What are Solar Energy and How Does Solar Energy Works?

We all know that the sun is the major source in terms of providing energy whether the energy is used by the plants or by us. The latest technologies have been now used to capture the sunlight for their own needs and the energy produced by that technology is Solar Energy. To know more about solar energy read the whole blog. Let’s begin with what is solar energy.

What is Solar Energy? 

Solar energy is a renewable source of energy. Solar panels play a major role in producing electricity, it is the main part that converts the sun’s light into usable solar power or solar energy using N-type and P-type semiconductor material.

When sunlight is absorbed by the solar panels, the solar energy collides with the electrons to lose from their atoms, allowing the electrons to flow through the material to produce electricity. This process of converting sunlight i.e. photons to electricity i.e. voltage is named the photovoltaic effect (PV effect).

Nowadays solar panel systems that are available convert most of the visible light spectrum from the sun and about half of the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum to usable solar energy. Solar energy technologies like solar panels use the sun’s energy and light to produce heat, light, hot water, electricity, and even cooling, for homes, businesses, and industries. Various technologies are developed to take advantage of solar energy.

Solar Energy Technologies:

• Photovoltaic Systems — Producing electricity directly from sunlight.
• Solar hot water — heating water with solar power.
• Solar Electricity — Using the sun’s rays that are in the form of heat to produce electricity.
• Passive Solar and Daylighting 

Basic Components of Solar Energy 

Whenever we install a solar power system in our house one question always strikes our mind: “what are the basic components of solar energy?” There are various basic components used in the solar panel system of producing solar energy.

When you start connecting the parts on your roof, it helps to get a good quality solar guide that may walk you step by step through the entire process of building, installing, and fixing your own home solar power system.

For installing a grid-tied solar energy system for your home, nine basic main components will be needed and will be organized in the order during which they will be connected to your home solar energy system.

1. Solar Photovoltaic Panels: Solar panels are also called solar photovoltaic panels which can collect and convert the sun’s rays or its solar energy into solar electricity. They’re a key component of solar panel system installation. Most of the solar panels that are available on the market today are either poly-crystalline or mono-crystalline solar panels. The most popularly used solar panels are monocrystalline solar panels. 

2. Solar Array Mounting Racks: Photovoltaic mounting systems also known as solar array module racking or solar array mounting racks are used to fix solar panels on the surfaces such as on roofs, on the building facades, or the ground.

They fix the position of your solar panels at an angle that is best for capturing the sun’s rays. These solar array mounting racks enable retrofitting of solar panels on roofs or as a part of the structure of the building 

3. Array DC Disconnect: The Array direct current DC disconnect is used to disconnect the solar arrays from the house for maintenance. It’s known as array DC disconnect because the solar arrays generate the DC (direct current) power.

 4. Inverter: Inverters are an important part of a whole solar energy system without the inverters the solar panels will not save energy and the energy can not be used further. Its main purpose is to convert the DC electricity that the solar panels produce into 240V AC electricity, which is what powers everything in your home.

The inverter is a crucial piece of solar energy system equipment that works constantly throughout the lifetime of your system – so it tends to be the piece possibly to have faults.

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5. Battery Pack: Solar energy systems produce electricity during the daytime when the sun is shining but your home demands electricity in the dark at nights and on cloudy days – when the sun isn’t shining. To offset this mismatch, batteries are added to the system.

Batteries help to restore the electricity that is produced in the daytime and can be used further in the night-time or whenever they are needed.

6. System Power Meter: For systems that maintain a tie to the utility grid, the system power meter measures the amount of power used from the grid. In systems designed to sell power to the utility, the system power meter also measures the quantity of power the system sends to the grid.

7. Backup Generator: Backup Generators are for those systems that aren’t tied to the utility grid, a backup generator is used to produce power during times of low system output because of poor weather or high household demand. Homeowners concerned with the environmental impact of generators can install a generator that runs on alternative fuel like biodiesel, instead of gasoline.

 8. Breaker Panel, AC Panel, Circuit Breaker Panel: The circuit breaker panel is where the power source is joined to the electrical circuits in your home. A circuit is a continuous route of connected wire that joins together outlets and lights within the electric system.

For every circuit, there’s a breaker called a circuit breaker. Circuit breakers prevent the appliances on a circuit from drawing an excessive amount of electricity and causing a fire hazard. When the appliances on a circuit demand an excessive amount of electricity, the circuit breaker will turn off or trip, interrupting the flow of electricity.

9. Charge Controller: The charge controllers are also referred to as charge regulators that maintain the correct charging voltage for system batteries. Batteries can be overcharged sometimes if fed continuous voltage. The role of a charge controller is to regulate the voltage, prevent overcharging, and allow charging when required. 

Types of Solar Energy 

Nowadays solar energy is the most popular choice of the consumers because solar energy generates clean green energy that doesn’t harm our environment. Now we all are familiar with the solar panels, how they look like and what they do.

Solar panels or Photovoltaic systems receive the sun rays and convert them to produce electricity. However, there are lots more in solar energy that not only produce electricity but also heats water and cooling. So, here we study the different types of solar energy.

• Photovoltaic solar energy: Photovoltaic solar energy is a photovoltaic effect (or photoelectric effect) that converts light into electricity. The principle of the effect works on an electric current occurs when electrons are displaced. How this happens, when photons (i.e. light particles) excite the outermost electrons of the atoms of the solar panels.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Light or sun rays hitting a solar cell are converted into electricity by a semiconductor, generally silicon. A photovoltaic panel is made from several cells producing direct current DC, which is then converted into alternating current AC by an inverter.

• Thin-film solar cells: This type of technology of solar energy can also be run with the thin-film solar cells which can use small layers of semiconductor materials only a few micrometers thick. This technology has made it possible for solar cells to double as rooftop shingles, the glazing for skylights, roof tiles, building facades, or atria maximizing the use of the available space from where sunlight would be captured. 

• Solar water heating systems: A solar thermal panel is a black surface that absorbs light, heats up, and transfers that heat into a working fluid system. The working fluid moves the heat to an area where it’s useful – perhaps a hot water store, swimming pool, or directly to space heating for a building.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Panels with higher levels of insulation, like a glazed cover above and thermal insulation behind don’t require direct sunshine to work and can collect heat on a cloudy day. Most commonly, the energy is used to produce in low-temperature applications like hot water for laundry, space heating, feeding heat into district heating networks, or providing heat to industrial processes. 

• • Solar power plants: This type of solar energy is generally used in industrial applications. As some of us know that most plants use non-renewable fossil fuels to boil water or for some other work. The heat generated from the burning of fossils is used to rotate turbines and produce electricity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    But the burning of fossil fuels is a bad option although it harms our environment. The best option is to use the sun’s heat which solar power plants do. These plants use the sun’s energy as a heat source to produce electricity. They can do it in three different systems.

• • Parabolic-trough systems: This system captures the sun’s heat into rectangular curved mirrors placed towards the sun. Then the heat transfers to the pipe that contains oil. When the oil is heated, the heat will be further used to boil the water conventional steam generator to produce electricity. 

• • A dish/engine system: This system concentrates the sun’s heat onto a receiver. Then the receiver absorbs the heat and transfers it to the engine that contains fluid. The heat causes the turbine to expand and produces power. Now this power is used to run a generator to produce electricity.

• • A power tower system: This uses a large set of mirrors to capture sunlight onto the top of the tower. A tower contains molten salt. The salt’s heat is used to produce electricity. The salt is in the molten state so that it can retain heat efficiently, hence the heat can be stored and can be used on cloudy days also. 

• Passive solar gain: This type of energy can manage a major amount of the energy demands of a well-designed building in the heating season. The materials used to heat up during the day and slowly release the heat at night when the heat is most needed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Other design features like a sunspace, which resemble greenhouses, concentrate plenty of heat which with the proper ventilation can be used to heat a whole building. These characteristics maximize the direct gains from the sun’s heat but also sunlight itself. 

How does solar energy work? 

Solar energy is the source of generating green energy from the sun’s heat but how does it generate electricity? Here we will find how solar energy works. When it comes to solar energy the process can be summarised in simple five steps:

1. Solar panels captured Sunlight: Solar panels are also known as photovoltaic cells which take sunlight, or photons and convert it to solar electricity. When sunlight hits the solar array, PV cells produce direct current DC electricity.

This is all good, but Direct current DC electricity can’t power your home on its own. This is where other pieces of solar energy equipment take part in making the whole system.

2. Inverters convert into electricity: Now, it’s time for the inverters to work. Some solar energy system configurations have only one inverter (often called a string inverter) for the whole system. Some of the panel systems have a microinverter connected behind each solar panel.

The most important thing to understand about inverters is that they convert direct current DC electricity from solar panels to alternating current (AC) electricity. Now, this is the electricity that powers your home.

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3. Electricity can be used: Solar electricity can be used in homes. Solar electricity runs in your home, and powers your appliances. It works just like your traditional electricity does now, you don’t need to change a thing.

If your solar energy system won’t produce enough energy to fulfill all your electricity needs then don’t worry. You’re joined to the traditional power companies via the grid, so you’ll automatically draw more energy from your utility once you need it.

4. Leftover electricity goes to the grid: It allows you to use the maximum amount of electricity as you would like before sending any excess solar energy to your power service to use. Solar panels generate electricity when the sun is up, but we use electricity at night too, when we’re not producing solar energy. That’s why it’s important to remain connected to the power grid.

5. Solar electricity will be measured: solar electricity will be measured by the net meter. The electricity that is not needed in generation flows through the utility meter and into the utility electrical grid. Because the electricity flows through the meter, it causes the meter to run backward, crediting your property for excess generation. 

Benefits of Solar Energy 

Here are some of the benefits of solar energy that are as follows:

Impact on Environment: Solar energy has the least negative impact on the environment compared to the other energy source. It doesn’t harm our environment to produce greenhouse gases and also doesn’t pollute the water.

It also requires little or no water for its maintenance, unlike nuclear power plants as an example, needing 20 times more water. Solar energy production doesn’t create any kind of noise that causes noise pollution, which is a major benefit, since a lot of solar installations are in urban areas, like domestic solar panels. 

Job Creation: There are so many benefits of solar energy, one of them is job creation. A large part of the cost related to solar systems comes from the installation of the panels. This directly contributes to the local job creation. Using solar energy systems boosts the economy and positively affects the local community by giving them job opportunities for the installation of solar systems. 

Saves Electricity bills: With the help of solar energy you can save generating your electricity using solar energy systems means you’ll be using less from the utility supplier. This may immediately translate to savings on your energy bill.

You can also sell the unused electricity, which you have generated, back to the grid. Through solar array grants offered, you’ll make your green investment even more beneficial. a lot on your electricity bills as they are very effective in producing electricity.

Energy production in peak hours: Energy demand tends to be higher in the mid-day time-frame and then early in the evening. This is the period when the height of the electricity peaks. Solar energy is expected to reach its maximum production capacity during those hours.

Electricity produced at that point has a higher value than if it had been generated at night. With the extra electricity input of solar energy, prices in those time frames might be driven down to a level close to those of night hours.

Applicable everywhere: Solar energy is applicable everywhere, as long as there is sunlight, solar energy will continue to be produced. This is particularly useful for remote regions where there is no access to the other source of electricity.

There’s an enormous amount of people and villages around the world with no access to electricity. Independent solar systems can be installed in those regions and improve the lives of many people. 

Uses of solar energy 

Let’s understand the uses of solar energy. Here are follows:

• Solar Electricity: This is one of the biggest solar power applications that has gained millions of momentum in recent years. As solar panels convert solar energy into electricity that can be used in home appliances to light up the lights, switch on the fans, and many more. Solar electricity is becoming increasingly accessible and cost-effective. 

• Solar Water Heating: Solar water heating is now the popular use of solar energy to heat the water at home or the swimming pool. Water is circulated to the water heating system where it is heated by the sunlight and then pumped back into the pool. 

• Solar Heating: The uses of solar heating systems include powering radiant floors or pairing with a Forced Hot Air system to heat your whole home. The use of passive solar home design can also heat homes and businesses in the winter season by taking into consideration the position of windows and also the selection of materials used in the building. 

• Solar Ventilation: Solar ventilation is a perfect solution for example solar attic fans can reduce the burden of your HVAC by helping to cool your home during the summer season. Commercial and industrial applications of solar process heat include solar ventilation technologies that may preheat a building’s air in cold climates, reducing energy costs. 

• Solar Lighting: Solar lights have now been found everywhere from home lighting to security lights to road signs and solar street lights. These solar lighting technologies are very popular for your home and are inexpensive and readily available from basic to high-end designs everywhere. 

Advantages of Solar Energy 

Here are the advantages of solar energy are:

• Solar energy is a renewable source of energy. It can be accessed as long as we have the sun, and the sun is always available.
• Solar energy will help you to reduce your electricity bills by producing green electricity. As you have your generating electricity then what is the use of other electricity.
• Solar energy systems have a low maintenance cost, it requires only one-time Investment at installation and gets the benefits for a lifetime with very low maintenance charges.
• Technology has been developed continuously and the solar energy system is also developing just like now we have the solar lighting system, solar ventilation, solar water heating system and maybe solar transportation in future.
• Solar energy can be generated in any climate whether it is cloudy, rainy, or any climate change. 

Disadvantages of Solar Energy 

The disadvantages of solar energy are:

• The initial cost of installation of solar energy systems is quite high. The whole cost includes paying for solar panels individually, inverters, batteries, wiring, plus the installation charges.
• Although solar energy can be generated in any climate during cloudy and rainy days the efficiency of the solar system drops and it produces the energy in small amounts.
• Solar energy has to be used directly, or it can be stored in large batteries. These batteries, used in off-the-grid solar systems, are often charged during the day so that the energy is used at night. This is a good solution for using solar power all day long but it’s also quite expensive.
• This is a big disadvantage that the solar energy system uses a lot of space. If you want to collect more electricity, the more you will need a solar panel and the more space you will need.
• There are some toxic materials and hazardous products used in the manufacturing process of solar PV systems, which can indirectly affect the environment.

Conclusion 

Solar energy is a renewable source that produces green electricity with the help of the sun’s heat. Solar energy system includes Solar Photovoltaic Panels, Solar Array Mounting Racks, Array DC Disconnect, System Power Meter, Battery Pack, Backup Generator, Inverter, etc. There are various types of solar energy that are used in different applications like solar water heating system is used to boil the water, solar electricity is used to produce electricity, etc.

Solar panels first capture sunlight with the use of photovoltaic cells, then transfer the heat into the inverters, the inverters convert the direct current DC into alternating current AC electricity. Now the electricity can be used at homes. Solar energy is the best renovation option that everyone should do to renovate their homes, schools, offices, residential area, etc.