What Kind of Light Does a Solar Panel Need To Work Effectively?
It’s great to know that solar panels can produce enough energy to power homes with direct sunlight. However, when the rainy season comes, you will surely notice the immense energy collection reduction from them. How much does indirect sunlight affect your solar panel’s performance, and what can you do to improve their performance? Let’s learn more about it below.
They Can Work Without Sunlight
High-quality solar panels can work effectively without sunlight. Working effectively differs from collecting as much energy as they would with direct sunlight. Solar panels need 1000W/m2, which direct sunlight produces. Therefore, they still work and will supply your home with energy, but possibly not enough for what you consume in a single day.
Some Solar Panels Can Work With Shade
Solar panels can work with shade, but it doesn’t mean they can produce the same level of energy without direct sunlight. Your solar panels might produce only 10-60% of its sunny day capacity, forcing you to find alternative energy sources or use your direct current line.
Rain Introduces Significant Energy Collection Reduction
About 90% of your direct sunlight energy production is lost during rainfall. Therefore, there’s not much you can do if there’s significant rain in the area but to reconnect your old power line or use a generator.
Sciencing has a great article on solar panels and the level of sunlight needed to introduce the desired energy collection reduction. Read more about them here.
Solar radiation in the red to violet wavelengths blast a solar cell with enough energy to create electricity. But solar cells do not respond to all forms of light. Wavelengths in the infrared spectrum have too little of the energy needed to jostle electrons loose in the solar cell’s silicon, the effect that produces electric current. Ultraviolet wavelengths have too much energy. These wavelengths simply create heat, which can reduce a cell’s efficiency. Solar cells require certain wavelengths in the light spectrum to generate useful amounts of electricity.
Anatomy of a Solar Cell
A solar, or photovoltaic, cell is a two-layer sandwich of silicon; one layer, called N-type, contains traces of elements such as arsenic to give the material a negative electric charge; the second layer, called P-type, is laced with other elements that give a positive charge. Electrically, the two sides act like the terminals of a battery; when connected to a circuit, an electric current flows from the positive side, through the circuit components and to the solar cell’s negative side. Some solar cells use silicon in crystal form; others use an amorphous, or glass-like, silicon. Crystalline silicon tends to be more efficient at converting light but costs more than the amorphous type.
Effect of Brightness
Brightness or luminosity is the amount of light that shines on a solar cell. In total darkness, a cell produces no electricity. As the amount of light increases, so does the cell’s current. At a certain level of brightness, however, the cell’s output reaches a limit; beyond this point, more light gives no additional current. A solar cell’s specifications include a nominal voltage and current rating which is the cell’s output under direct bright sunshine. To get the most output from a solar cell, it's important to face it towards the sun as directly as possible. A solar panel installer, for example, will mount a panel at an angle that catches most of the sun's rays. The angle depends on where you're located on the earth: the farther north or south you are from the equator, the steeper the angle. Some solar power "farms" have panels on a mechanism that tilts, tracking the sun's daily movement in the sky.
Spectrum, Wavelength and Color
Visible light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, a form of energy that also includes radio waves, ultraviolet and X-rays. The colors of the rainbow contained in visible light represent different wavelengths; the wavelength of the color red, for example, is about 700 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, and 400 nanometers is the wavelength for violet. Solar cells respond to many of the same wavelengths detected by the human eye. (Continue reading here to learn more)
If you have yet to find a dependable solar panel installation team in Golden, CO, you can always count on us at Roper Roofing and Solar. Contact us today to learn more about everything that we can do for you.
