Solar energy explained

what is solar energy?

The Sun is an extremely powerful energy source, and sunlight is by far the largest source of energy received by Earth, but its intensity at Earth’s surface is actually quite low.

This is essentially because of the enormous radial spreading of radiation from the distant Sun.

A relatively minor additional loss is due to earth’s atmosphere and clouds, which absorb or scatter as much as 54 percent of the incoming sunlight.

The sunlight that reaches the ground consists of nearly 50 percent visible light, 45 percent infrared radiation, and smaller amounts of ultraviolet and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.

HOW DOES SOLAR ENERGY WORK?

Solar panels are usually made from silicon, or another semiconductor material installed in a metal panel frame with a glass casing.

When this material is exposed to photons of sunlight (very small packets of energy) it releases electrons and produces an electric charge.

This PV charge creates an electric current (specifically, direct current or DC), which is captured by the wiring in solar panels.

This DC electricity is then converted to alternating current (AC) by an inverter. AC is the type of electrical current used when you plug appliances into normal wall sockets.

when was solar energy discovered?

FIRST SOLAR CELL IS CREATED

FIRST FUNCTIONING SOLAR PANELS

high-power silicon solar PV cell created

Mass production of solar panels

Experimenting with metal electrodes and an acidic solution, nineteen-year-old French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel creates the first solar cell, known as a photovoltaic cell, that could carry an electric current from light.

Charles Fritts, an American inventor, creates the first functioning solar panels with solar cells made from selenium wafers. Selenium was discovered to be photovoltaic by Willoughby Smith.

Gerald Pearson, Daryl Chapin, and Calvin Fuller, physicists at Bell Labs, exhibit the first high-power silicon solar PV cell that increases energy conversion efficiency by using silicone instead of selenium wafers.

Sharp Corporation produces a viable photovoltaic module of silicon solar cells, successfully mass-producing solar panels. Japan installs a 242-watt PV array on a lighthouse, the world's largest array at that time.