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How Solar Works: A Guide for Residential, Grid-Connected PV

How solar works is fairly easy to understand. Basically, the solar panels in a solar array turn sunlight into electricity. When the sun shines, particles of light, or photons, hit your solar panels and are converted to DC power. An inverter takes the DC power and converts it to AC power that you use in your home. A bi-directional meter is installed to track power generated from your system.

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How Solar Works: A Guide for Residential, Grid-Connected PV

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  1. How Solar Works A Guide for Residential, Grid-Connected PV Systems © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  2. How Solar Works • Sunlight Photon hit the solar panels • Panels convert these Photons into electrons • More energy is produced in more sunlight © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  3. How Solar Works • Transfer Electrons to inverter • Convert “DC” power to “AC” power • Use AC power in the home for running electronic equipment and appliances © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  4. How Solar Works How Solar Works with Grid-Connected Systems • Net metering is used to track power • Excess energy not used by your household will be routed to your utility through the meter and credited to your account • You can tap into this credit when energy isn’t being produced – like when it’s cloudy or at night © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  5. How Solar Works Net metering • Virtual back-up system • With a grid-connected system, you get the best of both worlds: • Low-cost solar energy produced by your system with any excess being “sold” back to the utility; • Access to power from your utility whenever you need it. © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  6. How Solar Works Grid-connected installations • Meter runs backwards when you’re producing energy! • You only get charged for electricity from your utility when you exhaust your net metering credits. © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  7. How Solar Works Off-grid systems are not typical © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  8. How Solar Works How Solar Works Without Batteries • A grid-connected system does not require battery use or have battery-related expenses • An off-grid system requires batteries to store energy and provide it when the sun isn’t shining • If you’re located close to a utility, the best option is to invest in a grid-connected system © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  9. How Solar Works How Solar Works with Utility Billing • When your solar system is producing energy and you’re using that energy to power your home, you won’t be billed from the utility • You get credited for all the unused energy your system sends back to the utility! © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

  10. How Solar Works About the Author Joy Seitz is VP of Business & Policy Development at American Solar, one of Arizona's leading solar companies who designs and installs solar electric systems and solar hot water systems. Visit us at http://www.americanpv.comfor more information about How Solar Works. © 2012 American Solar Electric. All rights reserved.

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