{"id":1678,"date":"2017-09-21T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T15:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/eagle\/blog\/?p=1678"},"modified":"2023-09-25T11:16:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-25T18:16:42","slug":"solar-panels-solar-electricity-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autodesk.com\/products\/fusion-360\/blog\/solar-panels-solar-electricity-works\/","title":{"rendered":"How Solar Panels & Solar Electricity Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFree\u201d Energy: How Solar Panels & Solar Electricity Works to Power Our World<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n

Solar electricity is all around us, from solar-powered pocket calculators to satellites and homes strapped with solar panels. You might even see solar power on your way to work as you pass emergency road signs, call boxes, or speed meters. This \u201cfree\u201d source of energy is taking over our modern needs for electricity in a big way and is ultimately paving the path toward a future of sustainable energy. But will it be enough to release our grasp from fossil fuels? Only time will tell. So how exactly do solar electricity and solar panels work? There\u2019s no switch, sometimes not even a battery to charge. We just depend on that giant ball of gas in the sky (the Sun) to power our needs in this world. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Solar Electricity in Action<\/h2>\n\n\n

Solar electricity isn\u2019t actually anything new. In 1839 French scientist <\/span>Alexandre Edmond Becquerel<\/span><\/a> discovered that a material like metal would send off sparks of electricity when exposed to sunlight. This experiment paved the way for research by other Scientists like Albert Einstein, who later named this process the <\/span>photoelectric effect<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photoelectric effect occurs when electrons are ejected from the surface of a solid material like metal when exposed to sunlight. Any material that reacts to this sunlight exposure is considered a <\/span>photoemissive material<\/b>, and the electrons that get ejected are called <\/span>photoelectrons<\/b>. Don\u2019t let the terms confuse you though; there\u2019s actually nothing different from an electron that gets emitted from exposure to sunlight than one that flies around a circuit from a battery or direct power source. They\u2019re all doing the same job and remain identical in mass, charge, spin, and magnetic movement.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"photoelectric-effect\"\/
Electrons are ejected from a material based on the type of electromagnetic radiation. (Image source<\/a>)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the photoelectric effect set in stone by Einstein, the world soon turned to creating the first photovoltaic (PV) cells out of selenium. This was just the beginning, and in the 1950s Bell Labs developed a PV cell worthy of meeting today\u2019s solar needs with silicon. This first silicon PV cell achieved a whopping four percentage energy conversion, but at the time the invention was groundbreaking.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"bell-labs-developed-pv-cell\"\/
A Bell labs advertisement from 1954!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since the 1950s, silicon PV cells have continued to advance in efficiency, but how they function in a solar panel system remains largely the same. Here\u2019s the process at a high-level perspective before we dig into the details further<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n