G7-Beyond Visible – The New Photovoltaic Technologies-800-900L-02

Introduction

Every month, most households receive an electric bill. The bill is sent from a company that supplies the area’s power. That power is typically generated by the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas. For the company that supplies the electricity, there are also bills to pay. There is a cost for mining these resources from the earth. There is also the cost of maintaining the power plant. In order to sell the electricity to the consumer, it must be delivered to them. This is done by a series of transmission lines that are built and maintained. All of these costs are passed along to the consumer. You may wonder if there could be another way. What if there was a way to convert some of the Sun’s energy into electricity? What would that mean for mankind?

History of PV

Using the Sun’s energy to make electricity has been around for quite a while. In 1839, a French physicist named Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel discovered what he called the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic effect is the principle behind the solar cell. Becquerel found a way to convert photons of light into electricity. Today, this effect is used as the scientific basis for making solar cells.

When multiple solar cells (usually 6 to 10) are combined, they are called solar panels. Solar panel refers to a panel designed to turn the Sun’s energy into electricity. These solar panels can also be called photovoltaic (PV) panels.

For many years, the solar panels were very costly to make. More recently, costs have been dropping. This makes PV panels a good alternative for generating electricity. Early versions of solar panels only had conversion rates near one percent. Over the years, scientists have made great strides in increasing their efficiency. Currently, many solar panels on the market have efficiency ratings of between 10–18 percent. Unfortunately, scientists soon realized a problem. There is a limit to how much a single solar panel can produce. The problem came from how the solar cells were designed. They were designed to work only with the visible light spectrum. This is now the newest challenge for scientists. How can they overcome this limitation?