Berkerly students are gearing up to become solar-ready, as they participated in PTC’s raising solar awareness workshop last week. During this hands-on, practical workshop, the group teased out considerations like making our homes more solar-ready and the use of photovoltaic (PV) technology.

According to the US Department of Energy ‘PV materials and devices convert sunlight into electrical energy. A single PV device is known as a cell. An individual PV cell is usually small, typically producing about 1 or 2 watts of power. These cells are made of different semiconductor materials and are often less than the thickness of four human hairs’. It was fascinating seeing rangatahi’s faces as understanding about PVs and how they work were shared. They were therefore very keen to learn how to wire solar panel to their motors and watch how the device converted sunlight into electrical energy.