To turn a photovoltaic solar cell into an infrared solar energy panel the glass has to be treated during the production phase. It is turned into low ironed tempered glass as opposed to normal ironed tempered glass.

By producing low ironed tempered glass, it means that the system can absorb high wavelength sunlight. The high wave length range is from 800 to 1200nm and this is the infrared range. A lower wave length from 400 to 800nm is the normal visible sunlight.

The reason why you would want a photovoltaic cell which picks up infrared light is because it makes the panel more effective, it increases energy conversion efficiencies.

For cells covered in non infrared glass, they will only produce energy when the sun is shining directly upon them, when sunlight is in the 400 to 800nm range. This means if the sun goes behind a cloud, they stop producing power. When the sun goes behind a cloud the only light that can be converted into energy is infrared sunlight.

So why aren’t all solar cells covered with infrared low ironed tempered glass, surely it is more eco friendly? Well there is only one reason and that is cost. As the glass needs additional materials and complex production methods being applied to it, this pushes up the cost considerably. This means when deciding whether to go for the extra expense or not you have to weigh up your payback period timeline.

If you live in a part of the world where you do not experience much cloud cover then it would not be worth the extra investment because when the sun is shining directly upon the panels the non-infrared glass is just as efficient as the treated glass. However if you live in the part of the country where you do get a lot of cloud cover then it is probably worth going for. It will mean even during the winter months you can generate electric solar power.

The other benefit of the low ironed coatings is that it cuts down the emission by about 80% which increases the efficiency of the solar cell. Emission is a technical term for the amount of energy which is released back into the atmosphere. Obviously you don’t want to have the effect of energy bouncing off your panel, you want your panel to absorb and convert as much energy as possible.

So at the end of the day, it comes down to what you can afford. In an ideal world you have all your solar power being produced with infrared photovoltaic solar cells.

Infrared Photovoltaic Solar Cells is a post from: How to Build a Solar Panel