As many of you may know, I have been researching solar power for the school district, both thermal and photovoltaic. What you may not know is what they are.

Solar thermal refers to using the heat of the sun to heat something else. We use this type of solar to heat swimming pools or preheat water for use in our homes.

Solar photovoltaic is when we use the suns energy to create electricity. This is what we hear about on the radio with advertisements multiple times an hour lately.

Solar photovoltaic in simple terms, light from the sun hits a solar panel like the one shown above, and the energy in the light is redirected into wires in the panel. Once the energy is in the wire, it is looking to continue on its way somewhere, so we provide a path and work for it to do, like a motor, a light, or maybe charge a battery. Since the energy is coming from the sun in a one way fashion, the energy collected is direct current, or DC. This means that like a battery there is a plus and minus side to the power and for that reason the wires from the solar panel will be labeled "+" and "-".

When we put a lot of solar panels together, we chain them into groups that create the power we want. Just like stacking batteries in a flashlight, the values are additive. When we have a lot of solar panels working together we call it an Array.

Now to use the power to supplament wall outlet power, we need to do a few things to it. That is for another time. However, I will say that it involves a special device called an "Inverter" which makes DC power into AC.

I hope you find this informative and or interesting. I am looking primarily into Solar Photovoltaic for the district in order to offset our electric bills while reducing our carbon footprint. We do have 3 pools in the district that are scheduled to have solar thermal heating systems installed as soon as repairs to the pools are complete.

No related link on this one, it's all me. :)