solar panel for experiment

Solar Energy Experiment - Teach kids about converting light to energy

Posted by Admin / in Energy & Electricity Experiments

Experimenting with small solar panels is helpful in learning how solar energy works. Small scale solar panels are capable of producing only a few watts of power, but they can teach us much more about how larger solar panels are used to help power homes. Small solar panels work the same way that their larger counterparts do, by taking energy from the sun through photovoltaic cells and directly powering a DC electrical device or by storing the energy for later use in a rechargeable battery. Small solar panels are available from a number of sources including Radio Shack and Amazon. The solar panel pictured in the example was purchased from Harbor Freight Tools. Amazon has the Elenco Solar Educational Kit which also includes a 5 VDC motor to match the 5 volt solar panel. The solar panel pictured has a selectable output voltage selector and a built-in blocking diode to allow rechargeable battery changing. Blocking diodes in short will allow voltage to pass only in one direction. This is useful in the case of a solar panel being used to charge batteries because it it were not present the batteries would be discharged back to the photovoltaic cells at night when there is no sunlight to provide power. There is some loss of energy by passing the voltage through a blocking diode, but it is useful for experimentation. Many full-scale solar panel arrays use low-loss Schottky diodes and a fuse between the batteries and each solar panel.

Let's try a simple experiment with the solar panel by testing the output DC voltage and output current from the panel.

Materials Needed

• small solar panel
• A voltmeter or multimeter with probes
• Sunlight or an incandescent light source

EXPERIMENT STEPS

Step 1: Set up the solar panel under a good light source. Generally, direct sunlight will provide the full amount of voltage from the panel. Incandescent light will only provide approximately 50 percent to 75 percent of the stated voltage output of the panels from a distance of about 5 feet from the light source (60 watts). For higher wattage bulbs or closer distances, the output voltage will be higher.

Step 2: Connect the output black (-), negative lead from the solar panel to the negative probe wire of the voltmeter. Connect the output red (+), positive lead from the solar panel to the positive probe wire of the voltmeter. Alligator clips make the connection very easy.

Step 3: Set the voltmeter to test for DC voltage. It may be necessary to set it to a factored dial setting on the voltmeter. Set the meter to DC test, 10 if there are different test settings. Turn on the voltmeter.

Step 4: Observe the voltmeter voltage reading.

Step 5: Set the voltmeter to test for DC current. It may be necessary to set it to a factored dial setting on the voltmeter.

Step 6: Observe the voltmeter current reading.

Step 7: The example solar panel model has a selectable output switch. Changing the switch setting varies both the output voltage and output current. The higher the voltage output the lower the current and vice versa. If your solar panel has selectable settings, try repeating Steps 3-6 with different output settings. If not, try moving the solar panel closer and further away from the light source while output readings are observed.

SCIENCE LEARNED

Solar panels are capable of producing electricity from not only sunlight, but also from artificial light sources. The amount of voltage produced from a small solar panel is surprisingly good, however, the amount of current produced from this same solar panel is minimal. To produce enough electricity to be useful, much larger solar panels are required. We also found that directing the panels towards the light source helps to maximize the energy output. In practice, the position of solar panels is optimized to receive the most amount of sunlight possible. Many times, solar fields also include servo motors to help change the position of the solar panel to track the sun's position using a photoresistor sensor.

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Solar Science Experiments for Kids

Solar Science Experiments for Kids are a fun way to teach children about renewable energy sources. These experiments are geared for children ages 5-10, but may be adapted for all ages.

My daughter is getting VERY excited about her upcoming week at science camp!  In preparation for this amazing week-long summer camp, we are trying to get into the habit of “thinking like a scientist!”  

This week, we focused on solar science experiments and creative problem-solving.

Converting Sunlight into Heat.

Absorbing and reflecting heat: solar oven, solar heater: sun tea, solar prints, solar energy books for kids.

A collection of solar science experiments to try with your child in the backyard to encourage them to “think like a scientist!”

We bought this great little kid pool for our backyard and filled it up with cold water right from the faucet. Our baby put his finger in and announced, “COLD pool” and refused to get in. Without filling the pool with water from our home heater, I posed the question:

How can we heat up water the fastest?

This is the solar experiment we decided would best help us answer this question.

Materials Needed:

• 3 identical cups,
• 2 sheets of white paper
• 1 sheet of black.
• 1 plastic lining or plastic bag to cover one cup
• thermometer

Directions.

• Fill each cup with the same amount of liquid of the same cool temperature.
• Measure the water temperature and set one cup on each paper. Cover one of the glasses on white paper with plastic.
• Have a discussion and make predictions about what you think will happen to the water in each glass.
• Let the water sit in a sunny place for one hour.
• Remeasure and discuss the results.

What do you think my kids should do to heat up the water in their pool faster?

* Parent tips:

A black background absorbs more heat than a light background.

Covering the cup slows or stops evaporation. The plastic covering may also absorb some of the suns’ rays.

The kids were fascinated with warming the liquid with the sun and asked, “If the sun can heat up water, what else can it heat up?”  They got to work building their own SOLAR oven using recycled materials.

Materials Needed: (use recycled materials when possible!)

• cardboard box
• black paper
• tortilla chips
• shredded cheese

• Let your child build their own oven. My second grader found some black paper (the back was colored on) and started gluing it inside the box. She then added in some tinfoil, predicting that the foil would reflect the suns rays and heat up her cheese better. She covered the top with saran wrap in hopes it would heat the nachos faster.
• Set the solar oven in a sunny spot.
• Add the chips and top with shredded cheese.
• Set a timer for 5 minutes. Record your results.
• Once the cheese has melted, eat!
• Then, if you choose, try to build another model of a solar oven. Make some changes and compare your results. * THINK like a scientist!!!!* A scientist will perform experiments over and over again to collect data and to figure out better and more efficient ways of doing things.

Some people have tried cooking hot-dogs, nachos are WAY easier!

Keeping a science journal is a great way to connect literacy to science!

Now my kids were on a solar experiment role. “Hey, MOM, do you think we could make your tea with energy from the sun instead of wasting electricity to heat your water inside?” Sure kiddos, what will we need to do?

I love that they were thinking creatively, asking questions, and applying what they have learned.

• Large glass jar
• 2 Bags of Tea

• Fill the jar with water.
• Add 2 tea bags
• Place in a sunny place
• Gently shake every once in a while (per the kids instructions)
• Wait HOURS (they learned the sun is powerful, but does take time to harness the energy)
• Serve warm OR pour over ice cubes for iced tea!

You could talk to your kids about the sun and have them make sun-prints. We used the  solar sun print kit,  but should have just bought the  re-fill package  ($5.99 vs $10.49) as we just used the paper.

Here’s the directions for How to Make Solar Prints with Kids .

More Ideas for Solar FUN :

• Solar Power STEM Camp Activities
• Studying the effects of the sun and the importance of sun screen at the beach
• Solar Eclipse Videos and Activities for Kids
• Running on Sunshine: How Does Solar Energy Work?  by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano
• Solar Power: Capturing the Sun’s Energy  by Laurie Brearley
• Solar Story: How One Community Lives Alongside the World’s Biggest Solar Plant  by Allan Drummond
• Time to Shine!  by Catherine Daly

You can explore more sun and solar energy books here in our Summer Books for Kids Book List .

Now we are going to work on keeping our “science caps” for the rest of the month (we are stopping at a thrift store tomorrow to pick up our take-apart to be used during the camp week.

We are going to be on the lookout for electronics powered by the sun – maybe a calculator with a solar panel?

Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be fun to disassemble and tinker with. I’m thinking we won’t be able to wait until camp and may have to find a couple of items for home too! I’m not sure who is more excited about a whole week of science and inventing – her or me!

Looking for more science activities for your child? Try these…

Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!

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January 24, 2020 at 9:15 am

Thanks for sharing these great solar science experiments. My kids both did camp invention a few years ago and they both had a really good time learning and getting interested in science. They are currently both interested in STEM careers as a matter of fact!

September 8, 2019 at 10:50 pm

Thank you for this great ideas. this is exactly the activity I would like for our school children to learn, and discover how useful the Solar Energy is in our daily lives most of all to our Tribal School Children.

June 4, 2015 at 7:53 am

Love the nachos idea! So much fun!

December 21, 2014 at 11:12 am

Thanks Anna – We LOVE Science and getting kids to think and explore the world around them.

It is so important to foster the curiosity at an early age – you will have to let me know how these experiments turn out!

December 21, 2014 at 11:11 am

The science camp sounds like a ton of fun! Enjoy!

Thanks Maggie – we LOVE making sun tea!

July 12, 2014 at 10:58 pm

This is awesome, Amanda! What a great bunch of science activities!

June 3, 2014 at 8:41 pm

These are such fun ideas. My little guy is so curious about the way things work. He would love to try these.

June 2, 2014 at 11:03 pm

Great summer activities. I am not looking forward to full on summer heat, but it is perfect for these kids of experiments. We are also looking forward to our science camp – camp Galileo.

June 2, 2014 at 5:41 am

Oh I love these!! Especially the Sun Tea one!!!

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15 Practical Solar-Powered DIY Projects [Easy – Hard]

In this guide, we’ll show you 15 practical solar-powered do-it-yourself projects to start at home.

Solar DIY Projects [Easy to Hard]

Sun jar solar light (easy).

Brief Overall: The Sun Jar Solar Light is a way to spice up your garden decor—it’s a jar that “captures” sunlight into a pot and lights up an area with a colorful glow of your choice for the night!

Components Required: Tiny jars, solar-powered lamps, cans of frosting spray of chosen colors, pliers, a screwdriver, and tape.

Starting a Fire with Chocolate and a Can (Easy)

With this point, you can light the chocolate bar’s wrapper on fire within seconds in the right conditions.

DIY Solar Hot Tub (Easy)

Brief Overall: This one might be self-explanatory, but turning a regular bath into a luxurious hot tub has never been easier—this process can be repeatable for a swimming pool if desired. This DIY requires covering the top of a bank or a tub with a glass layer that lets sunlight through but traps the rays, so they’re unable to escape.

Solar Engraver (Easy)

Brief Overall: For those interested in laser engraving or laser cutting, this DIY might suit you! Simply, by taking a magnifying glass, you can focus the rays of the sun into a powerful beam that engraves on most materials and even cuts through weaker materials.

Solar-Powered Bluetooth Speaker and Charger (Easy)

Brief Overall: Although this build is easy, it does require a lot of money, but not nearly enough as an actual solar kit.

Applications: If you’re wanting to listen to music while jogging, hiking, camping, working outside, or just chilling in your backyard, you’ll see the worth in utilizing this simple build.

Solar-Powered Car (Easy)

Applications: By allowing a certain amount of light in, students can measure how far the solar car travels over time to calculate how much power is being inputted into the solar panel or even how much energy is being lost by being translated into AC power.

Calculating Solar Power for your House (Easy)

All you have to do is calculate the square footage of your roof and divide the number by 15 (the square footage of an average solar panel)—that is how many solar panels you’ll need.

DIY Cardboard Solar Oven (Medium)

Brief Overall: Tired of baking cookies on your car’s dashboard? With the DIY Cardboard Solar Oven, you’ll be able to have fun cooking while using inexpensive, standard building materials and staying environmentally friendly.

Components Required: A cardboard box, glue, aluminum foil, duct tape, black paper, a heat-proof glass bowl, a thermometer, a time-and-temperature chart, and a hot, sunny day.

DIY Solar Water Heater (Medium)

Applications: If you need an energy-saving method to heat water to shower with, this lengthy but simple DIY build will impress you and your neighbors.

Solar-Powered Fan (Medium)

The best part about this project is that it’s completely scalable—you can make this as small as a cellphone or as large as a ceiling fan (which will require more power and hardware).

Solar Chimney (Medium)

Brief Overall: From a popular DIY build, the solar chimney project allows you to build and install a solar chimney that redirects light and heat through a tunnel right to your house.

Components Required: Many mirrors, a glass dome, a buildable chimney (if building another chimney for solar power), and time.

Solar Refrigerator (Medium)

Components Required: A solar-powered fan, an insulated box, aluminum foil, scissors, a blade or a saw, glue, tape, and standard hardware tools.

Solar-Powered Water Still (Medium)

Applications: If you’re ever out camping and you’ve forgotten your water bottle, you’re not entirely out of luck just yet. With this trick, you can quench your thirst out in the wild.

DIY Solar Generator (Hard)

This build requires many parts from solar kits, such as a solar panel, a solar power inverter , a battery, a charge controller , and wires, but it’ll help out during emergencies or even on camping trips if you’re in need to charge something.

Solar USB Phone Charger (Hard)

Brief Overall: Instead of spending $60+ on a solar phone charger that barely works, you can make a DIY solar USB phone charger at home . With simple tools and items lying around the house, you can build a custom-made solar charger for phones and more.

We hope that this guide helps you build your next solar DIY project during the weekend! These projects are more than just for usage; they help teach you and others about the sun’s infinite uses while saving the environment.

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Science Projects > Earth & Space Projects > Learn About Solar Energy Science Projects  

Learn About Solar Energy Science Projects

Solar Science Projects

Absorb or reflect, what you need:.

• 2 clear glass pie plates or bowls
• 1 sheet of black construction paper
• 1 sheet of white construction paper
• 2 ice cubes
• A sunny spot outside

What You Do:

1. Place the sheets of black and white paper on a driveway or sidewalk in the sun. (The papers should not be touching each other. Your hand should fit in the space between them.)

2. Set a pie plate on top of each sheet of paper and put an ice cube in the middle of each pie plate.

3. After 5 minutes, check on the ice cubes to see which one has melted the most.

4. If they haven’t melted much, check again in 5 more minutes. Keep checking until the ice in one of the pie plates has completely melted. It could take more than 30 minutes for the ice to melt all the way, depending on how hot it is where you live.

5. Which ice cube melted faster – the one on the white paper or the black paper? Feel the sheets of paper. Which one feels warmest? Touch the dishes too, just be careful because the glass can get pretty hot!

What Happened:

The ice in the dish with black paper under it should have melted first. Both pieces probably started to melt at about the same time, but the one on black probably melted completely into a puddle of water first. Why did it melt before the one on the white paper?

Glass also absorbs heat, so even if you had not put any paper under the dishes, the ice still would have melted from being in the hot sun in glass dishes. Both ice cubes probably would have finished melting at about the same time without the black or white paper, though. The black paper absorbed even more of the sun’s energy (light and heat) than the glass dish, making the ice melt faster. The white paper reflected most of the sun’s energy that hit it, keeping the dish and the ice in it cooler for longer so it took longer to melt. After the ice had melted, the paper and the dishes probably felt very warm (except for in the spot where the ice was keeping it cool). In fact, the dish on top of the black paper probably even felt hot when you touched it! Can you explain why? (Hint: it’s the same reason that the ice melted!)

You can make fun pictures by using the sun’s power to make the color fade from construction paper! This project uses repositionable glue, which you can find in most stores that sell office or school supplies. (Elmer’s and Scotch brands both make this type of glue.) You could also do the project by setting objects on your paper and laying it flat in the sun instead of using the special glue.

• dark colors of construction paper
• solid objects with interesting shapes that you can trace around (leaves, buttons, coins, and plastic toys work well)
• repositionable glue (Optional. Made by Elmer’s or Scotch brands and available where office or school supplies are sold.)
• a window that gets lots of sunlight

1. Trace around your objects on construction paper and cut out each shape. Or, you can draw your own shapes and cut them out. Be creative! You could even draw letters to spell your name.

2. Arrange the paper shapes onto a new sheet of dark-colored construction paper to make a nice design.

3. Use the repositionable glue to stick each shape to your picture. Don’t use much glue though, or it will be hard to peel your shapes off later.

4. Turn the shapes towards the window and tape the corners of your picture to the window to hold it in place.

5. Leave your picture in the window for a couple days or until you notice that the color of the construction paper has started to fade (compare it to a new piece of the same color of paper to see if it has changed).

6. When it is quite a bit lighter than it was when you started (it might take up to a week to get light enough; it depends on how many sunny days you have!), untape the picture from the window and peel off the shapes; they should come off pretty easily, just do it slowly to make sure your picture doesn’t tear.

Have you ever left an art project made from construction paper in the sun for too long? If so, you probably noticed that the color started to fade and the paper ended up a lot lighter than it once was. In this project, you covered parts of the paper with paper shapes, then when you left your picture in the sunlight, it started to fade. Since the shapes blocked sunlight from hitting the parts of the paper that they covered, you could see the original color of the paper after you peeled off the shapes! The extra layer of paper from the shapes protected those parts of the paper from the sun’s rays that faded the color from the rest of the sheet of paper.

Sunlight contains ultraviolet (or UV) rays – the same rays that will give you a sunburn if you are in the sun for too long without sunscreen on. Those rays cause chemical reactions in the dye that gives construction paper its color. When the paper absorbs the rays of light, a chemical reaction breaks down the dyes so they aren’t as bright. You can learn more about chemical reactions here . UV rays can lighten a lot of things. Some people’s hair turns a lighter color when they are in a lot of sunlight. Hanging white laundry outside in the sun to dry can make it look whiter also.

Solar Science Lesson

About the sun.

The sun is the biggest, brightest, and hottest source of light available to us on the earth. It is in the center of our solar system and all the other planets, including Earth, spin around it. Read our newsletter about the solar system to learn more.

Did you know that the sun is actually a star? The outside of the sun (its surface) is covered with very hot gases. The different gases mix together and cause reactions that are called nuclear reactions . Nuclear reactions create a lot of energy, which makes the sun very hot. The heat creates a lot of light too. Did you know that the sun is so bright that it will damage your eyes if you look directly at it? The light from the sun can also hurt your skin. Have you ever had a sunburn? Although sun rays can hurt our bodies if we aren’t careful, nothing would be able to live on the earth without the energy we get from the sun in the forms of heat and light. Plants use energy from the sun to make food, then animals and humans eat plants for food. Without the sun, Earth would be too cold for anyone or anything to live.

The sun is 93 million miles away from Earth. If it were possible to drive from here to there, it would take over 150 years driving at 70 miles per hour (about the same speed you would travel on a highway)! However, light travels very fast and can get from the sun to the earth in about 8 minutes! Here is a close-up picture of the Sun from NASA.

What Is Solar Energy?

Solar energy is light and heat that comes from the sun. Solar means sun and energy is what we need in order to do things. We use energy to do things like eat breakfast and play outside. Energy is also in things around us, like light and heat. The sun shines in the day, giving us light. It also makes the earth warmer, giving us heat. You can learn more about energy here . Solar energy is known as renewable energy , which means that it can never run out.

What Can Solar Energy Be Used For?

– Inside a greenhouse to keep the temperature warm enough for plants to grow all year, even in the winter! (Think about this: on a hot summer day, when a car is parked in the sun for awhile, the inside of the car gets very hot because the car absorbs heat from the sun and everything warms up. That is the same way a greenhouse works.) – To dry clothes on a clothesline. – To warm up water to give a dog a bath outside. – To heat up the water in a swimming pool. – You can even use the sun’s heat to make salt water drinkable! This project shows you how.

Here are some good things about solar power:

• It can never be used up. This means that it is renewable energy .
• After a solar panel is paid for, solar energy is free!
• It can be used in places where electricity is not available, like far away from cities, up in mountains, or even on boats in the ocean!
• It does not release anything into the air. Some kinds of energy release things that are harmful to the environment, people, and animals.
• Solar panels last a long time, usually about 30-40 years!

These are some problems with solar power:

• Solar panels cost a lot. They are expensive to make and keep because they are made of glass and fragile minerals that can break easily, costing money to fix.
• It is only available when the sun is around – that means it won’t work when it’s cloudy or at nighttime!
• It takes lots of space to hold the large solar panels that are needed to make enough electricity to keep large things, like your house, running smoothly.

Science Words

Reflection  – when light or heat hits an object and bounces back in the opposite direction.

Absorption  – when light or heat is collected or soaked up by an object.

Nuclear reactions  – reactions that take place between hot gases on the sun. These reactions release energy.

Solar energy  – light and heat that comes from the sun and can be used to do work.

Renewable energy  – a source of energy that can never be used up or run out. Energy that comes from the sun, water, or wind are examples.

Printable Worksheet

Print out this page on a sheet of heavy paper or cardstock. Kids can color the pictures and cut out the squares to make a matching game. Half of the squares show a way to use solar energy as an alternative to the picture shown on the other squares. Place all the squares face down and take turns flipping two over per turn to find the ones that go together. Talk about ways to save energy from other sources by using the sun’s power.

Earth & Space Science

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Solar Power for Kids Cool Projects & Camps for Kids & Teens

• Solar Kits for Kids

Solar Summer Camps

• Making Electricity With Solar Power

Solar Projects for Teens

Solar resources for parents & teachers.

• Solar Resources for Kids & Teens

The following guide details dozens of fun ideas that teach kids about solar power, including sample projects to do at home and camps offering fun activities that involve solar energy, as well as educational resources for parents and teachers and kid-friendly websites that enlighten kids for a solar-powered future.

Solar Kits & Projects for Kids

The best kind of learning is fun, too. Solar-powered toys and kits not only are environmentally friendly and entertaining, but they also teach kids about how solar power works to make them move and light up. Many can even be assembled by kids. With toys available to suit a wide range of ages and abilities, there’s no shortage of ways to spark kids’ lifelong interest in solar energy and environmental responsibility.

Whether it’s only for a few afternoons or a full week or more away from home, summer camp is where kids make memories, develop interpersonal skills and, of course, have fun. Summer camps also can provide valuable opportunities for kids to learn about solar energy and its impact without feeling like a boring day in science class.

Solar summer camps are available to young people of all ages, from toddlers to soon-to-be high school graduates, and they can take a variety of forms. Low-cost local day camps, weeklong internship opportunities at universities and camps that lie somewhere in between provide campers opportunities to learn about solar energy, get creative and build solar-powered devices like panels, robots and food cookers. Below is a sampling of camps that have put solar energy in the spotlight.

Camps range from one-time labors of love taught at local community centers, to university-sponsored annual events where graduate students teach week-long courses. Some camps appear once on the web or are publicized locally, and others have involved websites.

The typical entry age is fourth grade, but that varies by program. Sixth grade seems to be a frequent age for solar programs. At that age, most kids can be taught to solder wire safely, and have the cognitive ability to understand the basics of DC electrical circuits.

Range from $25 to $1,500 depending on the length of the program, and if overnight stays and food are included in the program.

Start with your local major university and learn if it offers summer outreach programs for STEM students. Then check with your public school district to learn if it offers solar or STEM programs. Community centers offer STEM summer programs, too.

The listing below is meant to show the wide range of solar camps for kids that have been offered around the country. Check with your local community centers and universities to learn about the camps in your area.

Making Electricity With Solar Power Made Simple

The sun produces heat and light, so how do we turn energy from the sun into electricity that people can use? The infographic below provides a brief explanation of how the sun, solar panels, and batteries or other devices work together to convert the sun’s energy into electricity. For a more detailed explanation, see the LetsGoSolar page How Solar Panels Work.

How Solar Panels Work

The sun sends energy in the form of photons. These particles of sunlight bump into solar panels.

When photons reach a solar panel, the panel converts them into electrons that flow through the panel and become electricity.

Solar panels are often called photovoltaic (PV) panels because they use the process of turning photons into electricity, or voltage.

Some devices can use the power that comes straight from a solar panel as long as the panel gets enough light. Others use rechargeable batteries to store the solar electricity and discharge it when needed.

Building solar-powered toys isn’t ideal for everyone, especially older kids and teenagers who are more drawn to practical projects than mechanical dinosaurs and cars. That doesn’t mean that teens have to miss out on the fun. There are tons of solar project tutorials available to teens, whether they’re fascinated by science and engineering or just want to try an eco-friendly DIY project. Solar ovens and simple solar cellphone chargers are two popular projects that teenagers can do inexpensively on their own.

Solar ovens really work for cooking food on sunny days. Plus, you can make a solar oven in an afternoon with materials found around the house or easily obtained from the grocery store. Instructions vary by project, but most call for a box, aluminum foil, clear plastic wrap, a box cutter, and tape. Because a wide range of tutorials is available, teens who don’t have the exact materials for one set of instructions can easily find other sets to match what they have on hand. Don’t have a packing box with flaps, but there’s a pizza box waiting to go into the recycling bin? Follow a pizza box solar oven tutorial.

A solar-curious teen looking for something a bit more advanced might be interested in building a solar cellphone charger. Chargers can be made for around $20, and they’re great for camping trips, dorm rooms with limited outlets and general energy-saving goodness. Charging time will depend on the capacity of the solar panel used, and adding a power bank allows for charging even when the panel isn’t in direct sunlight. Though this project isn’t as fast and easy to build as a solar oven, teens will end up with a rewarding and practical product they made themselves.

Florida Solar Energy Center: The FSEC provides solar energy curricula and professional development resources for K–12 teachers.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory: The NREL provides renewable-energy lesson plans and teaching resources appropriate for elementary, middle and high school students and for teacher development.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority: Access more than 30 hands-on solar-energy science projects appropriate for students in fourth through 12th grade.

Origin Energy – Energy Savers: This Australian site provides useful solar-related lessons and activities that extend beyond science and into other subjects.

U.S. Energy Information Administration: K–12 teachers can find energy-related lesson plans, activities, science fair experiments, field trip ideas and additional resources.

Solar Resources for Kids

NASA’s Climate Kids: Read, watch videos and make projects to learn about solar energy and other ways to protect the earth.

Energy Kids: Kids can play games, conduct experiments and learn about energy and its different sources on this site presented by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Energy Star Kids: Energy Star Kids is packed with information on renewable energy resources, environmental responsibility and how kids can help save energy.

Go SEEK!: Suitable for elementary, middle and high school students alike, Go SEEK! (an acronym for Solar Energy Eco Knowledge) breaks down complex solar energy principles into easy-to-understand terms and offers many fun and useful resources for kids to explore.

NeoK12: Games, lessons and short educational videos help kids learn about different aspects of solar energy.

Solar Kids!: Fun animations, videos, and activities guide kids through solar-power and electricity basics.

FREE K-12 standards-aligned STEM

curriculum for educators everywhere!

Find more at TeachEngineering.org .

• TeachEngineering
• A New Angle on Photovoltaic Solar Panel Efficiency

Hands-on Activity A New Angle on Photovoltaic Solar Panel Efficiency

Grade Level: 10 (9-12)

Time Required: 45 minutes

This activity requires some non-expendable (and reusable) items for each group. See Materials List for details.

Group Size: 3

Activity Dependency: Solar Angles and Tracking Systems

Subject Areas: Measurement, Physical Science, Science and Technology

NGSS Performance Expectations:

Curriculum in this Unit Units serve as guides to a particular content or subject area. Nested under units are lessons (in purple) and hands-on activities (in blue). Note that not all lessons and activities will exist under a unit, and instead may exist as "standalone" curriculum.

• Photovoltaics & Temperature: Ice, Ice, PV!
• Pointing at Maximum Power for PV
• Concentrating on the Sun with Photovoltaic Solar Panels

TE Newsletter

Engineering connection, learning objectives, materials list, worksheets and attachments, more curriculum like this, pre-req knowledge, introduction/motivation, vocabulary/definitions, investigating questions, troubleshooting tips, activity extensions, activity scaling, user comments & tips.

Solar energy generation is becoming one of the most widespread solutions to address energy costs and global climate change. PV panels are used around the world for many applications because they are adaptive to so many buildings, sites and purposes. One of the largest factors in determining a PV panel's efficiency is the angle at which the solar radiation hits its surface. The ideal orientation of a solar panel varies, depending on the season and location on the planet. To design PV arrays with the highest efficiency (energy output) possible, engineers must understand how these factors affect the power output of solar panels.

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Explain how the angle of a PV panel relative to the sun affects the panel's power output.
• Describe some characteristics of a well-designed PV array, including direction and orientation.

Educational Standards Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards. All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN) , a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org). In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g. , by state; within source by type; e.g. , science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc .

Ngss: next generation science standards - science.

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology

View aligned curriculum

Do you agree with this alignment? Thanks for your feedback!

State Standards

Colorado - math, colorado - science.

Each group needs:

• mini PV panel ($10-30; available online; do a product search for "small solar panel" or see the Solar Panel Source Information attachment in the Photovoltaic Efficiency unit )
• multimeter ($10; available online; see the Solar Multimeter Source Information attachment in the Photovoltaic Efficiency unit )
• 2 wires with alligator clamps
• sunlight or 100-watt incandescent lamp ($8 from hardware store)
• 2 pieces of cardboard, each about the same size as the panel
• protractor (or use attached Protractor Printout ; print and cut out; two per sheet)
• ruler or string (to help make accurate protractor measurements)
• Student Investigation Guide , one per team
• Investigation Worksheet , one per student

Note: The non-expendable items (mini PV panels, multimeters, wires with alligator clamps, lamp and light bulb) are reusable for the entire four-lesson unit, as well as other projects.

For the entire class to share:

Students should:

• Have a basic understanding of electrical circuits, including voltage, current and power.
• Know how to use a protractor to measure angles.
• Be able to record and plot data.

(Have a mini PV panel handy to show students and maneuver as you talk about its orientation.)

Photo means "light," and voltaic means "electric." A photovoltaic (PV) panel is a device that turns light into electrical energy. PV panels have been used on satellites and for power needs in remote areas for years, and are becoming more popular for providing energy to homes and buildings because they are more environmentally-friendly than conventional power solutions. You may have seen a solar panel on a home or know how they work already, but what if I gave you a PV panel to put on your own home and proposed that the person who could create the most energy over the course of the year would win $1,000! What would you do to ensure that your PV panel produced the most energy possible?

PV panels do not all make the same amount of energy when the sun shines on them. Even two identical solar panels might make completely different amounts of energy depending on some very simple differences in how they are installed. Would you like to know the secrets to designing a PV system so that it is as efficient as possible at converting sunlight to energy?

Okay, let's start with one of the most important factors that affects a PV panel's efficiency; this is also one of the easiest factors to control. Let's pretend that I gave you a PV panel for the competition, but because you are so busy with homework and studying, you decide to hire someone else to install the PV panel on your roof. When you come home from school you look up and you see that it is up-side down, so that the light-sensitive material is facing the roof. (Use a mini PV panel to show this orientation, and those that follow.) Do you think this set-up will win the competition of making the most energy possible? No! Okay, so that's an obvious error, but what if it was installed flat against your roof so that it had the same slope as the roof? Is that the best way to install it? Would it be better for it to lie horizontally and point straight up into the sky? Or, should it stand up on its edge, vertically? What is the best angle to install the PV panel so that you can generate the most energy possible over the course of the year? Engineers who design photovoltaic systems for buildings and other spaces must consider all of these questions when creating their designs.

While there is no contest or prize money for installing the world's most efficient solar panel, maximizing the energy output of each installed panel saves its owner the maximum amount of money over the lifetime of the PV panels (PV panels are costly). Let's do some experiments to see how the angle at which sunlight hits a PV panel affects its current output, which is directly related to its overall power output and efficiency.

If you have a lamp with wattage other than 100 watts (100W), test to see how much current it creates in the panel. Or, use the sun and perform the experiment outside. Depending on the PV panel, you may need to change your multimeter setting to 10 amperes (10A) because the sun is stronger than a 100W lamp. This may also require that you move the positive (red) pin of the multimeter probes to the 10A connection for the experiment set-up (see Figure 1).

It is very important that during the experiment, the equipment set-up stays in the same location so that the measurements of current at different angles are not skewed. As necessary, use tape to secure everything in place.

Before the Activity

• Gather and organize materials.
• Test all PV panels and multimeters to make sure they are functioning correctly.
• Make copies of the Investigation Worksheet , one per student.
• Make copies of the Student Investigation Guide , one per team.
• Divide the class into groups of three students each.

With the Students — Experimental Set-up

• Take all materials outside, or if inside, secure the lamp to a desk or shelf.

• Connect the negative and positive pins on the multimeter to the corresponding wires on the PV panel (the red pin should be connected to the red wire).
• Turn the multimeter to the direct current amps (DCA) setting for 200m. Place the panel one to two feet from the lamp. (Tips: The reading on the multimeter should be positive; if it is not, the wires are backwards. If you see only a "1" on the screen, the panel is producing more current than the multimeter can read at that setting. In this case, back the panel away from the lamp a little or move the multimeter dial to a higher current setting.)
• Point the PV panel directly at the light/sun and tape its triangle base down to prevent movement during the experiment. (The panel angle remains adjustable using the other cardboard piece.) Also be sure the lamp is secured.
• Measure the zenith angle, θ z , of the sun and record it on the worksheet. Do this by placing the protractor at the front edge of the panel. Use a ruler or string pointed at the light source to help increase your accuracy in reading the angle of the light source. (Optional: Place the light source so the zenith angle is equal to the latitude of your location.)

With the Students — Experiment 1: Vary the Collector Slope Beta, β

• Lay the panel completely flat. Measure the current and record it in the first spot on the worksheet (0º).
• Make sure that the protractor is centered at the front edge of the PV panel. (If the angle is measured with the protractor in an incorrect position, it skews the data.)
• Vary the slope of the PV collector in 10º increments and record the resulting current measurements on the worksheet. (Note: If you notice a higher current reading at an angle other than the zenith angle, it may be due to the reflectance of your table surface. Take this into account when answering worksheet questions.)

With the Students — Experiment 2: Vary the Azimuth Angle of the Panel, γ

• Set the panel to the optimal slope from Experiment 1 and secure the cardboard support triangle so the panel remains at this angle.
• Remove the tape from the base. Rotate the base slightly until the current is at its maximum. Record this as the 0º reading.
• Tape the protractor to the table at the front edge of the panel so that the center of the protractor lines up with the center of the panel. Rotate the base of the panel by 10º increments to the left or right, keeping the center of the panel at the center of the protractor. Record the resulting current measurements on the worksheet. (Be sure to rotate the panel about its center and not to slide it forward or backwards during the experiment.)

With the Students — Create a Plot and Interpret the Experiment Results

• Plot the data on the graphs provided on the worksheet.
• Answer the questions on the worksheet to demonstrate your understanding of the data.

With the Students — Activity Closure

• Lead a class discussion to review the experiment results and investigating questions.
• Assign students to complete the post-activity assessment (as described in the Assessment section), creating and presenting designs for small PV systems for their school using their observations to defend their choices for angle and orientation of the panels.

array: A group of solar panels connected to each other.

efficiency: The ratio of the useful energy delivered by a dynamic system to the energy supplied to it.

solar radiation: Energy emitted from the sun, including visible light, heat, UV rays, etc.

zenith angle: The angle between the line pointing to the sun and the vertical.

Pre-Activity Assessment

Class Discussion: Solicit, integrate and summarize student responses.

Let's think about how you would place a photovoltaic (PV) panel on a roof to get the maximum amount of energy output from it. Should the PV panel be installed flat against your roof so that it has the same slope as the roof, or would it be better for it to lie horizontally and point straight up into the sky? Or should it stand up on its edge, vertically? Would it matter if you installed it on a north-facing roof or south-facing roof? What is the best angle and orientation to install the PV panel so that you can make the most energy possible over the course of the year at your specific location? (General answers: More solar energy is available around noon because the sunlight is more direct [traveling through less atmosphere], thus it is best to face the panels due south. The best tilt angle depends on the location. Generally it is optimal to place the panel at the same angle as the latitude of the location, for example in Boulder CO, this would be 40º. But, depending on the climate, and when more sunlight is available, it may be a good idea to tilt the panel a little more or less to optimize the energy potential in the summer [25º] or winter [55º]. Basically, you need to know where the sun is throughout the year and when the most sunlight is available.)

Activity Embedded Assessment

Experimental Set-up and Worksheet: As teams follow the procedure described on the Student Investigation Guide , walk around and review each group's experimental set-up. Make sure that they are taking measurements and recording data correctly on the Investigation Worksheet .

Post-Activity Assessment

Worksheet Wrap-Up: Have students complete the graphs and investigating questions on their worksheets. As necessary, help them transfer their data to the plots and validate the data accuracy. Review and discuss the results and answers with the entire class. Review individual worksheets to gauge students' mastery of the subject.

Design It! Have students draw simple PV system designs for their school. Require the designs to be labeled with parts and angles. Have teams present their designs to the class with an engineering explanation of how they chose the angles and orientations of their systems.

(These questions are also on the Investigation Worksheet and Investigation Worksheet Answers )

• At what angle did the PV panel create the highest current? Why?
• What happens as a result of tilting the PV panel away from the sun?
• If you were to build a home at this location, how would you design the roof to optimize solar efficiency with minimal installation equipment?
• Describe the effect on the current when rotating the panel away from the sun.
• If this PV panel is mounted facing south, how efficient is it just after sunrise or before sunset compared to the efficiency at noon?
• What direction would you point your panel if you only needed to power a computer to do your homework at 4:30pm every day?
• What could you do to increase the overall efficiency of the PV panel over the course of a day?

Safety Issues

• The PV panels are fragile so be careful when handling them. You may want to tape over the wire connections to be sure they are not pulled out of the back.
• 100W incandescent lamps can become extremely hot! Use caution when handling them.

If you are outside, you may need to use the 10A setting on the multimeter.

Make sure that the wire connections are tight. If you do not get a reading on the multimeter, look for a bad connection or loose alligator clamp.

Make sure that the conductive pieces, especially the ends of the wires or leads of both the PV panel and the multimeter, are not touching any other conductive materials, such as a metal table.

The panels do not work well under fluorescent lights due to their reduced light spectrum. When setting up the circuit, use direct sunlight or an incandescent lamp to test the circuit and panel.

Writing Practice: Have students draw PV system designs for another building or space, such as their homes or a community center. Require the designs to be labeled with parts and angles. Have students write about their PV systems as if they were part of an engineering company presenting a design to a client. Have them describe the building setting, how they chose the angle and orientation of the system, and the benefits of installing a PV system in that space.

• For lower grades, conduct this activity as a class demonstration.
• For lower grades, instead of using multimeters, connect the PV panels to small buzzers that change volume with different current values. Have students rotate the panel to different angles and observe the effect via the sound output. This way, rather than collecting data, students hear the varying volume of the buzzer in response to the changing solar panel angle to the light source. Buzzers are inexpensive ($4) and can be found at electronics and hardware stores such as RadioShack, or online at http://scientificsonline.com/.
• For upper grades, have students construct more durable and precise measurement equipment as a class project. Have them adjust the lamp angle (or panel height) to simulate the sun's angle during different hours of the day. Allow them to calculate the total amount of energy created during one day using a PV panel at different angles and the equation: power = current * voltage. Note: this requires students to also measure the voltage of the panel at each angle.

Students learn about the daily and annual cycles of solar angles used in power calculations to maximize photovoltaic power generation. They gain an overview of solar tracking systems that improve PV panel efficiency by following the sun through the sky.

Students explore how the efficiency of a solar photovoltaic (PV) panel is affected by the ambient temperature. They learn how engineers predict the power output of a PV panel at different temperatures and examine some real-world engineering applications used to control the temperature of PV panels.

Students learn how the total solar irradiance hitting a photovoltaic (PV) panel can be increased through the use of a concentrating device, such as a reflector or lens.

Students learn how the sun can be used for energy. They learn about passive solar heating, lighting and cooking, and active solar engineering technologies (such as photovoltaic arrays and concentrating mirrors) that generate electricity.

Contributors

Supporting program, acknowledgements.

The contents of these digital library curricula were developed by the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program under National Science Foundation GK-12 grant no. 0338326. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

Last modified: October 6, 2023

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Sun and Solar STEM Experiments for Kids

You may not think a whole lot about the sun most of the time, but you can do a lot more with sunlight than just get sunburn. There are all sorts of fun experiments you can do using the light and heat from the sun, and you can even use it to make electricity! Try out some solar-powered activities on the next sunny day and you could learn a lot about what the sun can do.

Solar Science Experiments for Kids

A board-certified teacher provides directions for three different experiments about sun tea, absorbing and reflecting heat, and converting light into heat.

Capturing the Sun’s Warmth

This website provides information and instructions on an experiment to test different materials to see which material will absorb more of the sun’s heat.

Solar Energy Word Search

Want to get introduced to some new science terms before you jump in and start learning? Check out this easy word search puzzle!

Energy Kids: Riddles

Nothing is better than a good giggle. Share these riddles with your friends so you can all learn something new together.

Make S’Mores With a Solar Oven

Who doesn’t love s’mores? Try making your very own s’mores with the sun as your energy source.

Inside a Solar Cell

Learn about what is inside a solar cell and why it creates electricity.

Solar Power 101: How Does Sunlight Turn Into Electricity?

Watch this video and learn all there is to know about how solar power works.

Solar Power Clicker

Upgrade your solar power grid to generate the most power.

Solar Energy Activity Workbook

Ask your parents to print out these activities for you. You can complete a crossword puzzle or even do a scavenger hunt!

Output of a Solar Cell

Here, you’ll find directions and a video demonstration for an experiment that tests how well solar cells create electricity.

Solar Energy Defenders

Fight off the vampires in this game by using what you know about solar energy to collect energy and keep the vampires out of your school dance!

The “Hot Enough to Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk” Trick

This is a classic experiment that everyone should try at least once! Try your hand at cooking an egg on the sidewalk on a hot day. Do you think it’ll work? Try it and find out!

Experiment on Solar Energy and Colors

Do you think different colors absorb more sun than others? Try this experiment and see which color melts the ice cubes fastest!

Facts About the Sun

Take a break, sit down, and do a quick worksheet to test your knowledge about the sun. You can complete this online or ask your parents to print it.

Solar Car Derby

You’ll find the procedure and a demonstration video to build a solar-powered derby car on this site. Work with your parents to build your own car and discover how solar cells work.

Solar Plane

Time to take flight! Work with your parents to follow the instructions on this website to create a solar-powered plane.

Solar Activities for Students

A few more activities to demonstrate how solar energy works can be found here.

Here, you will find instructions for how to create a sundial. A sundial lets you tell the time using the motion of the sun across the sky.

Make Sun Paper

Like crafts? Try this craft activity and see how similar you can make your paper sun look to the real thing!

Solar Energy Game

Play this game to see how well you understand solar energy.

Solar Cooker

Some experiments have different ways to complete them. Try this variation of the s’mores experiment as an excuse to make more solar s’mores!

Activities Involving Solar Energy

Here are a few more activities, one of which is testing to see if the sun can blow up a white or black balloon!

Solar Energy Activities

Need a new night light? Try making your own! Follow the instructions on this site to create your very own solar-powered night light.

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Contact one of our solar representatives today., (855) 282-1750.

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Shop Experiment Exploring Solar Panels Experiments​

Exploring solar panels.

Experiment #17 from Renewable Energy with Vernier

Introduction

Using solar panels to generate electricity from the sun is becoming increasingly common. Solar panels can be used at many scales to generate power. A single, small panel can be used to charge electronic devices such as your cell phone. Large numbers of panels can function together to generate electricity for an entire neighborhood.

The amount of electricity that can be generated by a solar panel is affected by many variables. In this experiment, you will explore how the amount of current and voltage produced by a solar panel is affected by the distance to a lamp. You will then test your equipment in direct sunlight and calculate the efficiency of the photovoltaic cell when converting the energy from the sun into electrical energy.

• Understand how solar panels can be used to generate electricity.
• Predict variables that affect how much electricity is generated by a solar panel.
• Make observations and draw conclusions after testing your predictions.
• Calculate the efficiency of a solar panel.

Sensors and Equipment

This experiment features the following sensors and equipment. Additional equipment may be required.

Ready to Experiment?

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Get answers to your questions about how to teach this experiment with our support team.

• Call toll-free: 888-837-6437
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Purchase the Lab Book

This experiment is #17 of Renewable Energy with Vernier . The experiment in the book includes student instructions as well as instructor information for set up, helpful hints, and sample graphs and data.

30+ Of Our Favourite DIY Solar Projects & Tutorials

• June 7, 2017

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Table of Contents

DIY Beautiful Solar Light Pathway

How awesome does that look? This solar light pathway is made with glass blocks and solar-powered LED lights. In the tutorial below, most of the items used were purchased, but I think you could pick up almost everything required for free if you ask around…

For example, when we moved into our house, the previous owner had left 15 of those glass blocks in the garage. They knocked around for a while and then I ended up just giving them away. Also if you didn’t want the different colours, you could pick up some free unwanted solar garden lights, and utilize the solar panel and LED in the glass blocks; this method would also cut down on any wiring. If you want to give this a go, get on Freecycle (or similar) and see what you can acquire for free. Tutorial: DIY Beautiful Solar Light Pathway .

Build A Solar Panel From A Picture Frame & Some Solar Garden Lights

If you have been following K.W.N for a while, you’ll know we love cheap recycling/re-purposing projects. Today we have a nice little solar project to build a cheap solar panel from a picture frame and some old garden solar lights…

This would be a cheap project even if you were purchasing the solar garden lights specifically to build this solar panel.  You can pick them up for a dollar or two and you could save the batteries and LEDs for other projects. It’s just not necessary to buy new lights though. Almost everyone has some of these solar lights laying around unused at home. The cheap batteries fail and then they get discarded in the shed. Ask around, I am sure you’ll have no problem getting hold of some for free! Once you have enough solar garden lights, check the tutorial  and get building your own cheap DIY solar panel.

How To Get Cheap Solar Power: 14 DIY Solar Projects

For most people, the dream of living off-the-grid can only be accomplished by utilizing solar power, but this doesn’t always have to mean purchasing a $10,000 solar system to power your home.  Solar power has never been this cheap! Here are 14 DIY solar tutorials to get you generating free electricity and cooking for FREE, using just the power of the sun.

There are cheap DIY solar projects here ranging from simple solar food dehydrators and cookers to small DIY solar generators and even a fully DIY home-built solar system…

DIY Home Built Solar Power System

If you truly want to live off-the-grid or insulate yourself against rising energy prices, you have to embrace and utilize solar power (unless you have a running water source, in which case you could utilize hydropower instead).

The problem is that getting a professional company to kit out and set you up with a solar power system can be very expensive, but if you have sound DIY skills, with a bit of planning and research, you can set up your own DIY home solar power system. Check out the link here to see how this can be done.

How To Make A Better Solar Dehydrator

We did a post ages back about how to make a different solar dehydrator,  but that dehydrator was a completely different design…

Personally, I think this solar dehydrator is a more effective design.  The whole thing seems more effective and simple and this applies to how it’s built and how it functions. If I had to choose between the two solar dehydrator designs, I would choose to build this one. Check out the great photo tutorial (including the materials list) from ’10 Degrees Above’.

Make A Cardboard And Duct Tape Solar Oven

Now I’ll admit – until I started reading up on them a bit more – I thought solar ovens were a bit of a gimmick, you know, something to do with the kids, or just a fun project that isn’t that practical… How wrong I was! On a sunny day these babies rock, I have seen them cooking all manner of foods, I have even seen one bake a loaf of bread!

The tutorial below shows have to make a super quick, super simple solar oven from just a cardboard box, aluminium foil and some duct tape, and even this solar oven managed to get to a temperature of 280 degrees! This is a cardboard box and aluminium foil solar oven; imagine how much a solar oven would be if it was made from higher quality materials! I have read posts saying that 450 degrees are easily achievable. I’ll search out higher quality, more permanent solar cooking tutorial, but in the meantime, have a go making this cardboard box solar oven and see how it goes. Tutorial: Make A Cardboard And Duct Tape Solar Oven .

How To Build A Solar Food Dehydrator

The main solution to this problem is to preserve your fruit and vegetables so you can enjoy them through the winter months. In my opinion, one of the best ways to do this is to dehydrate food.  You can purchase electric dehydrators, but why spend money on an electric dehydrator and continue spending money on the electricity it uses, when you can make a solar dehydrator pretty cheaply that costs nothing to run.

If you’re interested in building your own solar dehydrator, check out the video below. Also, check out this link for more information on building a solar dehydrator.

How To Build An Awesome Solar Oven (Bakes Bread & Cooks Whole Chicken!)

A while back we did a post showing how to build a very cheap and easy solar oven from a cardboard box. Today we are featuring its big brother (built by the same person), which is made from wood, fully insulated and even has a sun finding a pivoting base, making it easy to focus the oven at the sun.

People dismiss solar ovens as a gimmick, I think this is a mistake, sure, they are useless on a cloudy day, but it is worth building a solar oven because when the sun is shining, you can cook all day long for free! This particular oven can maintain a 300-degree temperature on a sunny day, and it is often used to bake bread and cook a whole chicken.

DIY Solar USB Charger – Upcycle An Old Altoid Tin

If you are a fan of DIY and LOVE solar-powered stuff, this is your next project. This Altoid tin solar USB charger will power your iPod or phone where ever you are.

Why spend 50 bucks on one from online when you can make one for a lot cheaper and a lot cooler looking. You can pop the solar panel away and no one will ever know what is inside. Tutorial:  DIY Solar USB Charger – Upcycle An Old Altoid Tin

How To Build A Solar-Powered Still To Purify Any Water Source

The great thing about using a still, or in this case, a solar still to purify water is that any water source can be used, even dirty unfiltered water and seawater!

Boiling water is the most common way to purify water to make it safer to drink. The problem is that boiling dirty water with debris in isn’t very effective as even after the water is boiled, there is still potentially dangerous sediment and debris in the water. It is the same with saltwater, boiling won’t make it drinkable… Purifying water with any still and in this case, a solar still, will effectively purify both dirty unfiltered water and saltwater.  This is because in both cases, the sediment and salt etc, don’t evaporate, so they are left behind to be discarded. To find out more about building a solar still, check out the great post from ‘Off The Grid News.

DIY Solar Water Heater from Stock Tank

Are you looking to get off the grid to heat your water? Batch heaters have long been known as the best choice in warm climates or for seasonal use in colder areas, and recent work with improved materials and designs suggests they may also be the best choice even in colder areas.

You could find a lot of the parts and materials needed to make this on craigslist to make this build even cheaper. Tutorial:  DIY Solar Water Heater from Stock Tank

DIY Miniature Soda Can Solar Heater

This is very similar, although on a much smaller scale. This soda can solar heater from Primed Preppers is designed to fit on a windowsill.  It is not going to completely heat your home, but every little bit helps.

I think this would be a nice fun project to do either with the kids or perhaps as a proof of concept/trial, before taking things large scale like our previous post on soda can solar heaters.

How To Build Your Own Solar Thermal Panel For Around $5

I did a post a few days back about solar power for your home. Some folks on the Facebook page  pointed out that the options featured were expensive and out of the reach of many people.

Today I am going to focus on budget solar power and when I say budget, I mean less than $5. That’s right, for less than $5 you can build a solar thermal panel, which will heat water to a temperature that scalds.

This option is small-scale and is built around a reclaimed heat dispersal system from an old refrigerator (which you can get with the gas removed from your local dump). It has no pump as it is gravity fed and it requires no electricity to work. Just put it in the sun, turn on the water feed and you will get a slow but constant supply of very hot water.

Now, this is all small-scale, but I see no reason why several of these panels could not be used together in some way, to meet a family’s entire hot water needs. The idea of using reclaimed heat dispersal systems from old refrigerators is genius and I definitely think there is enough here to run with and create something more large-scale.

Head over to The Sietch and check out their tutorial complete with lots of photos to help you along the way.

DIY Solar Panel That Follows The Sun

Solar power is a great way to get off the grid or at least power some household items to be more self-sufficient. The only problem with this is you have to have the solar panels pointing in the direction where the sun the most.

This relatively low cost and straightforward to build project actually allow your panel to follow the sun so you have more hours of sun on your panel, thus, giving you more power, apparently, between 30 and 50% more power! See the full instructable here .

How To Build Your Own Solar Thermal (Free hot water!)

To be fair, the person who built this solar thermal is based in Hawaii, but it has proven very effective there, so there is no reason this should not be just as effective for anyone else living in similar warm regions. It could also be utilized in cooler climates, but its performance is very much determined by the heat and sun. Even so, it could still be a worthwhile project, even if it is only effective seasonally.

Make A Solar Scorcher (Fresnel Lens) Frame

How to build the Solar Scorcher

The Solar Scorcher in action, burning and melting stuff…

It could be used for cooking boiling water etc and I am sure it has some other genuine uses (fire starting and melting stuff etc), but I am mostly just featuring it as it is pretty cool and it seriously demonstrates how the power of the sun can be harnessed into something that’s crazy powerful. This DIY project was made with the panel out of an old TV and some low-cost wood; the whole thing cost less than $8 to build.

Make A Cheap Solar Charger From 2 Garden Solar Lights

I think almost all of us have some of those cheap garden solar lights, with many of those lights being broken/unused. If they are broken, see our previous post:  DIY Quick Fix For Solar Lights .

If you do have some old unused garden solar lights, why not put them to good use and build this simple solar charger, which uses the solar panels from two garden lights? This DIY charger also has an LED light added for extra functionality. Once built this solar charger should be able to charge/power any small USB device. Tutorial:  Make A Cheap Solar Charger From 2 Garden Solar Lights

How To Build A DIY Portable Solar Generator

First I should clarify – there are solar panels, solar chargers and solar generators. We have featured several tutorials showing how to build cheap solar chargers. These are simple to build as they are basically just a solar panel that produces electricity and charges when the sun is out, but when the sun goes in, it does nothing. This tutorial is to build a simple weatherproof solar generator – when the sun is shining the panel produces electricity AND then charges (and tops up) an internal battery so you can store the electricity to use later. To be fully weatherproof I would probably make a little cover to go over the external socket, just to keep it dry.

A solar generator like this would be awesome for camping, fishing and emergency preparedness etc. With it you can power lights and other small devices. Check out the full build tutorial here.

DIY Solar Powered Evaporative Cooler (Portable!)

In arid areas of low humidity (desert/ southwest US etc) an evaporation cooler or swamp cooler can reduce the temperature of a room by 20-30 degrees. In many cases, they are even more effective than traditional air conditioning. Evaporation coolers are also very low-tech and cheap and easy to build and run. In fact, the DIY evaporation cooler in the tutorial below is run via solar power.

DIY evaporation coolers provide true off-the-grid cooling for arid areas. The fact most arid areas have constant sun easily allows these cooler to run via solar power. If you hook in a battery to charge in the solar system, you’ll be able to run the cooler throughout the night too. A great option for RVs, trailers/caravans and cabins. Check out the DIY build tutorial.

How To Make A DIY Solar Furnace For Under $50

The video above shows how to make a simple solar furnace for around $50. It’s not going to entirely heat your home, but every little bit helps and even if it allows you to turn the thermostat down by one degree, that will save you a load of money over the winter.

Free heating for your home, that’s the dream… Well, the good news is that it doesn’t have to be a dream any longer! You can get all the free firewood could ever need. Interested? Check out our post –  Free Firewood: Heat Your Home 100% For Free! (UPDATED)

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Chugach Electric to install solar panels on power plants and prepares for community solar farm

Sep. 5—Chugach Electric Association is installing small solar panel projects on its natural gas plants and is close to launching the first community solar farm in Alaska.

The installations are part of the utility's efforts to reduce its dependence on carbon-based fuel, the utility said in a statement. It comes as a shortage of natural gas from Cook Inlet could soon force Chugach and other utilities in the region to begin relying on costly imported gas.

Two solar projects are being installed on the utility's largest power plants in Anchorage, according to the statement. They have a total capacity of 170 kilowatts, which the utility's chief executive acknowledged in a statement is "relatively small." (The largest solar farm in Alaska is many times larger, with an 8.5-megawatt capacity, allowing it to power about 1,400 homes.)

The utility is also studying large renewable projects that would be privately operated, such as a wind farm proposed for an area across Cook Inlet from Anchorage.

The solar projects should be operating by November at the Chugach Southcentral Power Project along Electron Drive and at the George M. Sullivan Power Plant off the Glenn Highway. The plants are gas-fired.

"Putting solar panels on our power plants increases the efficiency of the plants and helps offset the use of natural gas," said Arthur Miller, the utility's chief executive.

The utility is also working on a four-acre community solar farm that will allow utility members to buy subscriptions to receive power from one panel or up to 20, the utility said. The solar energy will be credited to subscribers' bills.

The 500-kilowatt farm, with 1,200 panels, will be built next to Chugach's Retherford Substation on East 94th Avenue in Anchorage, south of the Dimond Center.

The utility is soliciting proposals for the design and construction of the solar farm. It should be running next summer, according to plans, the utility said.

San Antonio Report

Nonprofit journalism for an informed community

City brings 6 of 42 major solar projects online at municipal facilities

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The San Antonio City Council approved the installation of solar panels at 42 municipal facilities, including on rooftops and over parking lots, last year. Six of those projects will be brought online Thursday.

The $30-million project was hailed by city officials as the largest on-site solar project in Texas, who also said the initiative will help the city make significant progress in its goal of having  net zero emissions by 2050 .

The initiative is expected to wrap up by fall of 2026 with the completion and installation of all 42 projects at select municipal facilities, Leslie Antunez, a spokeswoman for the city’s Office of Sustainability, said in an email.

The city has partnered with San Antonio-based Big Sun Solar, which is responsible for the installation and short-term maintenance of the new solar panel systems.

Funding for the project comes from several sources: $18.3 million from issuing bonds, $2.5 million from a 2% LoanSTAR loan from the  State Energy Conservation Office and $10 million from Inflation Reduction Act tax credits. Doug Melnick, the city’s chief sustainability officer, said it would take about 10 years for the city to pay off the bond debt through savings incurred from the project. The project would then potentially be a generative source of income beyond that, he said.

“We’re one of the first cities in the country that are really going down this road, taking advantage of some of these federal incentives,” he said. “So everyone’s looking at us.”

The 42 installation will be spread across the city’s council districts and include four  community resilience hubs , Melnick said. Twenty-three of the solar installations will take the form of parking canopies over existing surface parking lots, which will provide shade for vehicles.

Municipal buildings will still be backed by CPS Energy’s local grid system, for when more power is needed or if no solar power is being produced, Melnick said. But while CPS Energy is the city’s electric provider, this project will operate mostly separate from the utility, according to Melnick.

Once installations are complete, the city estimates the project will generate 12,718 kilowatts annually with a yearly estimated savings of $1.8 million for the city. That will offset an estimated 11% of the city’s electricity consumption and reduce emissions from city-owned buildings by about 18%.

Earlier this week, city staff proposed slashing a fund used for sustainability and energy efficiency to close the gap created by wage increases firefighters won in  their recent union contract negotiations .

Melnick says this current project will not be affected and comes from other sources of funding.

“No department welcomes seeing budget cuts, but I think we understand what needs to be done,” Melnick said. “But the work is so important that we’ll find a way to keep it going. There’s no shortage of work for us to do.”

Adapture Renewables, Alberici Break Ground on Cooks Mill Solar Energy Project

First shipment of tandem solar panels sent to u.s., nuquest energy submits 800mw to miso queue, tpe, nautilus partner on 21 mw of illinois community solar projects .

Oxford PV has started the commercialization of its tandem solar technology with the company’s first shipment to a U.S.-based customer.

The 72-cell panels, comprised of Oxford PV’s perovskite-on-silicon solar cells, can produce 20% more energy than a standard silicon panel, the company says. The panels are slated to be used in a utility-scale installation, with the hope of reducing the levelized cost of electricity and contributing to more efficient land use by generating more electricity from the same area.

This development marks the first commercial deployment of a perovskite tandem solar panel worldwide, says Oxford PV. The company has been developing and working to commercialize this technology since 2014, with a recent module efficiency record of 26.9%. 

The first Oxford PV panels available on the market have a 24.5% module efficiency. The panels are powered by perovskite-on-silicon cells produced at Oxford PV’s megawatt-scale pilot line in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany. 

“The commercialisation of this technology is a breakthrough for the energy industry,” says David Ward, CEO of Oxford PV. “High-efficiency technologies are the future of the solar industry, and that future is starting now.”

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JA Solar, a global leader in the PV industry, has successfully supplied 1.1GW n-type DeepBlue 4.0 Pro modules for two animal husbandry and PV complementary projects located in Angduo Township, Mangkang County, and Gongjue Township, Latuo County in Tibet Autonomous Region. Despite the high altitude and remote location of the projects, JA Solar completed the supply one month ahead of schedule.

Of the two projects, the one in Angduo Township, Mangkang County, is believed to be the largest animal husbandry and PV complementary project under construction in the world.

The JA Solar DeepBlue 4.0 Pro modules were selected for the project due to their outstanding reliability. They have successfully passed the IEC standard test, thresher test, and other evaluations, such as salt mist corrosion testing, ammonia corrosion testing, dust and sand testing, non-uniform snow load testing, as well as the wind tunnel test at the highest wind scale of level 17.

As for the application in extreme cold conditions, DeepBlue 4.0 Pro has successfully passed the outdoor demonstration in Mohe, which is one of the coldest places in  China  with an annual average temperature of -3.8 ℃, and all indicators maintaining excellent levels. Additionally, DeepBlue 4.0 Pro has already been applied in a 200MW Animal Husbandry and PV Complementary Project in Chamdo, Tibet Autonomous Region, which has been successfully connected to the grid since  November 2023 . In  May 2024 , CTC National Inspection Group conducted a test on the project, and the result shows that the appearance and indicators all are qualified, proving the reliability of DeepBlue 4.0 Pro under extreme climatic conditions.

Aiqing Yang , Executive President of JA Solar, commented: "At JA Solar, we are committed to delivering high-performance, reliable solar solutions even in the most challenging environments. The successful deployment of our DeepBlue 4.0 Pro modules in Tibet's animal husbandry and PV complementary projects not only highlights our technological excellence but also our dedication to advancing renewable energy in diverse and demanding conditions. We are proud to contribute to these groundbreaking projects and look forward to continuing to support sustainable energy development across the globe."