Solar Power-Use Sunlight To Power Your Home
Solar power is much in news days as a safe and environment friendly source of energy. With concerns about the depleting power sources and environment, there is a need for finding safe alternative energy sources. Solar power fits the bill because it is environmentally safe and renewable source of energy. Solar power is economic and has no running cost unlike other sources of energy. Solar power is versatile and you can use it for different home and outdoor applications. Now let us understand what is solar power and how it works.
What is Solar Power and How it Works
Solar power is the process generating electricity from the sunlight. Some people mistake solar power as producing energy from the heat of the sun, which is not correct. The technology used for generating electricity from the sunlight is known as Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology.
Photovoltaic technology converts the light energy from UV rays of sunlight into electrical energy. You would have seen the use of PV cells to generate electric power while using calculators and watches. The PV cells on the calculators and watches generate the electricity used for operating these devices. These are very small applications and use just a few PV cells. However, thousands of PV cells are used for providing power to a home.
For large Solar power applications a module is formed wherein a group of small PV cells are joined together. Modules further join to form a PV array. A PV array is used to generate electricity for the house. This array is then integrated into the roof structure or is placed on the roof where it can get direct sunlight required for its functioning.
PV array converts sunlight into electricity that is in the DC (Direct Current) format. This DC current is then converted into an AC current by sending it through an inverter. Therefore a PV system for homes includes the photovoltaic array and an inverter for converting DC to AC. The AC current is further used to pick up the electricity load of your home. The approximate electricity produced by a two-kilowatt PV system is around 4000 kWh per year. At this time, an optional battery system can provide power in the house.
The best aspect of solar power is that it is a free source of energy. Yet the cost of extracting solar power was not so cheap initially. However, recent technological advancements have led to the development of PV systems that are cheap and efficient. There is very little or no maintenance required for running these systems. The life span of these systems is around 40 to 50 years.
Most of the people get confused and consider a PV system similar to a solar water heating system. There is a distinction between solar water heater and a PV system. The solar water heaters work by using sunlight directly for heating water whereas the PV system creates electricity out of the sunlight.
You too can use the photovoltaic (PV) technology for your home and have a control over your electric utility bill.
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