The First Solar Panel Invented

Installations as of early 2016.

The first solar panel invented.

Bell had funded the research. Today let s look at the history of the solar panel to see if we can find out when and by who solar panels were truly first invented. The first public service trial of the bell solar battery began with a telephone carrier system americus georgia on october 4 1955. Solar power before solar panels.

Multiple solar cells in an integrated group all oriented in one plane constitute a solar photovoltaic panel or module photovoltaic modules often have a sheet of glass on the sun facing side allowing light to pass while protecting the semiconductor wafers solar cells are usually connected in series creating additive voltage and current. In 1956 solar panels cost roughly 300 per watt. Vanguard i the first solar powered satellite was launched with a 0 1w 100 cm solar panel. Connecting cells in parallel yields a higher current.

The first space application of solar panels came in 1958 when the vanguard i satellite was launched. In 1954 the three american researchers gerald pearson calvin fuller and daryl chapin were able to create a solar panel that could the had the efficiency level of 6 with direct sunlight. Cost of solar over time prices for solar panels have dropped substantially over the past few decades leading to a surge in consumer demand that has produced more than one million u s. Charles fritts an american inventor described the first solar cells made from selenium wafers.

Further satellites such as vanguard ii sputnik 3 and the explorer iii also used solar panels. 1959 hoffman electronics creates a 10 efficient commercial solar cell and introduces the use of a grid contact reducing the cell s resistance. Charles fritts installed the first solar panels on new york city rooftop in 1884. 3 though we use silicon in cells for modern solar panels this solar cell was a major precursor to the technology used today.

As the sun s been around much longer than solar panel technology it stands to reason that humans historically found a way to use the sun s heat. Courtesy of john perlin take a light step back to 1883 when new york inventor charles fritts created the first. They created the first solar panels. In a way many physicists played a part in solar cell invention.

Almost 50 years after the photovoltaic effect s discovery in 1883 american inventor charles fritz created the first working selenium solar cell. Although it had only a 1 watt cell used to power its radio this was the beginning. 1887 heinrich hertz discovered that ultraviolet light altered the lowest voltage ca pable of causing a spark to jump between two metal electrodes. Russell ohl was the first inventor who created the silicon solar cell in 1941.