Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato
Abstract
Historically all energy has been gathered from the sun. It should come as no surprise that after two centuries of heavy fossil fuel use, the energy economy of the future is returning to utilize the sun. In particular, Minnesota adopted an aggressive plan in 2007 to increase the amount of energy generated from renewable sources. Photovoltaic cells offer an avenue away from fossil fuels. While not the only types of photovoltaic cells, amorphous silicon and crystalline silicon offer two attractive options. This study compares performances of the two solar cell types by monitoring current and voltage characteristics over an extended time period. In conjunction with solar irradiance, atmospheric pressure, and temperature data obtained from the WALTER Weather Station here on the MSU campus, a photovoltaic cell comparison is made between these two types. Brief energy and economic summaries are presented
