What is the principle of photovoltaic power generation?

Answer: The basic principle of solar photovoltaic power generation refers to the use of the photovoltaic effect of solar cells to directly convert solar energy into electrical energy, that is, the photoelectric effect of semiconductors.

When sunlight shines on a metal or stone containing silicon, the electrons in the silicon crystal will become free electrons after absorbing sunlight. The energy absorbed by the electrons is large enough to overcome the internal gravity of the object and do work, escape from the surface of the object and become photoelectrons.

If atoms with different numbers of outer electrons are doped into pure silicon, P-type semiconductors and N-type semiconductors can be formed. When P-type and N-type are combined, the contact surface forms a potential difference, becoming a solar cell.

When sunlight shines on the P-N junction, holes move from the P-pole region to the N-pole region, and electrons move from the N-pole region to the P-pole region. At this point, current is formed, which is the principle of photovoltaic power generation.

From this, it can be seen that N-type silicon and P-type silicon are actually the core components of solar photovoltaic panels. In practical applications, solar photovoltaic panels composed of N-type silicon and P-type silicon will be assembled into centralized or distributed solar power plants, becoming a small catcher for collecting sunlight and continuously delivering electricity to people.

Do you understand the relationship between solar power generation and photovoltaic power generation?

Answer: There are actually two types of solar power generation, one is solar thermal power generation, and the other is solar photovoltaic power generation. Solar thermal power generation refers to the conversion of solar energy into thermal energy through water or other devices, and then the conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy for power supply, known as solar thermal power generation.

Solar photovoltaic power generation refers to a power generation method that directly converts light energy into electrical energy without the need for thermal processes. It includes photovoltaic power generation, photochemical power generation, photoinduced power generation, and photobiological power generation.

Photovoltaic power generation can actually serve as a representative of solar photovoltaic power generation, and compared to solar thermal power generation, photovoltaic power generation devices are simpler.

Overall, photovoltaic power generation, as a part of solar photovoltaic power generation, has more advantages than solar thermal power generation.