Top Solar Panels Ireland  energy is an abundant and clean power source that provides a way to lower or even eliminate your electric bill. It offers you the opportunity to generate your own electricity independent of the electric grid — and, depending on your situation, earn credit on your electric bill from the local utility through net metering.

Since Russel Ohl discovered that silicon, an element found in sand, created an electric current when exposed to sunlight at Bell Labs in 1941, solar technology has evolved and become widely used. A solar panel system is a collection of solar cells that work together to convert sunlight into electrical energy. A typical solar panel has a sheet of thin, flexible solar cells. These are mounted on a support frame or rack, oriented to face the sun (ideally south in the Northern Hemisphere, north in the Southern Hemisphere) and tilted at an angle of 15 degrees less than the latitude in summer and 25 degrees more in winter to capture as much solar energy as possible.

Maximizing Your Investment: Tips for Choosing the Right Solar Panels

Many structures are well suited to solar panels, including commercial buildings (like Google’s headquarters in California) and home roofs. Larger projects like railway stations and high-speed train cover tunnels can also be designed to take advantage of sunlight with solar panels that are integrated into the structure (Fig. 19.5). Farm buildings are also a good choice, especially as they have simpler structures and gentler pitches that can be easily adapted to solar panels.