What's behind the Solar Panels?

As a California resident you either have installed or planning on installing a set of Solar Panels on your rooftop. Ever wonder what the Solar Panels are made of and what makes them power the grid in your house? I have attempted to break it down in layman's terms. The main componets that make the Solar Panels tick are:

• Photo-Voltaic Cell (PVC) array
• Mechanical frame to mount these PVC arrays in
• Core Inverter to convert to Direct-Current(DC) from the PVC to Alternating-Currenr(AC)
• Synchronising circuit that puts the generated AC current on to the power grid

If you need more details, here's a decent site from our friends at Discovery.