Timeline for What happens to electricity generated in solar panel when no load is connected?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 31, 2021 at 11:42 | comment | added | jwh20 | I was not attempting to provide an exhaustive explanation here. Just a basic answer. There are entire texts on this behavior and analysis of PVs. As with so many things in engineering, the vast majority of use cases will be explained by the relatively basic ideas above. | |
| Jan 30, 2021 at 20:16 | comment | added | user57037 | Conservation of energy could be satisfied (theoretically, at least) in other ways. The unloaded panel might become more reflective or transmissive so that the absorbed energy is lower. In that case the temperature could stay the same. Of course this is not what happens. I am just pointing out that conservation of energy alone does not dictate a temperature rise in the unloaded panel. | |
| Jan 30, 2021 at 13:37 | comment | added | Sreeraj Chundayil | Yes, where does the energy go was my doubt :) | |
| Jan 30, 2021 at 13:37 | vote | accept | Sreeraj Chundayil | ||
| Jan 30, 2021 at 11:43 | comment | added | jwh20 | Not really in my opinion. The value of Rs is going to be quite high and is not going to significantly contribute to the heating of the panel. Of course you are right in that there is shunt resistance and some current does flow, even when the load is connected but PV panels are designed to minimize Rs because this path will interfere with the panel's efficiency. | |
| Jan 30, 2021 at 11:38 | comment | added | Transistor | "... the disconnected panel would be hotter than the connected one." I think that can be explained by the solar cell electrical model's internal shunt resistance which is where the "electricity" goes. | |
| Jan 30, 2021 at 11:34 | history | answered | jwh20 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |