Discuss 5kw panels, G83 Inveter, 3.68 TIC. Anyone actually done this? in the Solar PV Forum | Solar Panels Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net
Surely if it has nowhere to go, it goes nowhere? I could be wrong, but I've not seen it the way that you do.
without a flow of current it just sits there, as potential energy. Otherwise the whole grid would get hot if not enough electricity was being used.
FB, what about a panel which isn't connected? The photons will still hit the panel but no power is generated - the potential is there, but the power isn't.
What excess energy there is will presumably either remain as light, or be converted directly to heat on the surface of the panel, but it won't be converted from light to electricity to heat.
Energy of photons in sunlight are absorbed by the electrons in the solar cell.
Once the energy is in the electrons, they will move around the circuit and generate a flow of electricity.
If the energy in the electrons can't be vented-off as movement of the electrons through the system, then the energy must be ofloaded in some other form - heat, light, radiation, movement etc.
So if the solar panel can't move all the "energised" electrons, then those electrons will give up their absorbed energy to the solar panel as heat. This might not be noticed on an oversize array since the panels will be over-producing anyway, so there will still be "full power" flowing - but the panels will be working at a higher temperature and probably have a shortened lifespan due to more temperature fluctuation.
That would imply a solar panel acts like a battery; able to "store" energy.
It can't be stored; the energy absorbed from the photons in sunlight must be released almost instantly - as a flow of electricity or as heat.
Reply to 5kw panels, G83 Inveter, 3.68 TIC. Anyone actually done this? in the Solar PV Forum | Solar Panels Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net
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