Solar hot water works by ‘collecting’ the sun’s heat and transferring this energy to the solar collectors either directly to water or indirectly to anti-freeze fluid, which is used in frost prone areas. The heated water or fluid is then circulated back to the storage tank to provide hot water free from the sun. Solar Power (PV panels), on the other hand, rely on sunlight to generate DC electricity, which is fed into an inverter and converted into AC current to power your home. Although both technologies rely on the sun’s free energy, they have entirely different purposes.