Sun Panels

Can a solar panel get energy if there is a lot of clouds blocking the sun?

So I’m reading this article on Wikipedia about Solar Energy. I have to do this project about biofuels, and solar energy is one of them. It says:

Solar technologies are broadly characterized as either passive or active depending on the way they capture, convert and distribute sunlight. Active solar techniques use photovoltaic panels, pumps, and fans to convert sunlight into useful outputs. Passive solar techniques include selecting materials with favorable thermal properties, designing spaces that naturally circulate air, and referencing the position of a building to the Sun. Active solar technologies increase the supply of energy and are considered supply side technologies, while passive solar technologies reduce the need for alternate resources and are generally considered demand side technologies.

I don’t understand what they mean. Do active thinger-majiggers move toward the sun, and passive ones just sit there and absorb the sunlight?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy#Energy_from_the_Sun

I can get it to pop-up, but How do I get the thing all the way out. Thanks for your support.

Routing flexible metal tubing within the structure of the panel, and circulating fluid through it and into a radiator of sorts…
Like an engine, or refrigerator.
I’ve not been able to find any relevant data to suggest that it has been tried, or any reason why it can’t be accomplished.
Solar panels are inefficient because they can only handle so much heat caused by the sun, and so it takes very large arrays of panels to make seemingly insignificant wattage.
I would like to see more compact panels by the use of cooling systems, and magnification of the suns rays, with filtering.
Does anyone have relevant knowledge on this matter?
when I say magnification, I mean to say that I would concentrate the expensive silicon solution and use magnification to capture a wide area of light, but focus it onto a smaller section of panel.
The result would be thicker panels, but smaller sections producing the same wattage as larger PV panels.
I would expect this to decrease cost of production because of the extremely high cost of photovoltaic solution efficiency rates vs panel sizes (8-16% industry standard).
I would like to see at least 30% energy production.
Also, the only reason I can think of for intercirculatory cooling to be a problem is the possible electrical interference: moving solution could present.

We live in a very high sun area, and I’m thinking solar panels could do nothing but good. How hard is it to implement this, and does anyone have any links to good info?

we would like to get off the grid.we have a year round water source with good flow. we are currently using some of the water for field irrigation and alot goes to waste.lots of sun in n.cal so we’ll utilize solar panels and batteries as well.