Video narration
Solar energy starts as sunlight—packets of light streaming from the sun to Earth. When sunlight hits a solar panel, it reaches tiny building blocks inside called photovoltaic cells. “Photo” means light, and “voltaic” relates to electricity. In each cell, the light knocks loose tiny charged particles, and that movement creates direct current, or DC electricity. Next, the electricity flows through wires to an inverter, which changes DC into the alternating current, or AC, that most homes and devices use. From there, the power can run your lights, charge a phone, or feed extra energy back to the grid. So the simple path is: sunlight to photovoltaic cells, cells to electric current, and current to usable power in your home.