Solar Home Tip - What is a Photovoltaic or PV Module?
A photovoltaic or PV module is commonly made from a number of cells connected together in series. This is because each cell only produces a voltage of about 0.5 Volts. It is usual for there to be 36 cells connected together to provide a voltage of about 18 – 20 Volts. This forms a module which can be used to charge a 12 Volt battery.
There are also ‘thin film’ modules where the separate cells are formed as part of the manufacturing process. Figure 3 shows such a module. This technique is employed for the small solar panels which are fitted to calculators and similar devices. They are much cheaper to manufacture but deliver lower efficiency. This means that less of the light which hits them is converted to electricity. Recent advances in technology, however, have made larger and more efficient thin-film modules available.
Often a number of modules will be connected together into an array in order to provide more power than a single module can provide.
