1answer.
Ask question
Login Signup
Ask question
All categories
  • English
  • Mathematics
  • Social Studies
  • Business
  • History
  • Health
  • Geography
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Computers and Technology
  • Arts
  • World Languages
  • Spanish
  • French
  • German
  • Advanced Placement (AP)
  • SAT
  • Medicine
  • Law
  • Engineering
RUDIKE [14]
3 years ago
10

How is solar power used to generate electricity?

Chemistry
1 answer:
musickatia [10]3 years ago
5 0
This is the shortest answer, you can google: net meter, inverter, solar panels and the roof system for a shorter one.

The roof system

In most solar systems, solar panels are placed on the roof. An ideal site will have no shade on the panels, especially during the prime sunlight hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; a south-facing installation will usually provide the optimum potential for your system, but other orientations may provide sufficient production. Trees or other factors that cause shading during the day will cause significant decreases to power production. The importance of shading and efficiency cannot be overstated. In a solar panel, if even just one of its 36 cells is shaded, power production will be reduced by more than half. Experienced installation contractors such as NW Wind & Solar use a device called a Solar Pathfinder to carefully identify potential areas of shading prior to installation.

Not every roof has the correct orientation or angle of inclination to take advantage of the sun's energy. Some systems are designed with pivoting panels that track the sun in its journey across the sky. Non-tracking PV systems should be inclined at an angle equal to the site’s latitude to absorb the maximum amount of energy year-round. Alternate orientations and/or inclinations may be used to optimize energy production for particular times of day or for specific seasons of the year.

Solar panels

Solar panels, also known as modules, contain photovoltaic cells made from silicon that transform incoming sunlight into electricity rather than heat. (”Photovoltaic” means electricity from light — photo = light, voltaic = electricity.)

Solar photovoltaic cells consist of a positive and a negative film of silicon placed under a thin slice of glass. As the photons of the sunlight beat down upon these cells, they knock the electrons off the silicon. The negatively-charged free electrons are preferentially attracted to one side of the silicon cell, which creates an electric voltage that can be collected and channeled. This current is gathered by wiring the individual solar panels together in series to form a solar photovoltaic array. Depending on the size of the installation, multiple strings of solar photovoltaic array cables terminate in one electrical box, called a fused array combiner. Contained within the combiner box are fuses designed to protect the individual module cables, as well as the connections that deliver power to the inverter. The electricity produced at this stage is DC (direct current) and must be converted to AC (alternating current) suitable for use in your home or business.

Inverter

The inverter is typically located in an accessible location, as close as practical to the modules. In a residential application, the inverter is often mounted to the exterior sidewall of the home near the electrical main or sub panels. Since inverters make a slight noise, this should be taken into consideration when selecting the location.

The inverter turns the DC electricity generated by the solar panels into 120-volt AC that can be put to immediate use by connecting the inverter directly to a dedicated circuit breaker in the electrical panel.

The inverter, electricity production meter, and electricity net meter are connected so that power produced by your solar electric system will first be consumed by the electrical loads currently in operation. The balance of power produced by your solar electric system passes through your electrical panel and out onto the electric grid. Whenever you are producing more electricity from your solar electric system than you are immediately consuming, your electric utility meter will turn backwards!

Net meter

In a solar electric system that is also tied to the utility grid, the DC power from the solar array is converted into 120/240 volt AC power and fed directly into the utility power distribution system of the building. The power is “net metered,” which means it reduces demand for power from the utility when the solar array is generating electricity – thus lowering the utility bill. These grid-tied systems automatically shut off if utility power goes offline, protecting workers from power being back fed into the grid during an outage. These types of solar-powered electric systems are known as “on grid” or “battery-less” and make up approximately 98% of the solar power systems being installed today.

You might be interested in
The pitcher plant and the Venus flytrap are examples of plants that:
Lina20 [59]

Answer:

The pitcher plant and the Venus flytrap are examples of plants that are carnivorous. Plants produce food and oxygen during photosynthesis.

Explanation:

8 0
3 years ago
Compare the charges and masses of protons neutrons and electrons
antiseptic1488 [7]
Charges is then there is a negative sign at the right corner of an element it means you have to add, and when it is positive, it means you have to substract

8 0
3 years ago
The magnitude of an earthquake can range from less than 1 to at least
shusha [124]

The magnitude of an earthquake can range from 1 to at least 8

6 0
3 years ago
When a sample of CO2(s) becomes CO2(g), there a change in
KatRina [158]

Answer:

4)Particle Arrangement

Explanation:

When solid carbon dioxide CO₂ will evaporate in gaseous carbon dioxide CO₂ the particles arrangement will change from ordered in solid state to completely disordered in gaseous state.

Bond type, gram formula mass and molecular polarity are not changed in the described physical transformation.

4 0
3 years ago
172 °C = __________ K<br> (Round off to the nearest whole number)
NNADVOKAT [17]
-101, K=C+273 so in this you would subtract 273 from 172
8 0
3 years ago
Other questions:
  • Would you vote to change the coin content or to keep them the same? Explain.
    12·1 answer
  • Certain bacteria live in plant roots and receive sugars from the plants. The bacteria provide a source of useful nitrogen for th
    13·2 answers
  • What is a closed system in chemistry? What is an open system in chemistry? plzz dont make the answer too smart so dumb it down a
    7·1 answer
  • What is the definition of sound energy
    7·1 answer
  • More than ½ of the world's forests have been lost to deforestation. True False
    9·2 answers
  • In an electrically neutral atom, the number of
    12·2 answers
  • How many atoms are in 3.5 moles of NaCl?
    15·1 answer
  • Provide a title short explanation or description accompanying an illustration or a photograph ​
    14·1 answer
  • When 2.5 mol of O2 are consumed in their reaction, ________ mol of CO2 are produced
    7·1 answer
  • If another hydrogen of c2h5cl is replaced by a chlorine atom to yield c2h4cl2, how many isomers would result?
    11·1 answer
Add answer
Login
Not registered? Fast signup
Signup
Login Signup
Ask question!