Find a Solar Panel Installer you can trust in West Kilbride.

If you’re looking to install some new solar panels in your home or property, then you’d probably want to know how it works. This is one of the most frequent questions asked by homeowners when it comes to solar panels and in this article we aim to give you a good insight on the operations of solar panels. Let’s have a look!

Generally, solar panels work by absorbing the energy of the sun and then converting it into electricity. It functions by allowing photons from the rays of the sun release the electrons free from atoms within the photovoltaic or solar cells in order to produce a flow of electricity. There are several solar cells that are connected together ( usually 60 or 72 ) in each panel. Individual cells comprises both a negative layer and a positive one which combines perfectly to create an electrical field in which the energy is generated.

The boron that’s within the bottom layer generates the positive charge, while the phosphorous found in the silicon layer produces the negative charge. In order to convert the sun’s rays into the energy that’s going to be transported from the panels to the inverter, the two field will interact with one another.

In other words, solar panels work by turning photons from the sunlight into direct current which is transmitted to the inverter. Once it gets to the inverter, it’s then translated to alternating current and send this current to to your electric box which powers the entire home. If you do not wish to reduce the high bills that’s associated with renting power from the grid, the solar energy system is an efficient and affordable way to achieve this aim.

No – solar thermal doesn’t generate electricity. Unlike solar PV, solar thermal panels harness the sun’s energy and convert it into heat which is then transferred into your home.

You can have evacuated tube solar thermal panels or flat plate collectors; evacuated tubes are thought to be more efficient that flat plate collectors. They both work by using the sun’s rays to heat a transfer fluid, usually made from water and a type of antifreeze, which is pumped to a heat exchanger inside a water tank in your home. The heat from the exchanger heats the water inside your tank, then when the liquid releases its heat it’s transferred back to the collectors to start the whole process again.

You’ll need to use your solar thermal panel system with a boiler, collector or immersion heater. This is so that the water can be stored and used for your hot water and heating, and also because in the UK, people generally need to rely on another source of heating in the winter. There are fewer sunlight hours in the winter months, so it’s not often possible for solar thermal panels to generate enough heat from the sun to get your water up to temperature.

Whatever the time of year it is, you might want to heat the water up further than your solar panels can manage. That’s why you’ll still need a form of traditional hot water heating, but you should see savings on your energy bills. If you’re currently using natural gas, you can expect savings of around £60 per year on your fuel bills, while if you’re using LPG it could be as high as £100 pr year

How long your solar panels will last depends on their age and quality. Most modern solar panels have 20-30 year warranties, but this doesn’t mean that they’ll stop working at this point. Many will stay at a good efficiency level for up to 40 years, while others will start to decline earlier.

If you’re thinking about installing a solar thermal system in your house, it’s always important to put into consideration numerous factors before you proceed. While some solar thermal systems are suitable for use at home, there are also some that are suitable for businesses or organizations which normally requires a big amount of hot water like hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals and many more. You’ll also find some types available in the market that are suitable for communities to satisfy communal hot water demands.

It should, however, be noted that solar thermal systems do not have the capacity to produce all the hot water demand of a house. In the UK, an average household will need an annual water heating of between 3000kWh to 5000kWh. Whereas, a solar thermal system is only able to meet about 40 percent to 60 percent of this demand.

With that in mind, it’s also worth noting that during the summer months when the solar radiation is at its peak and hot water demand is relatively lower when compared to other seasons, a solar thermal system may be able to provide all of your household’s hot water needs. This implies that during this period you may not find the need to operate your boiler at all. However, during winter or colder months, when you have a higher hot water demands in contrary to a lower solar radiation, a solar thermal system will only be able to take care of about 20 percent of your household’s hot water needs. And that ultimately implies that during this period, you’ll need to rely more on a alternative or backup source of heat like gas, coal, electricity, oil or LPG.

Solar PV panels work by converting sunlight into electricity. They’re made up of photovoltaic cells, which take in the sun’s rays and turn it into direct current (DC) electricity. The current is then channelled into an inverter, which converts it to alternating current (AC).

Once converted to AC, the electricity is ready to use. It’s fed through a meter and into your property’s consumer unit, and is automatically used to power appliances and heating systems. Your system will automatically switch between your solar electricity supply and the national grid, and export any solar electricity you don’t use to the national grid.

Solar panels can be pretty expensive, so require an initial investment. However, a quality solar panel installation can be very financially beneficial, saving you money in the long run. It does this in two main ways.

Firstly, using electricity generated by your solar panels means that you have to use less power from the national grid. Once you’ve bought your solar panels, your solar electricity is essentially free, meaning that you’re saving money by using this instead of power supplied by your energy company. If you want to maximise these savings, invest in a solar battery so you can store unused solar electricity ready for when you need it.

You can also earn money with your commercial solar panels through the Smart Export Guarantee [https://solar-panels.quotatis.co.uk/smart-export-guarantee/]. This is a government scheme that says that all licenced energy suppliers with 150,000 customers or more have to offer a tariff to renewable energy generators. When you generate solar electricity but don’t use it immediately it gets fed back to the grid – the tariff pays you for every kWh of this.

At the moment there’s no minimum tariff that an energy company has to offer – it only has to be above zero. However, many energy companies are competing to offer the best deal, so you can definitely find a tariff that will pay you for all the unused solar electricity you generate.