Pondering upon how to use solar energy to generate electricity? Read right ahead to get to the details!
As the technology for solar cells gets better and better, this form of clean, renewable energy will find more applications that take up less space and produce more electricity, to meet the energy needs of our homes, schools and businesses.
~ Samuel Bodman
Isn’t it wonderful to have a power source so limitlessly vast and reliably consistent as the sun at our immediate disposal? It’s a different thing altogether that till now, not many of us have paid any amount of serious attention to the possibility of converting all that unlimited heat and radiance into electricity, for everyday use, to run regular applications and appliances. However, with the threat of environmental pollution and dwindling fossil fuel reserves breathing down its neck, humanity has finally come to terms with the idea of exploring alternative energy sources to generate fuel as well as power for its mundane domestic as well as industrial and commercial needs.
After wind and water, lots of countries and regions all over the world are gradually turning to solar power for fulfilling their electricity needs. You see, compared to wind and water force, which tend to be influenced by seasons and other climatic factors, solar energy is more constantly and consistently available. Now, if you’re wondering how to use solar energy to generate electricity, ski through the next segment without missing a single turn to get to the details!
How do We Use Solar Energy to Generate Electricity?
The heat and radiance of the sun can be harnessed and converted to electricity for human uses in two major ways – via photovoltaic systems or with the help of concentrated solar thermal systems. Photovoltaic method using solar panels and semiconductors is the easiest and most widely used method of harnessing solar energy to generate electricity for homes and small to medium-sized industrial and commercial establishments.
The following points lay down the basic guidelines regarding how to generate electricity from solar energy using solar panels:-
- In order to be able to generate electricity from solar energy, you will need a solar power plant generator. You can either buy a ready-made one, or make one yourself. However, the commercially available ones are likely to burn a hole in your pocket so it’s better to build a power plant generator yourself.
- To assemble a solar power plant generator yourself, you will need photograph voltaic cells or solar cells, which you can easily get from online stores such as eBay. Apart from the solar cells (number of cells depending upon how much power you wish to generate), you’ll need a wooden frame of a size that will perfectly accommodate a lateral solar panel matrix and a glass sheet to cover the wooden frame.
- Connect the solar cells adjacent to each other in such a way that the final result looks like a flat sheet of connected solar cells. Follow the wiring instructions that came with the cells and fit these connected cells inside the wooden frame. Cover the surface with the sheet of glass.
- Build a battery bank using rechargeable batteries and connect it to your solar power panel. The solar cells will absorb all the solar energy they can and this energy will be routed to the battery bank, which will, in turn, pass the DC power through a circuit, which is what a power inverter would be needed for.
- Connect the battery output to the power inverter input point. Connect the inverter output to the input point of your home’s residence’s wiring system. Once the DC charge passes through the power inverter, it gets converted to an AC charge and the voltage is also adjusted to suit your power requirements. There! Your very own solar power plant generator is ready for domestic use!
So, you see, even if your local county hasn’t become solar-power-savvy yet, you yourself can go ahead and make a difference to your individual residential unit by installing a self-made solar power plant at your own place! You’ll be delighted by how surprisingly less electricity will cost if you generate it by harnessing solar energy. Now that you know how to use solar energy to generate electricity yourself, go ahead and let your inner engineer out – trust me, your individual initiative will inspire many others around you go solar and eventually, it will dawn upon the power industry to run things sunny side up!