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The following article was published in our article directory on August 4, 2010.
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What is Photovoltaic Energy?

Article Category: Computers and Technology

Author Name: Jim Carpenter

The twentieth century has unfolded many advances in technology as well as a heightened environmental awareness amongst people. The issues on energy depletion has brought such fear in both scientific and ordinary societies that people have started looking for renewable sources of energy to impede the adverse impact of increased energy consumption to the environment. This increase in demands for renewable sources of energy prompted researchers to turn into one of the greatest emitters of energy known to mankind- the solar energy. When the energy from the sun is turned into electricity to power homes an industries, it is called photovoltaic technology.

The term "photovoltaic" is derived from a Greek word "phos" and from the word "voltaic derived from the name of the physicist Alessandro Volta from Italy. Volta is the physicist from whom the word "volt" or unit for electro-motive force was derived. The word "phos" refers to light. The two words combined together, photovoltaic literally means light energy. As can be hinted already, the energy from sunlight is used to convert into electricity.

A photovoltaic material contains cells. These cells are used to convert the solar radiation into electricity. The process works by causing the electrons to be in a higher state. Once the electrons reach this excited state, the solar radiation is soon turned into direct electricity. These cells need to be protected from harsh environmental conditions. To enable that, the cells are packed using a glass sheet. One cell is called a single module. This one module can deliver energy sufficient to power a telephone.

If a single module energy capacity is not enough to power the equipment or a battery, the cells are connected by using electricity. This way, the cells are able to produce the necessary amount of energy without requiring any other complicated processes. The cells produce direct electricity. A photovoltaic sheet is now used in both grid and off-grid power generation.

At first, the photovoltaic cells were used to power spacecrafts and other orbiting satellites. Now, however, it is much more commonly used for grid generation wherein a converter from AC to DC is used. The market for off-grid generation is still small at present. In off grid generation, photovoltaic cells are commonly used to power electric cars, boats, roadside emergency phones, cathodic material used for pipelines, and many more.

Presently, the prices of photovoltaic cells are more expensive than the regular grid supplied energy. In some countries, however, such as Germany, Japan, Italy and France, the government gives incentives to promote this renewable energy source. There are three countries that lead in photovoltaic energy production and these include Japan, Germany and the United States. These countries produce nearly 90% of the total photovoltaic energy production worldwide. The amount of photovoltaic energy generation is influenced by different factors. These include the weather condition, geographical location, time, and others.

The photovoltaic energy source is being developed through financial assistance sourced from private investors. Aside from that, private investors also play role in promoting use of solar panel energy. In 2006, for example, private investors have agreed to promote the use of technology through free installations of solar panels in exchange of an agreement to have a fixed price for energy purchase.

Keywords: photovoltaic, solar pv, pv panels

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