![]() Each photovoltaic cell is basically a sandwich that is made up of two slices of semiconducting material, usually silicon. Solar panels are actually comprised of many, smaller units called photovoltaic cells. Essentially, a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, thus generating a flow of electricity. The photovoltaic effect is a physical and chemical phenomenon where the creation of voltage and electric current happens when a material is exposed to light. Photovoltaic modules make use of light energy from the sun to generate electricity through the photovoltaic effect. Best of all, international markets have opened up, and solar panel manufacturers are now playing a key role in the solar power industry. ![]() Aside from that, solar shingles that can be installed on our roofs instead of the usual roofing materials exist as well. There are now solar-powered cars as well as solar-powered aircraft. In fact, it has been reported that in just over the last four decades, the cost of solar energy products, most particularly the PV modules, has dropped by 99%.īecause of this price drop of solar panels, there has been a resurgence of solar-inspired products. And a piece of even better news is the fact that not only are solar panels in the present day more efficient than the ones in the past, but they are also incredibly cheap now. Today, we see solar panels just about everywhere. Even desert regions were able to see solar power bring water to the soil where line-fed power was not an option. Australia used solar cells in their microwave towers to expand their telecommunication capabilities. They began being used on railroad crossings and in remote places to power homes. This research was spearheaded by Exxon, and around this time, most off-shore oil rigs used the solar cells to power the warning lights on the top of the rigs.ĭuring the period from the 1970s to the 1990s, there was quite a change in the usage of solar cells. This enabled the price to be brought down from $100 per watt to around $20 per watt. In the early 1970s, a way to lower the cost of solar cells was discovered. And in the late 1960s, solar power was practically the standard for powering space bound satellites. ![]() In the late 1950s and early 1960s, satellites in the space program of both the United States and the Soviet Union were powered by solar cells. He patented this design in 1941, and in 1954, this design was first used by Bell Labs to create the first commercially viable silicon solar cell. It was only in 1939 when Russell Ohl was able to create the solar cell design that is used in many modern solar panels. In 1881, Charles Fritts created the first commercial solar panel, which was reported by Fritts as “continuous, constant, and of considerable force not only by exposure to sunlight but also to dim, diffused daylight.” However, these solar panels were still very inefficient, especially when compared to coal-fired power plants. ![]() This is where they described the experiment they used to replicate Smith’s results. After this discovery, William Grylls Adams and Richard Evans Day published “The Action of Light on Selenium” in 1876. This observation by Becquerel was not replicated again until 1873 when Willoughby Smith discovered that the charge could be caused by light hitting selenium. At the time, the first solar panels were too inefficient for even simple electric devices, but they were still used as an instrument to measure light. The history of solar panels can be traced all the way to 1839 when Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel was able to observe the ability of some materials to create an electrical charge from light exposure for the first time.
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