PV Gap

Darren Said:

Parts needed to build a solar panel?

We Answered:

Most likely, your local power utility will prohibit you from connecting homemade panels to their grid, but if you had a commercial panel, you would use a grid-tied inverter such as shown here http://www.enphaseenergy.com/ . If you had an array of 10 or more panels, it would usually be cheaper to get a single, large inverter.

The usual path taken with homemade panels seems to be using them to charge a battery, then running things of the battery. And it's usually a fun thing to do, but not a way to save money. Just so you know.

Amy Said:

what are the parts of a solar panel?

We Answered:

A solar panel is just a collection of solar cells all wired up in parallel and series to provide a useful voltage. Typical solar cells only provide half a volt, maybe less, so usually you put 12 of them together to get a 6v solar panel or 24 of them to get a 12v panel.

Solar cells are made in various ways, the most popular are silicon solar cells which are made with a chunk of silicon with a P-N junction in the middle and contacts on either side. When a photon of light comes in, the energy of the photon is converted to electrical energy. Individually, photons contain a tiny amount of energy, but when you have a solar cell in the sunlight, billions and billions of photons hitting it constantly create a useful amount of electrical energy.

Solar panels are incredibly simple!