Seasonal performance: solar panel output in winter vs. summer

Solar energy solutions have provided Pakistani households with energy; energy that the grid is too mismanaged to provide efficiently, and that has made solar energy solutions the best ever thing that happened to homeowners in Pakistan. And this brings us to an important point in the discussion of solar energy and solar energy panels more specifically; the solar panels that we enjoy during the summers, their efficiency, their generation numbers and whatnot, is it the same for winters? As the winters approach, what should homeowners expect?

Well, in this blog post, we will discuss exactly that; the generation parity, if there is any, in the solar panels during the seasons of summer and winter. And in this context, we will also touch upon the PV effect, which is the governing effect that actually generates the energy for the consumers from the solar panels, and whether it is affected by the temperature or the light itself. While it may be surprising for some, but lets delve deep into how solar panel performance evolves during seasons.

Solar panel performance: the PV effect

Solar panels, solar energy systems in general rely on what is called the photovoltaic effect to generate energy from the sunlight. And without getting way too deep in the principle itself, we can understand one thing; the solar energy generated by the system has something to do with the sunlight, right? Well, technically, yes. The PV effect works on sunlight, yes, but it requires temperature more than the sunlight itself. Which explains why solar energy output increases during summers, while sunlight itself doesn’t go down so much during winters. The PV effect works not on light itself, but rather the temperature that comes with it. The temperature and the energy with it forces the silicon or whatever the wafer is made out of, to lose its electrons, which then eventually forms an electrical current from the solar panel.

Therefore, we can now understand that the PV effect works on temperature more than sunlight itself. Sunlight is just one part of the equation, the completing part is the temperature that comes with sunlight. So, what effect does it have on solar panel performance during different weathers? Well, now that we know how it works, we can understand what happens during summers and winters when solar panel performance can fluctuate, which people may wrongfully assume is because of the sunlight, when the sunlight might not really have changed all that much.

Summers:

During summers, solar energy performance and solar panel generation itself is always at an all-time high; and much of it is down to the temperature bump that comes with it, and not the sunlight that is so characteristic of the summer season. This helps explain the energy bump itself; while sunlight is good and covering all the panels, it’s actually the temperature of the air around the panel that helps with energy generation; the hotter it gets, the more performance you get out of the solar panel. Which explains why solar performance peaks during the hottest months, like July, August.

Winters:

The reverse of the summer effect on solar panels can be viewed on solar panels during winters. This is because, as explained beforehand, solar panels and the PV effect works off of temperature, and not sunlight. Therefore, even during winter days when the sun is out and shining, consumers might not see the same performance as they might have seen during summers, because the temperature isn’t high enough to kickstart the reaction within the solar panel, which contributes to the slightly lower generation that consumers might get out of their solar panels during the winters.

Best Solar Company in Pakistan

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