Solar panel installers install photovoltaic (PV), or solar, systems for residential, industrial and commercial. Solar panels are a single, albeit important, component at the heart of those systems. Those systems may consist of many other components depending on the needs of the user. Some installers also provide consultancy advice to help customers decide how to configure a system that will best meet their needs. As a result, choosing the installer is a critical decision.
Panel installers are skilled and licensed tradesmen, typically qualified as electricians. They are usually accredited by and registered with an industry body or association. It may be useful for customers to find out whether the industry body maintains an installer accreditation scheme. If so, a list of accredited suppliers or installers is usually distributed by the industry body.
The distinction between a solar cell and a solar panel is important. Cells are technologically complex. Sunlight contains radiant energy and if it falls on cells they convert its radiant energy into electrical energy. They are the work horse, the engine. By contrast, panels are uncomplicated. They merely represent a carriage system for a number of individual cells that are wired together.
By contrast, a panel is technologically primitive. It is merely a a number of cells connected or wired together into one integrated unit. In simple terms, the cell is the real engine while the panel is merely the chassis.
Cells are fixed and positioned in a panel so that they can be wired together. When connected together and configured as a panel, cells generate direct current (DC) electricity rather than the alternating current supplied by the main public electricity system. Most modern tools and appliances need alternating current. Within a PV system, DC power can be converted to AC power by an inverter.
Panels are usually positioned on building roofs or ground-based racks. To maximize their exposure to sunlight, they face south in the northern hemisphere and vice versa. To maximize efficiency, they incline at about 30 degrees to the sun. Ideally, their angle of inclination should be varied during the day and day by day as the position of the sun in the sky changes.
New research suggests cells should be shaped as rectangles rather than squares. In the past, cells have usually been produced as squares. However, recent research studies have shown that long, narrow shaped cells are less likely to become shaded and hence non-operational. Accordingly, some manufacturers are now beginning to produce amorphous cells that tend to be shaped more as irregular rectangles rather than a regular square.
Silicon solar cells today have rated efficiency of 12 to 17 percent. Cell efficiency of 30 percent or more is needed for solar electricity to achieve price parity with electricity produced by the main public electricity grid system. Solar panel installers are knowledgeable on these matters and confidently advise customers further.
Solar electricity is the new type of electricity in today’s world. We urge you to use solar panels. By doing it, you will be saving the world one person at a time. Let us tell you some more.
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