As we become more and more aware of our impact on the environment, the importance of transitioning from conventional energy resources to renewable sources is becoming clearer to consumers. Green energy is a solution to greater sustainability in our power grid, but the term is met with confusion by some, and commonly used to refer to renewables by others.

Solar panels can be used for a wide variety of applications including remote power systems for cabins, telecommunications equipments, remote sensing and for the production of electricity of residential and commercial solar electric systems.

Reducing carbon emissions, preventing further environmental harm, and creating jobs are just some of the opportunities provided by investing in green energy. And by buying green energy, you are helping bring that future closer.

A solar panel, or photo-voltaic (PV) module, is an assembly of photo-voltaic cells mounted in a framework for installation. Solar panels use sunlight as a source of energy to generate direct current electricity. A collection of PV modules is called a PV panel, and a system of PV panels is call an array. Arrays of a photovoltaic system supply solar electricity to electrical equipment.

Photovoltaic modules use light energy (photons) from the Sun to generate electricity through the photovoltaic effect. Most modules use wafer-based crystalline silicon cells or thin-film cells. The structural (load carrying) member of a module can be either the top layer or the back layer. Cells must be protected from mechanical damage and moisture. Most modules are rigid, but semi-flexible ones based on thin-film cells are also available. The cells are usually connected electrically in series, one to another to the desired voltage, and then in parallel to increase current.

Several companies have begun embedding electronics into PV modules. This enables performing MPPT for each module individually, and the measurement of performance data for monitoring and fault detection at module level. Some of these solutions make use of power optimizers, a DC-to-DC converter technology developed to maximize the power harvest from solar photovoltaic systems.

Standards generally used in photovoltaic modules:

IEC 61215 (crystalline silicon performance), 61646 (thin film performance) and 61730 (all modules, safety), 61853 (Photovoltaic module performance testing & energy rating)

ISO 9488 Solar energy

CE mark

Electrical Safety Tester (EST) Series (EST-460, EST-22V, EST-22H, EST-110)

Wind is used to produce electricity using the kinetic energy created by air in motion. This is transformed into electrical energy using wind turbines or wind energy conversion systems. Wind first hits a turbine's blades, causing them to rotate and turn the turbine connected to them.

The theoretical maximum efficiency of a turbine is ~59%, also known as the Betz Limit. Most turbines extract ~50% of the energy from the wind that passes through the rotor area. The capacity factor of a wind turbine is its average power output divided by its maximum power capability.

Wind power is variable, and during low wind periods, it must be replaced by other power sources. Transmission networks presently cope with outages of other generation plants and daily changes in electrical demand, but the variability of intermittent power sources such as wind power is more frequent than those of conventional power generation plants which, when scheduled to be operating, may be able to deliver their nameplate capacity around 95% of the time.