The sun light in the semiconductor pn junction, the formation of new hole electron, in p-n junction field effect, hole by the N region flow P area, electronic by P area flow n area, connected to the circuit after the current form. This is the working principle of the photoelectric effect solar cell.

There are two ways of solar power generationsolar power generation, one is the mode of optical, thermal and electrical conversion, and the other is the direct conversion mode of the light and electricity.

(1) light - heat - electricity conversion mode by solar radiation resulting from the use of thermal power generation is generally composed of a solar heat collector will be absorbed by the heat energy is converted into a refrigerant vapor, steam turbine driven power generation. The first process is the light and heat transfer process; the latter process is a hot, electrical conversion process.

(2) direct photo electric conversion way the way is usingphotoelectric effect, solar radiation will be directly converted into electrical energy, light - electricity conversion device is the solar cell. Solar cell is a kind of the photovoltaic effect and the sun direct conversion of light energy into electrical energy device is a semiconductor photodiode, when the sun's light to the photoelectric diode, photodiode will be the solar energy into electric energy and produce electricity. When many batteries are connected in series or in parallel, it can become a solar cell array with a large output power. ^[3]