How it works
Solar electric or photovoltaic (fo-toe-vole-tay-ick), often abbreviated as PV is a technology that converts sunlight into DC (direct current) electricity. This DC electricity then can be used to directly power some appliances such as fans and water pumps or, since almost all homes use AC (alternating electricity), it can be inverted into AC for use in your home or buisness.
PV systems are made up of many non-moving components
The solar cell is the building block of the system. It is made up of semi-conductor materials. When sunlight is absorbed by the solar cell these semi-conductors produce an electric voltage. That is then transfered through the circuitry on the semi-conductor. The circuitry on the cell can be seen, it is the tiny "wires" you see when you look at a cell.
A solar module is simply a collection of solar cells wired together and housed in one single unit to meet the specifications of specfic applications.
A PV array is a group of solar modules wired together. The number of modules in an array varies with each application. One array may consist of 2 modules while another may consist of 14 modules.
A single application may have multiple arrays to meet the requirements of that particular application.