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Photovoltaic Electricity Panels |
Generating electricity for the home by installing photovoltaic panels isn't a new idea, and is becoming increasingly more and more common in recent years. It appears a terrific project to implement, and of course it is, but a little research and a great project plan is vital before beginning. Photovoltaic solar panels can be purchased in different sizes, from only two or three watts of power, to three or four hundred watts. The power delivered from the panel is determined by it's area, therefore a panel giving a bigger amounts of electrical energy is going to be much larger in area. An individual photovoltaic panel comprises many tiny cells which produce a little quantity of electricity - the more cells there are, then the more electricity is produced. On the downside, one of the biggest issues associated with photovoltaic panels is the price, which is decided by the production process, the basic material, and the given efficiency of the solar transformation process. |
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The cells forming the photovoltaic solar panels are really atype of crystal which is manufactured in the shape of an extended tube or cylinder, and then sliced. Small slices of the crystal are electrically connected, fixed flat on a stiff board, and durable glass or resin compound protects the construction. At the back of each panel there is an electrical compartment with several terminals, the exact arrangement depending on the output voltage range of the solar panel. Panels can be bought for voltage ranges between 12 and 24 volts dc. DC means 'direct current', which is the kind of electricity used in a car battery, and in the little batteries that power electrical appliances. Any photovoltaic system has to have a specially designed control system for transforming power into alternating current, the kind of electricity used in our houses. The control pack also converts the voltage to equal the normal supply voltage. It's unfortunate that solar photovoltaic panels are 13% efficient on average, which signifies that if one thousand watts of energy reaches the panel, just one hundred and thirty watts of power will be produced for real use. Engineers are continually striving to better this ratio, and some successes have been achieved with some panels coming close to twenty percent efficiency, but as you might guess, the price goes up accordingly. Some day soon there will be a major advance, which could represent abundant energy for mankind without destroying the environment. The power that can be extracted from sunshine varies a lot, depending on where you live, but let's say that the average enrgy available is about one thousand watts a square meter, and the panels just transform thirteen percent of this number, then we need a system of solar panels with a complete area of about eight square meters to produce one thousand watts of electricity, which is quite low. However, maybe a more practical way of using photovoltaic electricity panels could be by buying the smaller types used in small-power appliances.
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