Solar Systems

What is Solar Energy?

With skyrocketing gas and electricity costs, people are turning to solar power to save money as energy costs climb year after year. Solar energy is one of the fastest growing sources of alternative energy today; it is eco-friendly, sustainable, clean, and above all a free alternative to the current energy crisis we are experiencing. Germany leads the entire world as the top market for installed solar energy. In the United States, California is the dominant market, closely followed by New Jersey, Colorado, and Nevada.

Solar energy technology programs focuses on developing cost-effective technologies that have the greatest potential to benefit our nation and the world. Below are the different types of solar energy technologies that are available to us today.

Photovoltaics (PV). Photovoltaic systems use semiconductor materials such as silicon to convert solar energy into electricity. PV technology produces electricity directly from the electrons freed by the interaction of sunlight with the semiconductor materials in the PV module. It is widely used in consumer products such as solar calculators, watches, garden lights, attic fans, and much more. The building block of PV technology is the solar “cell.” Many cells are wired together to produce a PV “module,” and many modules are combined to form a PV “array.” Primarily, PVs are mounted on roof tops where they are exposed directly to the sun.

The growing demand for PV has expanded in recent years. Photovoltaic production has been doubling every two years, increasing by an average of 48 percent each year since 2002, making it the world’s fastest-growing energy technology. At the end of 2007, according to preliminary data, cumulative global production was 12,400 megawatts. Financial incentives, such as preferential feed-in tariffs for solar-generated electricity and net metering, have supported solar PV installations in many countries including Germany, Japan, and the United States.