Do You Need Direct Sunlight For Solar Panels To Work

Solar panels use the energy from daylight not necessarily direct sunlight to produce the energy that they then convert into useable electricity.

Do you need direct sunlight for solar panels to work.

Solar panels are rated in kws. What s more you can even charge your solar lights with no sunlight at all. Solar panels use daylight energy to generate electricity so panels do not need direct sunlight to work. Solar panels produce electricity from the photons present in natural daylight rather than from the sunlight itself so panels don t actually need to be installed in direct sunlight to work.

The matter of fact is solar panels use daylight energy to produce electricity and they do not need direct sunlight to work. Depending on where you live and the amount of sunlight you get throughout the year you may choose to either store your lights for some part of the year or strategically place them so that they receive the maximum amount of sunlight. Heat has no effect on the production of electricity. However when calculating the total amount of peak sun hours received at any location you don t just consider hours with 1000 w m 2 of solar radiation.

It is photons in natural daylight which is converted by solar panel cells to produce electricity. How to determine size of solar panel needed. If 4 hours then the multiply factor should be 6. One peak sun hour 1000 w m 2 of sunlight.

That means that just like on a cloudy day at the beach when you get a worse sunburn daylight is the source of solar energy. You then express that in terms of the equivalent number of hours with 1000 w m 2. Well the reason is that the photons in natural daylight get converted into electricity by solar panels. Amorphous panels will work best in shady or cloudy conditions but will not compete with monocrystalline or polycrystalline panels will when the sun comes out.

For example solar panels are approximately 40 percent as effective on a cloudy day as they are on a sunny day. However even if you don t have access to direct sunlight you can still charge your solar lights in other ways. If x kws are required to supply y kwhrs yr do you first divide y by the number of hrs yr to get x and then multiply this number by the fractional number of sunlight hours in a 24 hour period. In overcast or winter weather you can easily charge solar lights with indirect sunlight.

Instead you need to add the total amount of solar irradiance received by the location. Heat isn t a factor in how much electricity pv solar panels can generate either so a cool spring day can be as productive if not more than a hot. The best way to charge solar lights is with sunlight. A surprising answer isn t it.

All solar panels will perform better in open south facing locations that get direct sunlight.