We see them adorning the roofs of houses, buildings, hospitals, and public installations. You know them, environmentalists love them: solar panels. However, as much as solar energy is in the popular discourse and solar panels are prevalent, the understanding behind the actual functioning is less prevalent. What makes solar panels work? Is it light or temperature that makes the solar panel work the way it does generate electricity. We’ll break down the functioning of your average solar panel, and look into some of the best solar panels in Pakistan and the best solar company in Islamabad. We see them adorning the roofs of houses, buildings, hospitals, and public installations. You know them, environmentalists love them: solar panels.
However, as much as solar energy is in the popular discourse and solar panels are prevalent, the understanding behind the actual functioning is less prevalent. What makes solar panels work? Is it light or temperature that makes the solar panel work the way it does generate electricity. We’ll break down the functioning of your average solar panel, and look into some of the best solar panels in Pakistan and the best solar company in Islamabad.
Many misconceptions exist about solar panels; aside from the many people who simply chalk it up to magic, there are a lot of people who tend to connect solar panels with sunlight, and while to the uninformed, making that connection is easy and somehow stands to reason and logic, the simple matter of fact is that light has relatively little to do with the functioning of solar panels. The least likely of the whole bunch, temperature, is what essentially drives the entire functioning of the solar panel, but not in the way you might think. A little lesson in chemistry is needed, and after that, we’ll look at the best solar panels in Pakistan and the best solar company in Rawalpindi and Islamabad .
How do solar panels work?
Solar panels operate on the principle of polar electricity, i.e., oppositely charged atoms lose electrons, which in turn become the primary source of electric energy. The temperature and the accompanying heat are in the equation as catalysts, as they help the reaction of charged atoms lose their electrons. The whole process will be documented below, in easy-to-understand terms and concepts so that the basic functioning of solar panels is known to a wide audience.
Basic functioning of a solar panel
A solar panel is made of thin wafers of silicon sandwiched together, usually with another element, however, a good majority of them only have silicon, which also happens to be the main powering component for a lot of other electronics.
What happens is that a layer of silicon and another element (usually phosphorus and boron) are used to create negative and positive layers. This doesn’t cause any blasts or anything, but it does set up the perfect reaction once sunlight reaches the panel. Once a photon (smallest part of the sunlight) gets to the PV cell, it excites the electron, which breaks free of the atomic bonding; electrons like this form the DC current which is generated by the solar panel.
Once this DC current gets to the inverter, it is then converted to AC (alternating current) by the solar inverter. This process is imperative; household appliances and devices use AC, and to make this energy usable, solar inverters do the real job.
Where does temperature come in then? Well, like it has been stated beforehand, temperature and the heat from the sunlight acts as the catalyst; temperature is the real reason why solar panels operate at maximum efficiency, which could help explain why people think there is a direct correlation between sunlight and energy generation from solar panels; the sunlight itself has little to do with energy generation.
The more direct sunlight you get to the PV module, the higher the temperature on the surface of the panel, and therefore, more electricity will be generated. Which is you will always see solar panels mounted at such an angle that direct sunlight hits them when the sun is at the peak (i.e noon and some part of afternoon). The temperature at that time is the highest, and it contributes to the efficient functioning and power generation of the solar panel.
Best solar panels in Pakistan: where to get them?
Now that you know how a solar panel works, you’ll know better which panel and which solar energy system to get once you enter the market; knowing the basic principle will help you understand which panel is more effective and efficient at generating power. Beacon Energy, one of the best solar companies in Islamabad, has the best solar panels in Pakistan that accompanies their best-in-class solar energy systems, designed to ensure maximum energy generation and savings, geared towards the Pakistani weather and energy consumption trends.