How Solar Electricity Technology Works

With fossil fuels and other non-renewable power sources on their way out, it’s time to look for a different way to power our lives. Solar energy truly is a technological marvel, using the sun’s natural energy to keep electricity alive – we’ve certainly come a long way from solar cells on calculators. But how exactly does it work?

Solar Panel

Inverter

Battery

Utility Meter

Utility

Solar Panels

Solar Panels Photovoltaic (PV) are made up of silicon cells. When sunlight hits your solar panels, the solar PV cells absorb the sunlight’s rays and electricity is produced via the Photovoltaic Effect.

Inverter

Inverter is able to convert the DC electricity into Alternating Current (AC) electricity, which can be used in your home. From here, the AC electricity is directed to your switchboard.

Uitility Meter

A bi-directional meter (utility meter) meter is able to record all the power that is drawn to the house, but also record the amount of solar energy that is exported back to the grid. This process is known as net metering.

Uitility Grid

Any unused solar electricity is sent back to the utility grid. Exporting solar power back to the utility grid will earn you a credit on your electricity bill, called a feed-in tariff (FiT).

Solar Battery

To manage the excess energy, you can either store excess energy in a solar battery.

TO KEEP IT RELATIVELY NON-SCIENTIFIC, WE’VE MADE A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE THAT’S EASY TO FOLLOW:

  • YOU PURCHASE SOLAR PANELS AND HAVE THEM PROFESSIONALLY FITTED TO YOUR HOME/OFFICE
    Solar panels, or ‘photovoltaic (PV)’ panels, are installed somewhere that is prone to the most sunlight throughout the day.
  • WHEN SUN IS SHINING, PANELS ‘COLLECT’ THE RAYS
    Throughout the day, the sun shines onto the PV module array, allowing it to convert the collected energy to direct current (DC) form. Even if the weather is overcast, due to the advanced technology the PV panels will still receive some energy.
  • SOLAR ELECTRICITY IS CONVERTED TO A USEABLE FORM
    As your building is wired to run alternating current (AC), the DC power that has been collected needs to be changed to be compatible with the power grid that runs on 240V AC electricity. This is performed using something called an inverter.
  • YOUR BUILDING’S ELECTRICITY USES THE SOLAR ENERGY
    Once the electricity is in AC form, it is fed into your building and will provide power to anything within that runs on electricity. Any additional power you require on top of what your PV panels are supplying, including nights when you are obviously unable to utilise the sun’s rays, will be taken from the grid.
  • ENERGY CREDITS ARE REWARDED FOR EXCESSES
    If you don’t actually use all of the solar energy that your PV panels have collected, the excess will be sent back to the electricity grid, which will lead to a credit for you from the utility company.