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What actually is solar energy?

Insights

Do you know that every second, the sun radiates about 386 billion billion megawatts of power. That’s enough to power over 400,000 Earths!

The amount of energy that comes from the sun is absolutely amazing. The sunlight we use for capturing in solar PV panels is created by a process called nuclear fusion that occurs within the core of the sun.

 

Amazing numbers

Here are some interesting numbers:

Every second, it radiates about 386 billion billion megawatts of power. That’s enough to power over 400,000 Earths!

 

The energy that reaches the Earth is nevertheless just a tiny fraction of this amazing amount. It is actually only about one-billionth of the total energy the Sun’s energy that reaches the Earth.

In short – this is how it works

In the sun’s core, extremely high temperatures and pressures cause hydrogen atoms to fuse together to form helium atoms. This process releases an enormous amount of energy in the form of light and heat. This energy travels through space in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which includes visible light, ultraviolet (UV) light, and infrared (IR) radiation.

How the sunlight becomes usable electricity

Solar PV panels capture the sunlight and generates electricity through the photovoltaic effect. This is how it works:

  1. Sunlight hits the Solar Panels: Solar panels are made up of many individual solar cells. When sunlight hits these cells, it excites the electrons within them, causing them to break free from their atoms.
  2. Generation of Electricity: The movement of these free electrons creates an electric current. This flow of electrons is what we know as electricity. The cells are connected in a circuit, allowing the electricity to add up and become useful electricity.
  3. Direct Current (DC) Electricity: The electricity generated by solar panels is in the form of direct current (DC).
  4. Inverter Conversion: Our things that use electricity works with alternating current (AC) electricity. This means that the DC electricity generated by the solar panels needs to be converted into AC by a so called inverter.
  5. Usable Electricity: The converted AC electricity can then be used to power your business.
A beautiful process

We think this is amazing and pretty beautiful. Of course producing solar panels and requires energy and it impacts the environment. At Bright Sunday we are using panels from companies that have the best environment rating.

The panels lasts for +30 years. A note for the future is of course to make sure used panels are being recycled in the best positive way.

About Bright Sunday

Everything we do at Bright Sunday aims at lowering CO2 emissions on a global level by making the cleantech transformation easy and profitable for commercial and industrial customers. Our business is to offer cleantech as a service – PPA (Power Purchase Agreements) – with zero upfront investments and savings from day one.

We use premium products only and we take care of licensing, installation, maintenance, insurance and monitoring.

Through partnerships with leading local installers and maintenance partners we make our services available globally. Bright Sunday currently owns and operates a portfolio of 70+ solar PV systems.

Bright Sunday’s is a privately held company and largest owner is Niam Infrastructure with the European Investment Fund as one of the key investors.

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Do you want your business to benefit from solar self-consuption?

We provide custom solar PV system designs for self-consumption under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Using our design request form, we create an initial estimate based on your energy needs.

 

This is a preliminary assessment. Depending on site conditions and financial feasibility, we may not proceed. Final pricing and conditions will be detailed in a formal agreement if the project moves forward.

 

Interested in solar for your business? Fill out the form to get started