How solar/wind are converted into energy
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Wind basically works like most mechanical generation, it spins an electromagnet within a stable magnetic field. The interaction of those two fields excites the electrons in (usually) copper wiring wound around the assembly, or induced current in other words. For wind turbines the wind acts on the blades to turn the magnet but you can also burn things to produce steam and have that spin blades, have the output of an engine produce the motion as with generators or a car alternator, you can have water spin it as with hydroelectric, anything that can get it moving will work. Spinning the magnet against the field interaction causes resistance, the more power you want the stronger the fields have to be and the more energy you need to spin the magnet against that resistance.
Solar uses photovoltaic cells, which…just means it turns light into electricity lol.
There’s a layer of one material where electrons can be excited by photons colliding with them. This is a pretty special property, most molecules and atoms don’t react that way, especially crammed into a lattice tight enough to catch many photons. A few materials can get both the excitement and the density at once. There’s another layer above it for those to move into in a controlled way and much like with the copper wirez excited electrons = current. That top layer is connected to the output to carry that current elsewhere. Since photons can pass through the layers without successfully hitting anything, you sandwich a few of those paired layers together to make one solar cell. Then you lay out those cells next to each other on a frame until you get the right panel size and hook them all up to one output for the panel.
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