Solar Panel

The devices used in photovoltaic conversion are called solar panels. When solar radiation falls on solar panels, it is converted directly into dc current. Main advantages associated with solar panels are that they have no moving parts, require little maintenance, and work quite good with beam or diffuse solar radiation. Also they are readily adapted for varying power requirements because a cell is like a ‘building block’.

The main factors limiting their use in the past was that they ware still rather costly and that there is was very little economy associated with the magnitude of power generated in an installation. However, significant developments have been made in the last few years.

New types of solar panels have been developed, innovative manufacturing processes introduced, conversion efficiencies of existing types of solar panels increased, manufacturing and installation costs reduced and the volume of production steadily increased. The present annual world production of solar panels or photovoltaic panels is already around 60 MWp, while production in India is around 1.5 MWp. As a result of these developments, solar panels are now being used extensively in many consumer products and appliances, and it is possible that in the future they may become one of the most important sources of free renewable solar energy.