How do solar panels work?
From sunlight to the socket: how solar panels work, what the inverter does, and how you use or feed back the power you generate.
Solar panels capture sunlight and turn it into direct current. An inverter converts that into the alternating current your home runs on. What you don't use right away goes to the grid or into a home battery.
From sunlight to electricity
A solar panel contains silicon cells. Sunlight knocks electrons loose in those cells, and that produces direct current. The more light hits the panel, the more power. Direct sun gives the most, but panels still generate under cloud.
So you don't need a heatwave. Bright but cool spring weather often gives a great result, because panels work slightly more efficiently at lower temperatures.
The inverter does the heavy lifting
Your home and the grid run on alternating current (AC), while your panels produce direct current (DC). The inverter converts one into the other. Without it, you cannot use the power you generate.
There are different types, from one central inverter to a small inverter per panel. Which fits depends on your roof and any shading.
Self-use, feed-in and storage
If you generate more than you use during the day, the surplus goes to the grid. In the evening you draw power from your supplier again. How that exchange is settled falls under the net metering scheme.
If you want to use more of your own power instead of feeding it back, a home battery helps. It stores your surplus for later in the day.
What determines how much you generate
Output depends mostly on your roof orientation, the tilt, shading and the wattage of your panels. A panel with more watt-peak produces more under the same conditions. How that converts into kilowatt-hours per year is on the yield page.
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