solar power plants

Solar power plants generate electrical energy by direct conversion of the solar radiation energy, taking advantage of the photovoltaic effect. Energy generated in this manner is referred to as solar photovoltaic (PV) energy.

Rapid technological development, increased need for electrical energy, continuous growth of energy products prices and greater environmental awareness all contributed to the increasing exploitation of the solar energy for the generation of electrical power. Due to the wider application and ever growing number of installed photovoltaic systems, PV equipment prices are decreasing daily.

Main components of solar power plants:

• Solar panels
They consists of several electrically interconnected PV cells generating much greater output power.

By their production technology and characteristics solar panels are divided into:

• monocrystalline
• polycrystalline
• thin-film

• Inverters
Part of the photovoltaic system converting direct current (DC) into alternating current (AC) to enable the operation of devices using alternating power (in case of autonomous systems), i.e. the transmission of electricity to the public electricity power network (networked systems).

• Stand-alone inverters
• Grid-tie inverters
  

Illustration of the photovoltaic solar potential in the Republic of Croatia