HISTORY of SOLAR PANEL

With the recent rise in energy costs many people have been looking to
alternative sources of energy. One of the greatest energy sources (our
sun) is readily available for the taking. We just need to be able to
harness it’s power. For those interested, below is a brief history of how
solar power came to be. The history of photovoltaic energy (aka. solar
cells) started way back in 1876. William Grylls Adams along with a
student of his, Richard Day, discovered that when selenium was
exposed to light, it produced electricity.

An electricity expert, Werner von Siemens, stated that the discovery

was “scientifically of the most far-reaching importance”. The selenium
cells were not efficient, but it was proved that light, without heat or
moving parts, could be converted into electricity. In 1953, Calvin Fuller,
Gerald Pearson, and Daryl Chapin, discovered the silicon solar cell. This
cell actually produced enough electricity and was efficient enough to
run small electrical devices. The New York Times stated that this
discovery was “the beginning of a new era, leading eventually to the
realization of harnessing the almost limitless energy of the sun for the
uses of civilization.”

The year is 1956, and the first solar cells are available commercially.
The cost however is far from the reach of everyday people. At $300 for
a 1 watt solar cell, the expense was far beyond anyone’s means. 1956
started showing us the first solar cells used in toys and radios.

These novelty items were the first item to have solar cells available to
consumers. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s satellites in the USA’s
and Soviet’s space program were powered by solar cells and in the late
1960’s solar power was basically the standard for powering space
bound satellites. In the early 1970’s a way to lower to cost of solar cells
was discovered.

This brought the price down from $100 per watt to around $20 per watt.
This research was spearheaded by Exxon. Most off-shore oil rigs used
the solar cells to power the waning lights on the top of the rigs. The
period from the 1970’s to the 1990’s saw quite a change in the usage of
solar cells. They began showing up on railroad crossings, in remote
places to power homes, Australia used solar cells in their microwave
towers to expand their telecommunication capabilities. Even desert
regions saw solar power bring water to the soil where line fed power
was not an option! Today we see solar cells in a wide variety of places.
You may see solar powered cars.

There is even a solar powered aircraft that has flown higher than any
other aircraft with the exception of the Blackbird. With the cost of solar
cells well within everyone’s budget, solar power has never looked so
tempting. Recently new technology has given us screen printed solar
cells, and a solar fabric that can be used to side a house, even solar
shingles that install on our roofs. International markets have opened up
and solar panel manufacturers are now playing a key role in the solar
power industry

SOLAR PANEL: How does it work?

Simply put, a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to

knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity. Solar panels
actually comprise many, smaller units called photovoltaic cells. (Photovoltaic
simply means they convert sunlight into electricity.) Many cells linked together
make up a solar panel.

Each photovoltaic cell is basically a sandwich made up of two slices of semi-

conducting material, usually silicon — the same stuff used in microelectronics.

To work, photovoltaic cells need to establish an electric field. Much like a

magnetic field, which occurs due to opposite poles, an electric field occurs
when opposite charges are separated. To get this field, manufacturers "dope"
silicon with other materials, giving each slice of the sandwich a positive or
negative electrical charge.

Specifically, they seed phosphorous into the top layer of silicon, which adds
extra electrons, with a negative charge, to that layer. Meanwhile, the bottom
layer gets a dose of boron, which results in fewer electrons, or a positive
charge. This all adds up to an electric field at the junction between the silicon
layers. Then, when a photon of sunlight knocks an electron free, the electric
field will push that electron out of the silicon junction.

A couple of other components of the cell turn these electrons into usable
power. Metal conductive plates on the sides of the cell collect the electrons
and transfer them to wires. At that point, the electrons can flow like any other
source of electricity.

Recently, researchers have produced ultrathin, flexible solar cells that are
only 1.3 microns thick — about 1/100th the width of a human hair — and are
20 times lighter than a sheet of office paper. In fact, the cells are so light that
they can sit on top of a soap bubble, and yet they produce energy with about
as much efficiency as glass-based solar cells, scientists reported in a study
published in 2016 in the journal Organic Electronics. Lighter, more flexible
solar cells such as these could be integrated into architecture, aerospace
technology, or even wearable electronics.  

There are other types of solar power technology — including solar thermal
and concentrated solar power (CSP) — that operate in a different fashion than
photovoltaic solar panels, but all harness the power of sunlight to either create
electricity or to heat water or air.

How to Categorise the Different

Types of Solar Panels 
Different types of solar panels serve different needs and
purposes. For a quick and general overview, check out
our ultimate solar panel guide, for a detailed
description about the different types of solar panels, keep
reading.

Given that sunlight can be used differently whether on Earth or

in space points to the fact that location, itself, is a significant
factor when it comes to choosing one of the types of solar
panels over another.

Distinguishing between different types of solar panels often

means differentiating between single-junctions and multi-
junctions solar panels—or first, second, or third generations.
Single-junction and multi-junctions differ in the number of
layers on the solar panel that will observe the sunlight,
whereas the classification by generation focusses on
the materials and efficiency of the different types of solar
panels.

1st Generation Solar Panels

These are the traditional types of solar panels made of
monocrystalline silicon or polysilicon and are most commonly
used in conventional surroundings.

Monocrystalline Solar Panels (Mono-SI)

 This type of solar panels (made of
monocrystalline silicon) is the purest one. You can easily
recognise them from the uniform dark look and the rounded
edges. The silicon’s high purity causes this type of solar panel
has one of the highest efficiency rates, with the newest
ones reaching above 20%.

Monocrystalline panels have a high power output, occupy less

space, and last the longest. Of course, that also means they
are the most expensive of the bunch. Another advantage to
consider is that they tend to be slightly less affected by high
temperatures compared to polycrystalline panels.

Polycrystalline Solar Panels (Poly-SI)

You can quickly distinguish these panels because this type of

solar panels has squares, its angles are not cut, and it has a
blue, speckled look. They are made by melting raw silicon,
which is a faster and cheaper process than that used for
monocrystalline panels.

This leads to a lower final price but also

lower efficiency (around 15%), lower space efficiency, and
a shorter lifespan since they are affected by hot
temperatures to a greater degree. However, the differences
between mono- and polycrystalline types of solar panels are
not so significant and the choice will strongly depend on your
specific situation. The first option offers a slightly higher
space efficiency at a slightly higher price but power outputs
are basically the same.

2nd Generation Solar Panels

These cells are different types of thin film solar cells and are
mainly used for photovoltaic power stations, integrated in
buildings or smaller solar systems.

Thin-Film Solar Cells (TFSC)

If you are looking for a less expensive option, you might want

to look into thin-film. Thin-film solar panels are manufactured
by placing one or more films of photovoltaic material (such as
silicon, cadmium or copper) onto a substrate. These types of
solar panels are the easiest to produce and economies of
scale make them cheaper than the alternatives due to less
material being needed for its production.

They are also flexible—which opens a lot of opportunities for

alternative applications—and is less affected by high
temperatures. The main issue is that they take up a lot of
space, generally making them unsuitable for residential
installations. Moreover, they carry the shortest
warranties because their lifespan is shorter than the mono-
and polycrystalline types of solar panels. However, they can
be a good option to choose among the different types of solar
panels where a lot of space is available.

Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell (A-Si)

Have you ever used a solar powered pocket calculator? Yes?
Then you have definitely seen these types of solar panels
before. The amorphous silicon solar cell is among the different
types of solar panels, the one that is used mainly in such
pocket calculators. This type of solar panel uses a triple
layered technology, which is the best of the thin film variety.

Just to give a brief impression of what “thin” means, in this

case, we’re talking about a thickness of 1 micrometre (one
millionth of a metre). With only 7% efficiency rate, these cells
are less effective than crystalline silicon ones—that have an
efficiency rate of circa 18%—but the advantage is the fact that
the A-Si-Cells are relatively low in cost.

3rd Generation Solar Panels

3rd generation solar panels include a variety of thin film
technologies but most of them are still in the research or
development phase. Some of them generate electricity by
using organic materials, others use inorganic substances
(CdTe for instance).

Biohybrid Solar Cell

The Biohybrid solar cell is one of the types of solar panels,
that is still in the research phase. It has been discovered by an
expert team at Vanderbilt University. The idea behind the new
technology is to take advantage of the photosystem 1 and
thus emulate the natural process of photosynthesis. In case
you want to learn more about how the biohybrid solar cell
works in detail, read more about it in the American Journal of
Optics and Photonics. It explains more detailed how these
cells work. Many of the materials being used in this cell are
similar to the traditional methods, but only by combining the
multiple layers of photosystem 1, the conversion from
chemical to electrical energy becomes much more effective
(up to 1000 times more efficient than 1st generation types of
solar panels). 

Cadmium Telluride Solar Cell (CdTe)

Among the collection of different types of solar panels, this
photovoltaic technique uses Cadmium Telluride, which
enables the production of solar cells at relatively low cost and
thus a shorter payback time (less than a year). Of all solar
energy technologies, this is the one requiring the least amount
of water for production. Keeping the short energy payback
time in mind, CdTe solar cells will keep your carbon footprint
as low as possible. The only disadvantage of using Cadmium
Telluride is its characteristic of being toxic, if ingested or
inhaled. In Europe especially, this is one of the greatest
barriers to overcome, as many people are very concerned
about using the technology behind this type of solar panel.

Concentrated PV Cell (CVP and HCVP)

Concentrated PV cells generate electrical energy just as
conventional photovoltaic systems do. Those multi-
junction types of solar panels have an efficiency rate up to
41%, which, among all photovoltaic systems, is the highest so
far.

The name of such CVP cells is related to what makes them so

efficient, compared to other types of solar panels: curved
mirror surfaces, lenses and sometimes even cooling
systems are used to bundle the sun rays and thus increase
their efficiency.

By this means, CVP cells have become one of the

most efficient solar panels, with a high performance and
efficiency rate of up to 41%. What remains is the fact, that
such CVP solar panels can only be as efficient if they face the
sun in a perfect angle. In order to reach such high efficiency
rates, a solar tracker inside the solar panel is responsible
for following the sun.