How Solar PV Systems Work

Solar photovoltaic panels (PV) are an amazing technology. A brieft outline of how they function is below:

Solar panels create electricity when the sun shines on the photovoltaic cells.

It does not need to be hot or even warm for the panels to generate electricity, in fact the hotter they are the less efficient they become.

The solar panels generate DC electricity which is not suitable for use with our usual household items.

An inverter, which converts the DC voltage into AC is installed, usually as close as possible to the panels so that losses through the DC cables are as low as possible.

The AC electricity is then fed through a generation meter, (which looks very similar to your standard digital electricity meter), to record the amount generated.

The solar system makes sure that as any electricity generated is used by the homeowner, any left over is fed back into the National Grid.