Solar Electric Panels

Generating solar electricity at home is becoming an increasingly common feature of domestic life for many people in the world. Some experts believe that solar small solar, as it is called, will play a bigger role than massive solar farms as it decentralizes energy production and helps people in remote areas to get electricity.

Solar electricity is generated through solar electric panels, which are small systems that capture solar energy using photovoltaic (PV) cells. The cells convert sunlight into electricity, even on a cloudy day.

Solar electric panels come in a variety of shapes and colors. Most of them look like tiles and are gray in appearance, although a few companies offer colored options for the more design conscious homeowners. Architecturally integrated panels are also developing at a fast rate. Often the photovoltaic cells will be installed on the roof or attached to the walls. Each cell is made from one of two layers of semiconducting materials, most often silicon. When it receives light the cell creates an electric field across the layers. The strength of the cell is measured in kilowatt peak (kWp), which is the amount of energy the cell can convert when exposed to full sunlight.

There are many advantages related to solar electricity panels: they cut a household’s carbon footprint, electricity bills and, in some cases, they can even generate income in places with a feed-in tariff scheme, whereby homeowners can sell electricity back to the grid. Costs for keeping solar electric panels, both upfront and long-term ones, are relatively high but the panels will pay themselves back over the course of a few years thanks to the aforementioned savings. It will depend on the size of the system and the amount of electricity consumed by the building. In some places it is possible to get fiscal incentives which offset initial costs.