Why Surge Protection Is Important For Solar Panels

Read More: https://www.raycap.com/pv-surge-protection/

 

Solar energy production is considered by many to be one of the most important technological developments in the las 100 years. This is because the energy appetite of the world is growing every year, while the resources necessary to satisfy that consumption are growing less plentiful. The supply of fossil fuels that can be burned in order to move turbines to produce power is limited, and some models are showing the supplies to run out within the next few decades if the rate of consumption continues. This means that without the evolution of alternative energy sources that can completely fulfill the demand, we will be caught short and not able to supply the electricity that is needed. Imagine flipping your light switch on only to find out that there is not enough power produced in your area to fulfill your request! The rate of development of the technologies that can fill these needs has been slow, namely due to the lack of funding from governments and institutions that can solve the issues that keep development hindered. Government investment in technological research could move the development along faster, but the powerful fossil fuel industry does not want anything that threatens their bottom line to come about until it is absolutely necessary. They view the development of solar as a technology that could replace fossil fuel production as a threat to their current bottom line, so they work diligently to slow the development of the methods that could allow production totals to be enough to satisfy demand. This keeps fossil fuel production relevant.

 

Luckily, the private sector is not slowing down in its own development of solutions. One example of this is the development of surge protection devoices specifically for PV systems, which can both increase production totals as well as reducing costs. This is accomplished through thwarting the travel of power surges from the source to the equipment used in the process. Lightning strikes to solar panels is a common occurrence, and the power surge that follows flows along the connectivity cables that are necessary to join the panels to the control equipment. This pathway is used by the surging power to travel large distances from the strike point and overwhelm the equipment at the circuit level. This compounds damage that is caused by every strike, necessitating the repair or replacement of control equipment in addition to the panels. The system gets knocked offline for as long as the restoration process takes place, and as a result the amounts of power produced by the same amount of daily sunlight are diminished. Through the installation of PV surge protection, these surges can have little to no impact on that downstream equipment, limiting damage to the panels themselves. This allows for quicker restoration to functionality as well as lower operational costs, driving down the costs of electricity and cleaning up the environment at the same time. The private sector may be the saving grace of the world as far as atmosphere and economy