the
globe. The north and South Pole receives little sunlight compared to the regions along the
equator and the tropical regions. The sun rays scattered as the earth rotates around the sun, the
inclination of the surface of the planet as it rotates can have some effect on the planets absorption
of the suns energy also.
The solar cells are made up of different semiconductors and its thickness is less than the
thickness of four human hairs. To withstand the natural hazards it is coated with glasses and
protective materials. To produce more power the solar cells are connected in to chains to form
large units called modules or panels.
Several solar panels or modules can be connected to form arrays or solar system to generate
much more power. Most homes has around 30 modules at their rooftops for maximum power
consumption.

How does a solar cell works

The process solar cell uses to generate electric current is called photovoltaic effect, it was first
discovered in 1839 by Edmond Becquerel. He first discovered by doing experiments on wet
cells, He found out that the voltage of the cell increased when the silver plates were exposed to
sunlight. The photovoltaic effect occurs in solar cells.
 The solar cell is made up of two different types of semiconductor- A semiconductor is an
element or compound that conduct electricity under some conditions but not others. It acts as
conductor and an insulator at the same time, this property helps it to convert sunlight rays to
electron current (electrons). There are many semiconductors; antimony, arsenic, boron, carbon,
germanium, selenium, silicon, sulfur and tellurium. Silicon is the most abundant in the world so
it is widely used. 002The silicon is doped with other elements like boron and phosphorous to
form then P-type and N-type semiconductor that are joined together to form p-n junction

When this two junction joined an electric field is created. The electrons moves towards the
positive p-side and holes - missing electrons moves towards the negative n-side. The electric
field created causes the negatively charged particles to move in one direction while the positively
charged particles to move on the other direction creating depletion region-region of neutral
atoms moving around..
Sunlight carries photons- small bundles of electromagnetic radiation or energy. When the sun
light hits the solar cell, the photons is absorbed and the energy is transferred to the atom
(electrons) of the semiconducting material in the p-n junction. This causes the electron to be in
an excited state, which makes them to jump to a higher energy state called conduction band-is
the band of electrons orbitals that electrons can jump up into from the valence band (outermost
electron orbital) when excited. The movement of electrons creates two charge carriers, an
electron–hole pair.

When the electrons move to the p type layer, it creates holes, which moves towards the n-type
layer in the presence of electric field in the p-n junction it creates electric current in the cell.
Connections of photovoltaic system to homes:

The electric current produced in the solar panels is transferred to the PV charge controller, which
controls the amount the charge that will go into the battery for storage, it takes 5-8 hours with
constant sunlight to charge the normal solar battery. From the battery it passes to DC-AC
inverter/charger that is usable current for household appliances and other machines that uses
power to do work.
All in all the energy from the sun is converted through the process of photovoltaic effect. A solar
cell is joined together to form a panel to produce the maximum power output for usage. Solar
panels can be connected into arrays to produce huge amount of power that can be used by many
homes, offices etc… The power output depends mostly on how much energy it receives from the
sun during the day. The solar energy is environment friendly and it is one of the solutions to
address the issue of global warming and climate change around the world. The global warming is
mostly caused by non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil fuels and natural gas. They
produce greenhouse gases such carbon dioxide, which traps sun’s heat from escaping into the
atmosphere thus cause global warming and climate change.
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