Producing electricity from solar energy is accomplished by using solar panels. Large arrays of solar panels can produce a remarkable amount of electricity with no moving parts within the panels themselves. They accomplish this feat by taking advantage of the photovoltaic effect of silicon. Silicon is bonded with phosphorus to create a negative charged plate. A positive plate is created by bonding silicon to boron. Using conductive wires to combine these two plates together creates a path for the flow of electricity.
Exposing the negatively charged side of a solar panel to the sun allows the photons inherent in sunlight to bombard the plate and break the extra electron free. This electron, hopefully, flows to positively charged boron plate where it is collected. Any uncollected electrons disperse into the air or flow back to the negatively charged plate. This process continues indefinitely. This flow of electrons is known as electricity. The electricity is then collected and either converted for immediate use or stored in batteries.
The amount of electricity that a solar panel can produce is largely dependent on its quality. Third generation solar panels now in use greatly surpass what was thought to be the maximum conversion efficiency just a few decades ago. Third generation panels use thermal overflow technology, take advantage of the infrared spectrum, and incorporate multi junction cells to reach a conversion efficiency of over 60%. This blows by the previous theoretical limit of 40.8%.
Producing electricity by using Solar Panels was once considered cost prohibitive. Solar power was primarily used in the space program to provide satellites with a renewable source of energy. The fact that solar cells will now produce more energy over their lifetime than it costs to produce those solar cells is a recent development. As recently as the 1990s, this was not the case. Now, powering a home exclusively using solar energy is no longer a pipe dream. It is a reality.
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