Solar Energy

 Solar energy is the cleanest, most viable form of renewable energy available to assist in powering your home. The availablity and wide use of this energy shows exactly how versatile it is in this day and age.

In locations such as Australia, Africa and the Middle East, sunlight is maximised and can be utilised in earnest to assist the power grid and empower the individual and governments alike to take measures to help with the environmental issues facing the world today.

Globalink Investments can provide a service that can assist individuals, construction companies/developers and governments in implementing systems that best suit the needs and requirements, we specialise in:

  • Renewable energy system technical modelling
  • Technical assessment of competitor products
  • Strategic engineering advice
  • Review product specifications
  • Design and construct prototype equipment
  • Evaluate performance of protoypes within systems
  • Provide production documentation
  • Advice on Countries standards and assess product compliance
  • Design and/or design review of renewable energy projects
  • Design review of power electronic systems
  • Review of Projects Compliance to Countries standards
  • Monitoring, analysis and reporting on system performance

Solar Energy Information

Solar energy can be converted to thermal (or heat) energy used to:

  • Heat water - for  use in homes, commercial buildings, apartments or swimming pools
  • Heat spaces - inside greenhouses, homes and other buildings

A few cutting-edge companies, though, are looking past the big, bulky solar cells of yesterday... to the next generation of solar energy:

Building Integrated Photo Voltaics (BIPV)

  •  These new types of solar cells use little--if not zero--silicon, and can be adhered to a variety of thin substrates, including glass and flexible stainless steel.
  • When made this way, solar panels can be integrated directly into building's shingles, architectural glass, or even into the facade.

The Cells

  • Mono crystalline
  • Poly crystalline
  • Amorphous

  • Other more exotic double and triple junction and non silicon cells

    

What is Monocrystalline Silicon?

Monocrystalline Silicon is made from very pure Monocrystalline Silicon and has a single and continuous crystal lattice structure with practically zero defects or impurities. 

One of the many reasons Monocrystalline Silicon is superior to other types of silicon cells are their high efficiencies - which are typically around 15%.

What is Polycrystalline Silicon? 

Polycrystalline Silicon - also referred to as "polysilicon" or "Poly-Si" is a material consisting of multiple small silicon crystals.

The main advantage of Polycrystalline Silicon over other types of silicon is that the mobility can be orders of magnitude larger and the material also shows greater stability under electric field and light-induced stress.

This allows far more complex, high-speed electrical circuits that can be created on the glass substrate along with the amorphous silicon devices, which are still needed for their low-leakage characteristics.

What is an amorphous solar cell?

They are named so because of their composition at the microscopic scale. Amorphous means "without shape". When the term is applied to solar cells it means that the silicon material that makes up the cell is not highly structured or crystallised.

Amorphous solar cells are usually created by applying doped silicon material to the back of a plate of glass. The cells usually appear dark brown on the sun-facing side and silvery on the conductive side.

Inverters

Solar Current Inverter Information

·      Inverters change Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC). Stand alone inverters can be used to convert DC from a battery to AC to run electronic equipment, motors, appliances, etc.

·      Synchronous Inverters can be used to convert the DC output of a photovoltaic module, a wind generator or a fuel cell to AC power to be connected to the utility grid.

·      Multifunction inverters perform both functions.

Illustration: Solar Energy Setup


Orientation

  • Facing towards East - More in the morning, less in the afternoon
  • Facing West - More in the afternoon, less in the morning
  • High Slope - More in winter
  • Flatter slope - More in summer

Shade

·         Shading effect is dramatic on PV

·         Less of an effect on amorphous

·         Can lose 80% of output when shadows cross

·         Affects more than just the shaded area due to the electrical connection between panels