-[Thomas Jenkins] What we're showing today is examples

of two types of Photovoltaic systems.

In this example, we have a fixed rack configuration.

In that, the panels are mounted on some type of rack

and the rack is pointed in most cases

directly south and it never moves.

This is a little bit more sophisticated,

in that, it can change the tilt angle

which is often good to do because the sun

will be at different positions throughout the year.

In the winter, it's gonna be lower.

In the summer, it's gonna be higher.

So your panels will be more efficient if they're pointing directly to the sun.

In most cases for home use, this is what you'll use.

On the other hand, we have this type of system over here.

This is what we call a solar tracker.

In this case, this is a passive solar tracker,

which means that it works all by itself

and it doesn't need any electricity or any motors to work.

It all works by simple physics.

The tracker will follow the sun

from the morning to the evening as it crosses the sky.

The panels will collect more of the sun's energy

because they're always pointing directly to the sun.

The disadvantage of this system is that

this is a little bit more expensive.

We're gonna get more energy from this system

but it's gonna be more expensive

to purchase in the beginning.

So it'll take a while for that extra energy

that you're gonna get every day to pay off

in the long run, to pay off the cost of the equipment.

So this is a good choice for a lot of systems.

In addition, we've mounted a few things

that most of homeowners will probably have

and these are some devices that allow us

to measure voltage and currents,

the output from our solar panels.

And we can compare the two and see how much

of a different energies we get over time.

'Cause that'll convert into how much energy

you need for your home because a lot of times

homeowners use these to be in a system

which is called a grid-tied system,

in which they sell energy when they're generating

more energy than they use in the home,

they sell their excess energy to the electric company.

- [Announcer] The preceding was a production

of New Mexico State University.

The views and opinions in this program are those

of the author and do not necessarily represent

the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Reagents.