What is photovoltaics?
The term photovoltaics is a composition of two words: the greek word for light – “photo” – and the unit used for electrical voltage – “volt”. Photovoltaics names the direct transformation of sunlight into electrical power with the help of solar cells. Inside the solar cell, the sunlight causes an electrical voltage which is being picked up at the surface. This means, photovoltaic modules transform sunlight into electrical power. This transformation is based upon the so-called “photo-effect”, which was discovered by Alexander Bequerel in 1839 already. The “photo-effect” is perceived as the release of positive and negative charge carriers inside a solid state body, caused by light irradiation.
