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Insights
April 2, 2024
What is actually solar energy?
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Direct Current (DC) Electricity: The electricity generated by solar panels is in the form of direct current (DC).
- 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.
- 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.
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June 5, 2024
All Bright Sunday solar PV systems are connected in real-time to a unified monitoring system. We also measure the solar irradiation for each system using a top-tier satellite system.
When monitoring solar PV systems we are capturing and following up on minimum 200 data points every 5th minute. In some cases it can be more than 500 data points. All the systems are connected via the 5G networks. The data is transmitted via a secure VPN tunnel to our monitoring system where we compare it to the solar irradiation data we get from a satellite based system.
March 22, 2024
Bright Sunday using heat cameras with infrared imaging for Early Detection and Optimization of Solar PV Installations.
PV systems are not immune to issues that can compromise their efficiency and life time. One important tool for inspecting and detecting issues is the use of infrared (IR) or heat cameras.