Solar Grid Tie
Mar 5th, 2008 by solarbill
Grid Tie Systems
The most common way to use solar to produce electricity for a home or business is a grid tie system. These systems have the advantage of being relatively simple. There are no batteries and they take very little maintenance.
The solar panels are wired into an inverter. The inverter changes the Direct Current of the solar panels into Alternating Current. The inverter matches the phase and voltage to that of the power coming from the utility. This allows the power to be fed back to the utility. Any power that is being produced and not used is fed back to the utility turning the meter backwards. At times when there is no solar output or not enough to cover all the electricity that is being used, the difference is made up by the utility. This arrangement is called “net metering” The biggest downside is that if the electricity goes out the solar shuts off as well.
