Photovoltaics: Basic Principles and Components

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If you are thinking of generating yourown electricity, you should consider aphotovoltaic (PV) system a way to gen-erate electricity by using energy from thesun. These systems have several advan-tages: they are cost-effective alternatives inareas where extending a utility power lineis very expensive; they have no movingparts and require little maintenance; andthey produce electricity without pollutingthe publication will introduce you to thebasic design Principles and Components ofPV systems. It will also help you discussthese systems knowledgeably with anequipment supplier or system this publication is not intended tocover everything about designing andinstalling a PV system, a list of additionalPV resources is provided at the end.

stantial amounts of PV power. Although individual PV cells produce only small amounts of electricity, PV modules are manufactured with varying electrical out-puts ranging from a few watts to more than 100 watts of direct current (DC) elec-tricity. The modules can be connected into PV arrays for powering a wide variety of electrical equipment.

  Direct, Power, Current, Direct current