What is Solar Energy ?

Solar energy is available in huge quantities in our country. India generally has 300 days and 6 hours of clear or strong sunlight every day. We want to use this abundant sunlight to generate electricity. Electricity generated from sunlight is called solar energy. We can use sunlight in two ways 1. To generate thermal energy and 2. To generate electrical energy i.e. electricity. In this series of blog posts, we are going to learn the information and techniques to convert sunlight into electrical energy only.

When sunlight falls on a solar cell, the solar cell generates some voltage and current, which is called solar energy. A solar cell works like a torch battery in our house. Just as a battery cell cannot power a whole house of lights and fans, so too cannot a single solar cell generate that much electricity. Therefore, a large solar panel is created by sticking many such solar cells on a special sheet and connecting them to each other with thin wires. This solar panel is called a solar panel. A solar array is created by connecting many solar panels to each other. Depending on your electricity needs, large amounts of solar energy are generated by connecting many solar panels or many solar arrays to each other. See figure below to understand Solar Cell and Solar Panels.

Large amounts of energy are generated by connecting many solar arrays together. Large amounts of electricity for an entire village or all the establishments in a large building can be generated by connecting solar panels together in this way. See the picture below.

Let us learn complete Solar Engineering in next subsequent blogs.