The idea of generating electricity using sunlight dates back almost to the time people started using electricity. In fact, a photovoltaic effect was first produced around 1840. However, it was another fifty years or so before someone actually created a working solar cell, and another twelve years before Einstein was able to explain how it worked. The first modern multifunction solar cells were made just after World War II.

In simple terms, a solar cell produces electricity when sunlight (photons) hit the surface. This sunlight is absorbed by a semi-conductor, usually silicon. This causes electrons, the subatomic particles that carry a negative electrical charge, to come loose from the atom, which ultimately produces electricity.

The problem these silicon flat-panel solar arrays are that they aren't terribly efficient. However, a cpv solar cell array can have an efficiency rate of over 40%, meaning that two-fifths of the light that hits the surface is converted into electrical current. This figure is going up, and within the next year or so, a cpv solar cell array will have what is called grid parity with today's fossil-fueled power plants, meaning that a grid of solar cells will produce the same amount of energy as an equivalent fossil fuel setup.

Getting a solar systems victoria firm to install solar panels based on multi-junction solar cells in your home would be an efficient method to reduce the electricity bill. Regular solar cells with a single layer are only able to capture part of the spectrum of sunlight; however, CPV (concentrated photovoltaic) cell layers are created specifically to capture the entire spectrum. Efficiency is further increased by using concentrated photovoltaic cells, in which various devices – such as mirrors and Fresnel lenses – are employed to increase the intensity of the sunlight hitting the surface.