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Solar/Photovoltaic |
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Solar/Photovoltaic ProductionSolar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed through evolving technologies. Solar power provides electrical generation by means of heat engines or photovoltaics. The main types of solar panel are:
  
Thin Film Mono-Crystalline Poly-Crystalline
Solar/photovoltaic electrical production is done via the sun by utilizing photo sensitive crystals arranged in panels to produce d.c. electricity in various power levels up to 100’s of volts and are usually rated in watts per panel at a specified voltage and Amperage output. The most common rating for the panels being 12 to 24 volts at 10 to 250 watts. When mounting solar photovoltaic panels, solar trackers provide a very good solution.
Types of Solar Interconnect Systems“Grid tie”, this type of system utilizes grid power and has a grid tie inverter to provide power back (in certain countries) to the power company to offset or eliminate power costs depending on the size of the solar system installed and customer energy usage. “Grid tie / stand alone”, this type of system offers the same capability as the “grid tie” only system but incorporates battery storage and a different type inverter that provides electrical power if the grid goes down and fails to provide electrical power. This type system is more costly than the “grid tie only” system as it incorporates a more sophisticated inverter and requires storage batteries. This type of system often incorporates a back-up generator to provide battery charging in the event of prolonged lack of solar gain. “Generator plus” type system. This type of system incorporates the same components as the “stand alone system” i.e. the batteries and inverter but lacks the solar panels and solar chargers. This type of system allows for 24 hour electricity with minimal generator run time for battery charging. This system also allows the owner to have electricity until such time as their economic situation allows the purchase of the solar panels and thus having an autonomous power system. |
The reason being is as follows; the sun is continually moving across the sky at different elevations and positions every day. This means that if the panels were statically mounted, they would only be peaked to the sun for one minute out of each year. When photovoltaic panels are mounted on a tracker, they are peaked to the sun every minute of each day which results in a 40% to 50% increase in energy production. This means that for a given energy requirement we can reduce the panel count by almost half; this affords the customer a savings of thousands of dollars and encourages them to install a solar system.