Last Updated on 15 July 2025 by Maelle
With the cost of solar energy plummeting in recent years, along with major improvements in technical efficiency and manufacturing quality, many American homeowners are beginning to consider solar power as a viable alternative energy solution. As solar energy enters the energy market, the big question is: “How do solar panels work?” In this article, tout-reparer.fr explains exactly how solar panels generate energy for your home and how practical it really is to go solar.
How Do Solar Panels Work? A Step-by-Step Look at the Solar Power Generation Process
In short, a solar panel works and produces electricity when particles of sunlight release electrons from atoms, setting a stream of electrons in motion. This stream of electrons is electricity, and solar panels are designed to capture this stream and convert it into a usable electric current. Solar energy production begins when solar panels absorb sunlight using photovoltaic cells, generating this energy as direct current (DC), and then converting it into usable alternating current (AC) using inverter technology. The AC energy then passes through your home’s electrical panel and is distributed accordingly. The main steps in how solar panels work for your home are:
The photovoltaic cells absorb the sun’s energy and convert it into DC electricity.
- The solar inverter converts the DC electricity from your solar panels into AC electricity, which is used by most household appliances.
- Electricity circulates throughout your home and powers electronic devices.
- Excess electricity produced by solar panels is fed into the power grid.
- You’ll find excellent solar panels with good efficiency at
Alma solar! How do solar panels generate electricity? A standard solar panel (also called a solar module) consists of a layer of silicon cells, a metal frame, a glass envelope, and various wirings that allow current to flow between the silicon cells. Silicon (atomic number 14 on the periodic table) is a non-metal with conductive properties that allow it to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity. When light interacts with a silicon cell, it sets electrons in motion, triggering a flow of electric current. This is called the “photovoltaic effect,” which describes the general functionality of solar panel technology. The photovoltaic process works in the following simplified steps:
The silicon photovoltaic solar cell absorbs solar radiation.
When the sun’s rays interact with the silicon cell, electrons begin to move, creating a flow of electric current.
Wires capture and transmit this direct current (DC) electricity to a solar inverter to convert it to alternating current (AC).
- What about alternative solar technologies to photovoltaics?
- In this article, we’ve discussed solar photovoltaics, or PV, because it’s the most common type of solar energy generation, especially for homes and businesses.
- But there are others
, which work differently from traditional photovoltaic solar panels. Two of the most common alternative solar options that work differently from PV panels are solar hot water and concentrated solar power.
Solar Hot Water Solar hot water systems capture the sun’s thermal energy and use it to heat your home’s water. These systems consist of a few main components: collectors, a storage tank, a heat exchanger, a control system, and a backup heater.In a solar water heating system, there is no movement of electrons. Instead, the panels convert sunlight into heat. The panels in a solar thermal system are called “collectors” and are typically installed on a roof. They collect energy very differently from traditional photovoltaic panels: instead of generating electricity, they produce heat. Sunlight passes through the collector’s glass and strikes a component called an “absorber plate,” whose coating is designed to capture solar energy and convert it into heat. This generated heat is transferred to a “transfer fluid” (antifreeze or potable water) contained in small tubes within the plate.
Concentrated Solar Power
Concentrated solar power (also called concentrated solar power or concentrated solar thermal power) works similarly to solar hot water, in that it converts sunlight into heat. CSP technology generates electricity by concentrating solar thermal energy using mirrors. In a CSP installation, mirrors reflect the sun toward a focal point. At this focal point, there is an absorber or receiver that collects and stores the thermal energy.
CSP technology is most often used in industrial-scale installations to supply energy to a power grid.
How does the grid connection work with solar panels?
Although generating electricity using solar panels may seem logical to most people, there is still a lot of confusion about how the grid
electric is taken
taken into account in the domestic solar energy production process. Any home connected to the electricity grid has an electricity meter which your energy supplier uses to measure and supply electricity to your home. When you install solar panels on your roof or on a ground mount on your property, they are ultimately connected to your home’s electric meter. The production of your solar system is actually accessible and measured by this meter.
Most U.S. homeowners have access to net metering, a major solar incentive that significantly improves the economics of solar power. If you benefit from net metering, you can send electricity to the grid when your solar system is overproducing (for example, during the day in sunny summer months) in exchange for credits on your electricity bill. Then, during times of low electricity production (like nighttime or overcast days), you can use your credits to draw additional energy from the grid to meet your household’s electricity demand. In a sense, net metering provides a free storage solution for homeowners who go solar, making solar an all-in-one energy solution. Other important elements of solar panels In addition to its silicon solar cells, a typical solar module includes a glass envelope that provides durability and protection to the silicon photovoltaic cells. Beneath the glass envelope, the panel has an insulating layer and a backing sheet, which protects against heat dissipation and moisture within the panel. This insulation is important because increased temperature leads to a decrease in efficiency, thus reducing the solar panel’s performance.
Solar panels have an anti-reflective coating that increases sunlight absorption and allows the silicon cells to receive maximum sunlight exposure. Silicon solar cells are generally manufactured in two forms: monocrystalline or polycrystalline. Monocrystalline cells consist of a single silicon crystal, while polycrystalline cells are made of fragments or flakes of silicon. Monocrystalline formats provide more space for electrons to move around and therefore offer more efficient solar technology than polycrystalline ones, although they are generally more expensive. The entire tout-reparer.fr team remains at your disposal in the blog’s comments section.
