Solar light on the semiconductor P-N junction, the formation of a new hole-electron pair, under the action of the p-N junction electric field, the hole from P to N region, the electron from N to P region, after the circuit is connected to form a current. This is how photovoltaic solar cells work.

Solar power generation there are two ways of solar power generation, one is the light-thermal-electricity conversion mode, the other is the light-electricity direct conversion mode.

(1) Photothermal-electric conversion mode generates electricity by using the heat energy generated by solar radiation. Generally, the absorbed heat energy is converted into steam of working medium by the solar collector, and then drives the turbine to generate electricity. The first process is the photothermal conversion process; The latter process is thermal-electric conversion.
(2) Photoelectricity direct conversion mode is to use the photoelectric effect to directly convert solar radiation energy into electrical energy. The basic device of photoelectricity conversion is solar cell. Solar cell is a device that converts solar light energy directly into electric energy due to the photogenerating volt effect. It is a semiconductor photodiode. When the sun shines on the photodiode, the photodiode will convert the sun's light energy into electric energy and generate an electric current. When many cells are connected in series or parallel, a solar array with relatively large output power can be formed.