How does a solar panel absorb energy from the sun?

Answer 1

There are two types of solar panel, the solar thermal collector, and the photovoltaic cell. The first simply collects thermal energy from the sun and transfers it to a fluid, usually water. this is quite useful for domestic hot water, warming Swimming Pools, and can be used industrially to prewarm feedwater. The photovoltaic cell responds to visible sunlight and produces a small dc current from semiconductor material such as silicon, doped with impurities. The theory says that photons of light energy cause electrons to be displaced resulting in a current flow. In bright sunlight it takes 1 square meter of cells to produce 120 watts of power, but this is only available at peak sun intensity during a 24 hr cycle. These figures are for the first generation of cells, much work is ongoing to improve efficiency and make production cheaper.