Understanding How Solar Panels Work During Rainy and Cloudy Days In Kenya

Common questions prospective clients ask before making the switch to solar in Kenya:

Can solar panels work without direct sunlight?

Will the solar panels work on cloudy days?

Will the solar panels work on rainy days?

Do solar panels work at night?

Although solar technology isn’t new, many people still haven’t figured out how exactly the technology works.

So how exactly do solar panels produce electricity?

Basically, what happens is that your solar panel system uses photons to separate electrons from atoms. Photons are light particles. The process of separating electrons from their atoms creates solar electricity.

As the solar panels convert light into power (DC), the power gets sent through the system’s inverter. From there, it gets converted to alternating current (AC) power.

So to answer the above questions, yes solar panels do work on cloudy and rainy days in Kenya but not as effectively as they would on a sunny day. Expect the solar panels to produce 10 to 25 percent of their normal power output, depending on how thick the cloud cover is.

Although solar panels work better on sunny versus cloudy days in Kenya, solar panels don’t work best in particularly hot climates. In fact, solar panel output begins to fall if the temperature rises above 25 degrees Celsius. Watch the video below on how we design our systems:

Tips on sizing a solar system in Kenya

Do solar panels work at night in Kenya?

They actually don’t as mentioned before; solar panels require light more so from the sun and daylight to function at optimal capacity. Which is why having reliable battery storage is highly recommended to store all the energy the solar panels harvested during the day.

The team at PowerAfricaSolar designs our client solar systems to produce more power than your home needs during the daytime. The surplus power generated during the day is stored in a solar battery solution Read Why We Recommend SimpliPhi Batteries to Our Clients In Kenya Switching To Solar

In conclusion, your solar panel system will work on cloudy days and actually works better when it’s not too hot. How efficient your panels are under different weather conditions will depend on your solar panel brand and type read more about: Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline Solar Panels in Kenya: What You Need To Know