Solar Power: Have the Electric Utility Company Pay You
Posted by cepgoost on June 17, 2009
Solar Power: Have the Electric Utility Company Pay You
By: Marc Williams
The improvements in solar power generation have made it possible to generate enough electricity to power your home. Turn free sunlight into electricity and sell the excess to the electric utility company. That’s right; any additional electricity that your solar power system produces that is not used by your home can be sold to the electricity company. Not only are you saving on electricity costs, the solar panels mounted on your roof are providing much needed shade for your roof.
What is Required To Power My House with Solar Power?
A solar power system consists of a few major components.
• Solar cells capture the sun’s energy and change it to electricity. Inside a solar panel, each cell contains silicon that absorbs sunlight. The energy in this absorbed light produces a small electrical current. Metal grids around the solar cells direct the currents into wires that lead to the power controls.
• Solar panel. A solar array is a panel that contains a set of solar cells in a network. When many solar cells are combined in a solar panel the solar panel produces several watts of DC electricity.
• The solar array is comprised of one or more solar panels. The solar modules need to be mounted facing the sun and avoiding shade for best results.
• The Inverter changes the DC solar power into usable 120 Volt AC electricity which is the most common type used by most household appliances and lighting.
• Charge controller Is used to control the charging of the batteries and prevent over charging. It also prevents the batteries to discharge the electricity into the solar array at night.
• The battery pack store the solar power generated and discharge the power to the home as needed.
How long will it take to recoup my investment in solar power?
To power your home with electricity generated from sunlight requires a significant investment up front to purchase and have the equipment installed. With rising cost of electricity purchased from the local electric utility, the reduced electric bill will pay for the solar power system over a few years.
Think about how much money you pay each month to the electric company. You pay them to light up your home, cook your food, keep your food fresh and frozen. You pay them in the summer months to power the air conditioner and in the winter months to power the heater. But wait, I have a gas or oil heating system. True, but there is still a blower fan and possibly a pump that require electricity to run. But why should you have to pay for electricity when you can get solar power that comes a natural source: the sun.
Solar cells convert sunlight into electricity. This solar power can run your air conditioner, computer, refrigerator, and other appliances. Instead of purchasing electricity from electric utility company convert the readily available sunlight into the useful electricity.
Why are solar power systems mounted on the roof?
In order for a solar powered system to work, the solar arrays must have direct access to sunlight. They should not be blocked by any obstruction such as trees or buildings. The ideal location is on the southerly facing side of your roof, where the sun beats down directly.
Who in my area is the best installer of solar power?
To find out the going rate for having a solar power system installed call each of the solar power installation companies in your area. Ask them for an estimate for a solar power system. There are several things you should receive with the estimate.
• A list of components that they will be installing.
• An estimate on the maximum electricity produced by the proposed solar power system.
• Total price of installing the solar powered system. There shouldn’t be any cost overruns.
• Any solar power tax incentives and rebates that will help lower the installation cost.
No matter how much you spend initially, you will make it back ten-fold when you figure that you�’ll never again pay money to someone else to power your home.
