Photovoltaic Basics

clipped from www1.eere.energy.gov Have you ever wondered how electricity is produced by a photovoltaic — what we often call a PV or solar electric — system? PV Physics In this section, you'll learn how sunlight can be converted into electricity. PV Devices Solar materials need to have certain important qualities. You'll first learn what these characteristics are. PV Systems you'll learn how solar cells are combined to become a larger photovoltaic system Cell Technology Energy Payback Time (EPBT)1 (yr) Energy Used to Produce System Compared to Total Generated Energy 2 (%) Total Energy Generated by System Divided by Amount of Energy Used to Produce System2 Single-crystal silicon 2.7 10.0 10 Non-ribbon multicrystalline silicon 2.2 8.1 12 Ribbon multicrystalline silicon 1.7 6.3 16 Cadmium telluride 1.0 3.7 27 Energy Payback Times for Photovoltaic Technologies payback time (EPBT) is the length of deployment required for a photovoltaic system to generate an amount of energy equal to the total energy that went into its production