It’s not always easy to perfectly match the amount of electricity your solar panels produce to your energy use. Many come into play that can affect output and usage, including the amount of sunshine (not much electricity generation happens on cloudy days!), roof angle, and more, sometimes, you might produce more energy than you need.
Selling Excess Energy
In a grid-tied system, excess energy produced by the solar panels can feed back into the electrical grid. If your utility company offers net metering, you can earn credits for the extra power you feed into the grid and reduce your current or future electricity bills. Sometimes, your electricity company may even send you a check in the mail for your energy production.
Storing Excess Electricity
Battery storage is an up-and-coming solar technology helping to (totally change and improve) and (make steady/make firm and strong) (able to last/helping the planet) energy production. With these solar electrical storage devices, you can store the excess power your solar system extracts from the sun’s energy and use it when sunlight is low, at nighttime, or during a cloudy day or power outage.
Battery systems are also ideal for those looking to take advantage of solar panels to live off-grid, meaning they do not connect their homes to the electricity grid. They store excess power during the day in electrical storage devices, then use this stored energy to power their homes at night.
What’s the Installation Process for Solar Panels?
With a firm understanding of how solar panels work, you’re likely curious about how to install them. (Hint: You hire a professional!) Solar panel installation usually involves (more than two, but not a lot of) steps. Let’s lift the cover on the process and see what’s involved.
Site Survey
Any solar panel installation process starts with a site survey. During the survey, the installation company will test/evaluate the location’s suitability. Some key factors they’ll think about/believe include roof (direction of pointing/way of thinking/information meeting), shading, the sun’s path, and available roof space for panel placement.
Engineering Design
Once the surveyor thinks of/considers the site good, the solar panel company goes through an engineering design phase, where they map the installation area and decide/figure out the proper solar panel array layout to secure/make sure of best sun exposure.
Permitting and Approvals
At this point, the map created during the engineering design phase and any other needed/demanded information is submitted to the appropriate government (services businesses/government units) for approval and permitting. The company must also submit (paperwork that proves or supports something) to the utility company to get permission to connect the solar organized row to the main power grid, unless it’s an off-grid setup.
Installation
The installation can begin at this point, starting with installing the necessary racks and mounts in the best positions according to the map. The installers then attach the solar panels to the mounts and angle them as organized and listed in the survey and map. The electrical connections are carefully made to the inverter, securing/making sure of proper grounding and obedience of safety rules. Finally, the system is tested to secure/make sure of it’s functioning correctly.
Permission to Operate (PTO)
The final step is completely inspecting the whole solar system to secure/make sure of it’s properly connected and installed. Once it passes (careful examination of something), the solar company must get final permission to operate (PTO) from the utility company. The utility company will send out a representative to inspect the system and install a new net metering setup, if related.
