Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics (PV) is conversion of light energy into electricity using electronic devices called solar cells. The term “photovoltaics” originated from the combination of the Greek word for light – ‘photos’, and ‘voltaic’ – a reference to Alessandro Volta, an eighteenth century Italian scientist who carried out pioneering work on electricity.

PV cells are fabricated using semiconductors as light absorbing layers that convert the energy of photons into electricity without noise or pollution. When photons enter the cell through a transparent contact they get absorbed by the semiconductor, creating electron-hole pairs. A junction in the body of the device provides the electric field that separates and gathers the generated charge carriers which are then collected by wires attached to the cell. Multiple cells are strung together in a protective package to form a PV module. Interconnected modules form an array. Balance of System Components (BOS) such as mounting hardware, wiring, invertors and other electronic hardware are then added to construct a PV system.

Because the manufacturing costs of PV cells and modules have historically been high, solar energy has been 3-5 times more expensive than energy generated by traditional methods. SoloPower’s proprietary low cost and high efficiency technology is designed to eliminate this gap, reach “grid parity” and enable use of PV for large-scale power generation.