Large scale photovoltaic (PV) systems are made up of cells assembled in panels and used to collect energy from the Sun and inverters to turn the DC power that is produced by the panels into AC power for consumer use.

PV cells consist of semiconductor layers made from crystalline silicon or gallium arsenide, and transform sunlight into DC electricity.

A typical solar cell consists of a glass cover for the cell, an anti-reflective layer to take full advantage of sunlight, a front and back contact, and semiconductor layers.

A PV cell combines negative and positive semiconductor layers, connected through a junction. When exposed to sunlight, electrons move from one layer to another producing an electric current in the junction that is then carried away through a circuit to an inverter.

By itself, a single PV cell does not produce a great amount of electricity, so individual cells are wired together to create a solar panel. A large number of panels are then connected to produce large amounts of electricity.

Solar panels are connected with system components such as Xantrex PV inverters to convert the DC power produced by the panels to AC electricity for consumer use.

During the last twenty years, the number of residential and commercial PV systems installed world-wide has increased dramatically, growing at a rate of approximately 20 per cent each year.

Research, such as Xantrex's work on the high reliability inverter for distributed power applications, will support the continued use of large-scale solar systems by improving reliability, reducing cost and increasing performance.

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• Xantrex PV Series Inverters (North American)
• Xantrex GT100E (International)
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• Xantrex GT Series 3 Phase (North American)

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