Rod Speed wrote:

Anthony Matonak wrote in

News wrote:

How much heat do PV cells emit on the back and front of the cells?

You could think of it this way. Typical PV panels are
around 12% efficient at converting sunlight into electricity.
This means that the other 88% is converted into heat.

Well, maybe 16 and 84%, eg 0.84x800 = 672 W/m^2 in AM2 sun.

...that would only be true if they were a perfect
black body absorber of all energy that falls on them.

Buth they are better than that. Rich Komp says the silicon is almost
transparent to IR, and the aluminum contact beneath is shiny, so PVs
are a selective surface.

Nick